On a rain and windswept field in Springfield, Illinois yesterday afternoon, fans at Robin Roberts Stadium witnessed something that has not happened on American soil in over 70 years – women’s professional baseball. Saturday was the kickoff of the Women’s Professional Baseball League, which is currently made up of four teams – each representing a different city (more on that below) – with fifteen players per squad.
All of the tickets for the inaugural game were sold, but there were some empty seats due to the weather conditions that kept the players from taking batting practice on the field and delayed the first pitch. But those conditions could not dampen the spirit of the fans – many of whom traveled thousands of miles to be part of history – or the players. Springfield was the host of one the first-ever women’s professional baseball games back in 1875, and is back at more than 150 years later.
Maybelle Blair, one of the oldest living players from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (from “A League of Their Own” fame), and an honorary chair of the WPBL, threw out the first pitch and watched as a mascot bearing her likeness – right down to her frosty white hair and oversized red glasses – flitted about the park entertaining everyone in attendance.
On the field, the Los Angeles Queens battled back from an early 7-2 deficit to outlast the New York Heights 10-8. Maggie Foxx picked up the league’s first hit on a two-run single for Los Angeles in the first inning, and Denae Benites recorded the WPBL’s first home run, a line shot over Mo’ne Davis’ head in centerfield in the fourth inning.
The WPBL, the brainchild of commissioner Justine Siegal, who just happens to be the first woman to coach on a major league team (Oakland in 2015), is looking to tap into the growing excitement of women’s sports, and especially baseball. The sixty players chosen from the more than 600 who came to Washington, D.C. last summer to try out, represent eleven countries, with players from the U.S. leading the way. However, Australia, with the only dedicated Little League girls baseball championship, and Japan, with its Venus League, which is the world’s largest amateur women’s baseball organization, also have many players in the mix. Each team has a salary cap of $95,000, meaning the average player will earn approximately $6,000 for this six-week season.
While most of the 60 players are unknown to the typical sports fan, a few names will be familiar to even casual observers. Davis, who sprung into the collective consciousness in 2014 when she led a team from Philadelphia to the Little League World Series. After playing college softball at Hampton University, she was selected in the first round of the WPBL draft by the Los Angeles Queens.
The name Kelsie Whitmore may not ring a bell – yet – but it will. The first pick of the WPBL draft by the San Francisco Firebells, the 28-year-old from San Diego, California, grew up playing Little League Baseball and Pony Baseball, and then played on her high school team. She played college softball at Cal State Fullerton while also training with the baseball team. She has played professionally with the Sonoma Stompers, the Staten Island FerryHawks, and the Oakland Ballers. Last August, she signed on with the Savannah Bananas, playing with an offshoot team, fittingly, the Firefighters. She has re-signed with the Bananas, but they made an accommodation for her to play these six weeks in Springfield. The first 1,000 fans of Sunday’s game – the Firebells vs. the Boston Hunters – will get a Whitmore bobblehead.
Ayami Sato, a product of Japan’s Venus League, started on the mound for the Queens, but did not have her heralded 80-mph fastball. Nonetheless, she will still attract eyeballs across the Pacific as the season progresses. ESPN will stream all 37 scheduled WPBL games, and the league has secured another deal with Scripps. The league has amassed more than 600,000 followers across social-media platforms, and hopes to grow that interest over the next six to eight weeks.
The league leaned into its distaff audience by naming each team after trailblazing women. The New York Heights were inspired by Dorothy Irene Height, “a pioneering civil rights and women’s rights leader from New York whose influence and leadership helped shape generations of progress for Americans.”
The San Francisco Firebells are for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, known as “Firebelle” for being “a champion of San Francisco’s volunteer fire department.” She is better known in NorCal as the benefactor of the famous Coit Tower.
The Los Angeles Queens are inspired by Lizzie Murphy, known as “Queen of the Diamond” as the first woman to play against major leaguers.
Yet not all of the teams are based in sports. The Boston Hunters were inspired by Harriot K. Hunt, the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School. Despite being rejected twice, she went on to a long and successful medical career that spanned more than 25 years.
Only time will tell if this current incarnation of women’s professional baseball will be successful. Siegal selected Springfield for its history as well as its central location. The goal for this inaugural season is to keep expenses (including travel) down, interest up, and profits obtainable. If they are able to do that, a second season of the WPBL would potentially see more teams, and see those teams playing in their actual home towns. It all started yesterday. Stay tuned to see how attendance and viewership are doing as the season moves forward.
