Since its inception, baseball has always had a place for female athletes. In fact, colleges and universities had women’s teams as far back as the 1860's. But at some point, women were shuffled into softball and opportunities to play hardball disappeared. Until now. Associate Professor of sports leadership and management at Miami University Callie Batts Maddox joins The Excerpt to talk about the launch of the Women's Pro Baseball League next year and what it will mean for women and girls who are passionate for the sport.Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to [email protected] Transcript available hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Women's Pro Baseball League?
Now Americans can look forward to seeing the Women's Pro Baseball League in summer 2026. Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, May 4th, 2025, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. Women's sports have been on the rise, so it only seems natural that a women's pro league would take shape. But women already make up a rich part of baseball history.
For more on that history and the current momentum of women's baseball, I'm joined by Callie Batts-Maddox, an associate professor of sports leadership and management at Miami University. Callie, thank you so much for coming on the excerpt today.
Thank you for having me.
So let's start with the moment right now. Really interesting moment. As I mentioned at the top, there is strong women's interest in baseball. We know there's strong interest from women's fans and franchises are catering to them with special meetups and clubs as well. But perhaps more interesting, Callie, is the rise of women on the MLB payroll. Let's just give out some stats.
Chapter 2: How has women's representation in baseball changed over the years?
As of 2023, as you've outlined, women made up 30% of central office professional staff and 27% of team senior administration jobs. And on top of that, 43 women made held coaching and managerial jobs across the major and minor league levels, marking a 95% increase in just two years. So a lot of numbers there, as you've outlined, Callie. Are these increases more about interest or more opportunities?
I think it's both. I think it goes hand in hand. The increase for women having on field positions within Major League Baseball or professional baseball more widely has increased tremendously. And that is a result of having more opportunities, coaching, strength and conditioning positions, that on the field action that was really limited to men in the past.
We've seen women being involved in professional baseball in administrative positions quite consistently. But it's really that increase on the on the field positions that is quite remarkable, where we're seeing that interest, the skill level, what women can contribute to the game and their passion for the game as well.
And just considering this increase in women holding coaching and managerial positions in baseball, how do you see the landscape changing really for women in pro baseball?
Well, in pro baseball, I think the opportunities will continue to increase. Major League Baseball has done a very good job of opening up pipeline opportunities for women who are interested in working in professional baseball. They do a yearly series that focuses on opportunities for women and really kind of creating a circular pipeline and a mentorship program
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Chapter 3: What historical roles have women played in baseball?
So that the women who are involved can be mentors and role models for young women who are interested in coming into that space. So I anticipate there's going to be a very consistent involvement of women in baseball and hopefully some increases. And we're going to see even more women taking on leadership roles.
All right, let's take a step back and look at the history of women in baseball. I know this has been a focus of yours, Callie. Women have played baseball at least since the 1860s. That's the Civil War era, not long after really the creation of the entire sport. And, you know, for more context, professional men's baseball started in 1869. So women were playing even before the men had a pro league.
Chapter 4: How did the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League impact women's baseball?
Correct. Where were women playing early on and who were some of the early teams?
Well, early on, what we see in the 1860s, women at colleges and universities, so at all women's schools like Smith and Vassar, they were organizing baseball teams. And this was hardball, right? And we've seen baseball has evolved. The early form of the game was very different than we know it today.
but women were playing what we would consider to be baseball and so this started in the colleges and the universities then moved on to what were called bloomer girl teams in the 1920s and they would barnstorm across the country and they're playing hardball and they are enjoying it they are really helping to spread the game and they are quite committed to it
That's so cool. So how did the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League impact the opportunities for women in baseball? And what were some of the challenges they faced?
I think that's an interesting question because what we don't often hear about is kind of the time before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. So we had women playing baseball as early as the late 1860s in colleges and universities. We had the Bloomer teams coming up in the 1920s and the 30s. There was a really robust movement in the 20s of women's baseball
We have a shift to softball that comes along, and then the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League arises in 1943 in the wake of World War II to give women the opportunity to play. And again, it experiences an evolution as well, too.
And it really gave women, many of whom were from the working class, the chance to come and play ball and make a good living and travel and make lifelong relationships and lifelong friendships.
So, you know, even going back to the 1860s, as you said, they were playing hardball as opposed to softball. And you've written about how women at some point got pushed into playing softball instead. Why did that happen and how did that happen?
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Chapter 5: Why were women pushed into softball instead of baseball?
It's a great, great, great question. And the history is a little bit convoluted. And I think it's a story that we don't often hear about. We don't often question women. We have an overriding cultural assumption in the United States that baseball is the sport for boys and men, and softball is the equivalent for girls and women.
Softball was invented in 1887 by a group of men in Chicago who wanted to play during the wintertime. They thought, this is fun. We're going to develop an indoor version of baseball. And it was meant for boys and men to play. Women started to play as well.
Chapter 6: What cultural perceptions shaped the gendered sports landscape?
But then these connotations and these meanings, these gendered meanings started to be placed upon these two sports where softball eventually emerged as that preferred sport for girls and women because it was perceived to be a surrogate to baseball. It wasn't real baseball, right? It kind of looked like it, but the ball was bigger, the field is smaller.
It didn't take as much of that sort of perceived strength or endurance to play. And softball then becomes that option for girls and women. It's a long story, right? And it is kind of linked to broader changes in how we view gender in society.
We'll talk a little bit more about softball and baseball here in a bit. But I feel like we can't have this conversation without at least mentioning the role of media and pop culture, especially with some of these kind of older women's baseball leagues.
Sports and movie fans in particular will, of course, remember the 1992 movie In a League of Her Own, of course, about the All-American Girls Pro Baseball League, which we just mentioned. Last fall, even, there was a documentary about women's baseball called See Her, Be Her.
How has the perception of women in baseball evolved over the years and what role do media and popular culture play maybe in this transformation?
Right. Well, the influence and impact of the original A League of Their Own film cannot be overstated. That was tremendously impactful in my own life as well. That was really a strong statement coming out, right? Trying to revitalize this history, revitalize the memory of women playing baseball.
uh and it really kind of set this stage for a lot of people to look back and honor this history and start to question well wait a second why are we not seeing more women playing baseball being involved in baseball and we've seen then the amazon show so amazon had a show based on a league of their own it only lasted one season unfortunately but it did a really admiral job of extending the storyline
to include narratives around race and sexuality that were not addressed in the original film. We see a few documentaries coming out. There's one called Hardball, The Girls of Summer, which is also excellent, which asks really important questions about these cultural assumptions that we have. And then See Her, Be Her, which is taking on the question of the globalization of women's baseball.
This is not just happening in the United States. We've seen a global rise in women playing baseball, women being involved in baseball. And it sets a really exciting future because these types of popular cultural mediums, the media coverage can really reach a lot of people. And I think it just it captures the excitement around this movement.
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