A League of Their Own

Baseball has long been thought of as a boy-dominated sport. Girls, typically, are given their own version of the sport- softball. However, there is always that one girl who isn’t satisfied with softball or who can’t find a softball team in her area and who wishes to try her hand at baseball instead. Some girls just see more scholarship and professional opportunities with baseball. Whatever the case may be, people have a lot of feelings on whether or not girls should even be allowed to play this “male” sport.

First of all, know that whether or not people feel that girls should play baseball, they are doing it.

Many larger, more urban areas, in fact, have baseball- not softball- teams just for girls. There are even some nationally recognized girl’s baseball organizations.  Furthermore, girls legally have the right to play baseball if they want to. They have the right to try out for baseball teams even if there are perfectly good softball opportunities available to them.

Little League reports that around 100,000 girls play baseball through their sponsored teams. Females have even completed in the Little League World Series since 1974! But just because girls have the right to play baseball doesn’t mean that they always get to.

A lot of times, the people who coach baseball teams are male and are steeped in the old idea of baseball being a “male sport.” They will often purposefully keep girls off their team, even if they do stellar in tryouts and would benefit the team. When this kind of discrimination happens, parents and others can do something about it though. They can go over the coach’s head and speak to the school principal, the league president, or whoever the person in power may be. They can also try to prove and sue for discrimination in a court of law.

When girls are allowed to play baseball on a male-dominated team, they often face challenges unique to their situation. Things that female baseball players on male teams have reported struggling with include:

·         Feeling intimidated by the aggressiveness with which their male teammates play and/or struggling to keep up with that level of aggressiveness.

·         Feeling like they constantly have to “prove themselves” to their teammates.

·         Being accepted by teammates.

·         Getting mocked by teammates and opposing teams.

·         Feeling and being treated differently.

·         Having to fight for playing time.

Being the only girl on a team of boys can certainly have its challenges, but it can also have its rewards. Girls who can triumph in these circumstances can gain immense self-confidence and self-belief. As long as a girl understands the potential challenges of her unique position and is willing to face up to them and speak up when she feels she’s being treated unfairly, there’s no reason playing baseball can’t be a wonderfully positive experience for her, and there’s no reason for an adult or anyone to stand in her way and stop her from doing what she wants.

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