After a 72-year absence, pro women’s baseball is back in the USA

The jaunty tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game takes a fun spin in the trailer for the 1992 classic baseball movie A League of Their Own.

“Who says girls can’t play baseball? Who says women can’t throw,” the jingle goes.

Turns out, for decades, that is exactly the message that has been sent to countless girls and women who have wanted to play ‘America’s pastime’ at the highest level.

The film depicted the All American Girls Professional Baseball League which ran from 1943 to 1954.

And in the 72 years since it folded, there has not been another professional women’s league in the USA. Until now.

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Anyone can play ball

Justine Siegal is the Commissioner and co-founder of the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL), which is getting underway this weekend.

Siegal is a pioneer in the sport. She is the first woman to coach a professional men’s team, and the first female coach of a Major League Baseball team, with the Oakland Athletics.

“We’re fighting this myth that baseball is for men and softball is for women,” Siegal told ABC Sport at a fan day for the league in Brockton, Massachusetts.

“You can now see that there’s 25 countries as national teams. There is growth at the high school level here in the US and in Canada, and there’s just more girls playing baseball than ever.

“So it is a great time to ride the wave of women’s pro sports like soccer and ice hockey and basketball with the WNBA, and start what we deserve.”

Siegal has been instrumental in growing opportunities at the grassroots level too, founding the non-profit girls’ baseball organisation Baseball for All in 2010.

“[In the WPBL] about 25 or 30 per cent of the players have played or participated in Baseball for All,” she said.

“So for me as Commissioner, it’s super exciting to have known a kid when they were 13 and their dream was to keep playing baseball.”

Just such a kid is Sabrina Robinson, 23, who represents the Boston Hunters in the WPBL.

“I didn’t think this day would come in my lifetime. I thought I’d be in the stands supporting the next generation and the next generation,” she told ABC Sport.

“My main motivation is to be the person that I didn’t have growing up. I didn’t see women playing baseball on the TV.

“So I really want to represent women’s baseball players the best for the next generation coming up.

“It’s very important that we build those communities and we show them that they can do it and that there’s a path for them… maybe they get cut from their boys team but you can still come play women’s.”

Nylah Ramirez, 29, is a pitcher from Brooklyn, and is another member of the Hunters.

She has represented Puerto Rico at World Cup level, and also works as a youth coach.

“It means everything. It means my life’s work is finally being paid off,” she said.

“I hope that this blows up. I hope that the whole world knows that we’re meant to be here.

Take the early bet

The WPBL is starting small with four teams from Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, playing at one venue in Springfield, Illinois, across August and September.

Anna Palmer is one of the investors in the league, and also a co-founder of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) franchise Boston Legacy.

She understands the potential in women’s sport.

“WPBL is a league that can hopefully be in every small town across America too. Baseball is America’s sport,” she told ABC Sport.

She said the investment in NWSL clubs like the Legacy, which came into the league this year, and is currently developing a purpose-built stadium and performance centre, shows the opportunities.

“The money that is now going into those teams through private equity and really sophisticated investors means that there’s going to be the resources there to have the fan experiences that these women deserve and to pay the athletes the way that they should be paid, which is exciting,” she said.

“I think on the sponsorship level, you’re seeing companies realise that women’s sports is big business and that they can attach their brand to these athletes and reach a different customer and live out their values in a different way.”

She also urged investors to have the foresight to take “early bets”.

“We went in with a franchise fee with Boston Legacy that was a little over $US50 million that seemed crazy at the time. And now Atlanta just came in over $US200 million,” she said.

“If you’re willing to take that bet, you’re seeing the fandom and the energy and the ecosystem now catching up to that.

“We’re going to be, 10, 15 years from now I think, seeing these valuations in the franchises look very, very different.”

The players echo those high hopes.

“I really hope for team expansions so we can get around to people’s hometowns and get out to where all the younger girls are and get to new cities where girls don’t even know that you could play baseball,” Robinson said.

Siegal says the growth of the league and fan engagement is important, but the enduring message it sends is what will be most impactful.

“A long-term solution is that this league provides systemic change where girls are often told they don’t have a future in baseball,” she said.

“But now they do and they can have the same dream that their brothers do, and that’s to be a professional baseball player.”