Women's Pro Baseball is Back After 70 Years

After 70+ years, women’s pro baseball is back. The inaugural season of the WPBL kicks off tomorrow, August 1st. My perfect girlfriend and GS alum Sabine joined me to talk through a brief history of women’s pro ball, what we know about the WPBL so far, and an overview of the NY Heights’ roster. Here’s what we covered:* The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943–1954), and the racism and femininity requirements baked into the organization* Toni Stone, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, and Connie Morgan, the three women who played in the Negro Leagues* Effa Manley, the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame* How A League of Their Own (the 1992 film and 2022 A24 series) depicted women’s pro baseball in pop culture and media* Paths to the WPBL: Switching to softball, playing in the Banana Ball, and the US National Team bringing women like Kelsey Whitmore, Mo’ne Davis, and Ashton Lansdell into the spotlight* A full breakdown of our team, the New York Heights: our head coach (the league’s only woman manager) and our rosterI read and listened to a lot of good stuff in prep for this episode, which I’ll link below as always. Enjoy, and watch women’s baseball this weekend!LINKSSubscribe to Good Sport NYC on SubstackFollow the WPBL on InstagramFollow the NY Heights on InstagramFollow Good Sport NYC on Instagram, TikTokFollow Christiana on Instagram, SubstackRESOURCES USED:Crying In Baseball from the You’re Wrong About PodcastStoried: Women of the Negro Leagues from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Dorothy Height by Arlisha Norwood from the National Women’s History Museum Get full access to Good Sport NYC at www.goodsportnyc.com/subscribe