Guest Author - Mona McKenzie

Will women’s baseball ever reach the same level of popularity as men’s baseball? Yes, if the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has its way. For years, women have supported men’s baseball as spectators, spouses, moms and other interested parties. However, very little attention has been paid to women who love to play baseball themselves. Once upon a time, women had an active role in the sport of baseball. The game was played on various levels, including professionally. Sometime in the mid-1930’s, the women’s baseball game transitioned into women’s softball, and baseball became the game of men.

Apparently, Title IX laws, developed in the 1970’s, have done very little to help cultivate the aspirations of girls who want to play baseball on an elite-amateur or professional level. If you look on the NCAA web site, you will see separate listings for baseball and softball, with no gender distinction. Thus, baseball is the men’s game and softball is the women’s game. Truth be told, I haven’t personally known any girls or women who have played baseball except at family functions or purely for fun with the guys. The normal path for my family, friends and associates was to play softball, and often only on intramural teams. Growing up, I wondered why girls hardly ever played baseball and why there weren’t any girl’s baseball teams. My brother and his friends played baseball and their leagues thrived. I’m not sure if I wanted to play baseball regularly as a young girl, but, I never had the chance to explore that option. I now realize that girls were steered into the game of softball because it was seemingly more “fitting” for young ladies than the more aggressive sport of baseball. It wasn’t until the movie “A League of Their Own” came out around 1992 that I realized women in fact did play organized baseball at a higher than intramural level.

The IBAF recently convened a Women’s Baseball Committee, charged with determining the best way to grow women’s baseball on an international level. The Committee is comprised of members from Canada, China, Taipei, USA, Nigeria, Korea, Australia, Portugal, India and Cuba. The Committee will look into marketing baseball to women and girls, in order to peak their interest in playing the sport and not continue to be relegated to a spectator position. Further, teaching fundamental baseball techniques will be key in expanding the sport and an important mission of the Committee. Ultimately, the IBAF is looking to establish Women’s Baseball as a companion for re-establishing Men’s Baseball as an Olympic sport for the 2016 Olympics. That would be fantastic! Currently, the highest level for ladies is the Women’s Baseball World Cup, which will be played again in 2010. Hopefully, with this kind of push, more girls will be inspired to play the great game of baseball!