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Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball/ a Harvest Original
Girls and women have played baseball (hardball: the real thing) from the beginning. Soon after professional baseball started up in 1869, women formed "base ball clubs" and - wearing heavy stockings and striped, shortened dresses - challenged men's teams across the country. One star pitcher, Maud Nelson, often struck out four or five men in the first few innings of a game. After World War I, these "Bloomer Girl" teams, such as the Philadelphia Bobbies and the Chicago All-Star Ranger Girls, proliferated. During the 1930s women such as Jackie Mitchell pitched against major leaguers; in one memorable exhibition game, Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In 1943 the first and only women's professional baseball league was born, the one featured in the hit movie A League of Their Own. Nearly 600 women, all of them skilled athletes, earned a living by playing on all-female baseball teams in the All-American Girls Baseball League. Sophie Kurys of the Racine Belles was one such player, an aggressive infielder who in 1946 stole a phenomenal 201 bases. After the AAGBL's demise in 1954, women's baseball entered a period of doldrums, but with the successful integration of Little League, coaches began to help girls develop their baseball talents. With the admission of women to umpire ranks in the minors and the sexual integration of baseball on the college level, some say that the first woman baseball player in the majors is only now a matter of time. Is a woman's place at home ... plate? Women at Play is the first book to tell the whole fascinating story. Drawing on pioneering original research and interviews with many of the women who made - and are now making - baseball history, with some 70 photographs and illustrations, this is a handsome and thoroughly entertaining book that will prove an eye-opener to even the most informed baseball fan.
214 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
About the author
Barbara Gregorich
213 books24 followersBarbara Gregorich, who writes fiction and nonfiction for adults and for children, has in her writing career deliberately moved from one genre to another, writing about the things important in life — baseball, mystery, and social justice. Her seminal Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball won the SABR-MacMillan Award and laid the groundwork for other books on the subject. For her research and writings on women in baseball, Barbara Gregorich received the 2024 SABR Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2021 City of Light published The F Words, whose story of ICE persecution of immigrants focuses on the resilience of working class teens. Exit Velocity (2024) features a young working class woman who encounters discrimination in the workplace and assault on the streets. As she fights for her rights, she is aided by a parrot from another planet.
Barbara's most recent book, Ballad of the Horse and Mule: Some Will Make It Through, is a novella-in-verse, an exciting story of a cross-country endurance horse race. This story of competition, steadfastness, and friendship appeals to all ages.
For more information about Barbara and her books, visit her blog, Much to Write About, available on GoodReads.
In 2021 City of Light published The F Words, whose story of ICE persecution of immigrants focuses on the resilience of working class teens. Exit Velocity (2024) features a young working class woman who encounters discrimination in the workplace and assault on the streets. As she fights for her rights, she is aided by a parrot from another planet.
Barbara's most recent book, Ballad of the Horse and Mule: Some Will Make It Through, is a novella-in-verse, an exciting story of a cross-country endurance horse race. This story of competition, steadfastness, and friendship appeals to all ages.
For more information about Barbara and her books, visit her blog, Much to Write About, available on GoodReads.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 20, 2011
Who knew that women played baseball? Or, if you did know that they played, that it was not just the league featured in the movie A League of Their Own? Women's baseball has existed almost since the beginning of baseball, and this book tells its untold story.
March 16, 2025
Women's baseball has a different history; it's been largely shaped by its popular interest waxing and waning - and also how select women have pursued it through the years. Often they went against the grain of culture, running into a lot of systemic opposition along the way. This is in contrast to what has become Major League Baseball (MLB); the National League began back in the 19th century, the American League started in 1901 - with the first World Series being held in 1903. There have been plenty of changes and evolutions since then, but it's all been with some measure of continuity. Women's baseball has had less of this continuity, with more distinctive spurts that have emerged and faded.
This is an older book (published in 1993), but it does a good job of chronicling the history up to that point. Three key stages emerge: 1) The bloomer era, going up into the 1930s - where women began playing in bloomers (hence the name), usually on barnstorming teams - and usually with a few men participating on each team; 2) the All-American Girls' Baseball League (AAGBL), founded by Philip Wrigley in the World War II era, which was a stable league for a dozen years - and went through some interesting evolutions, especially with pitching: They switched from underhand (replicating softball) to sidearm to then overhand - and their teams found their niche in medium-sized cities (e.g. Grand Rapids, Rockford, Racine, South Bend, etc.) 3) The final section works up closer to the present, with an assorted collection of narratives of women trying to make it as umpires, on a college team, or with their own team.
The author's method of covering this history is mainly to profile some of the lead people, players, and characters in their individual chapters. So if a similar book on Major League players would hone around Babe Ruth (for homeruns), Lou Brock (for stolen bases), and Satchel Paige (for pitching) - this book introduces us Dorothy Kamenshek, Sophie Kurys, and Jackie Mitchell - respectively - each with their own area of excellence.
A couple constants in this book are 1) the historical record of opposition encountered by establishment figures - ranging from Kenesaw Mountain Landis' exclusionary rule for women trying to make it in the minor leagues, to Julie Croteau's failed lawsuit while attempting to get onto her high school's baseball team (and her subsequently making it onto a college team); 2) There are editorial insertions claiming women could and would make it if the establishment allowed for it. In the epilogue the author even indulges in the optimism that they will make it in the coming decades (which has never happened).
Since this book is older it doesn't go into the implications of the transgender movement for women's sports. Also, whenever softball comes up, its spoken of with low regard or as something that's not close to being the same. Sometimes there are useful contrasts that are explained; perhaps another volume would be good for looking into the relation between the two sports. From the current standpoint it certainly seems like softball has succeeded in filling the void for women; it is a well-recognized women's sport.
This book is designed a bit like a coffee-table book, though it's not completely in that genre. It is well-researched, with lots of pictures to make it more interesting for the casual reader. I'm glad I read it; it filled in my knowledge gaps about women's history with the great American pastime.
This is an older book (published in 1993), but it does a good job of chronicling the history up to that point. Three key stages emerge: 1) The bloomer era, going up into the 1930s - where women began playing in bloomers (hence the name), usually on barnstorming teams - and usually with a few men participating on each team; 2) the All-American Girls' Baseball League (AAGBL), founded by Philip Wrigley in the World War II era, which was a stable league for a dozen years - and went through some interesting evolutions, especially with pitching: They switched from underhand (replicating softball) to sidearm to then overhand - and their teams found their niche in medium-sized cities (e.g. Grand Rapids, Rockford, Racine, South Bend, etc.) 3) The final section works up closer to the present, with an assorted collection of narratives of women trying to make it as umpires, on a college team, or with their own team.
The author's method of covering this history is mainly to profile some of the lead people, players, and characters in their individual chapters. So if a similar book on Major League players would hone around Babe Ruth (for homeruns), Lou Brock (for stolen bases), and Satchel Paige (for pitching) - this book introduces us Dorothy Kamenshek, Sophie Kurys, and Jackie Mitchell - respectively - each with their own area of excellence.
A couple constants in this book are 1) the historical record of opposition encountered by establishment figures - ranging from Kenesaw Mountain Landis' exclusionary rule for women trying to make it in the minor leagues, to Julie Croteau's failed lawsuit while attempting to get onto her high school's baseball team (and her subsequently making it onto a college team); 2) There are editorial insertions claiming women could and would make it if the establishment allowed for it. In the epilogue the author even indulges in the optimism that they will make it in the coming decades (which has never happened).
Since this book is older it doesn't go into the implications of the transgender movement for women's sports. Also, whenever softball comes up, its spoken of with low regard or as something that's not close to being the same. Sometimes there are useful contrasts that are explained; perhaps another volume would be good for looking into the relation between the two sports. From the current standpoint it certainly seems like softball has succeeded in filling the void for women; it is a well-recognized women's sport.
This book is designed a bit like a coffee-table book, though it's not completely in that genre. It is well-researched, with lots of pictures to make it more interesting for the casual reader. I'm glad I read it; it filled in my knowledge gaps about women's history with the great American pastime.
April 1, 2022
I loved reading about all the women who played baseball. I was surprised to learn that women had played as far back as the beginnings of the game, in the 1860s. I had only previously been aware of the AAGBL from the 1940s. Being a baseball fanatic myself, i would have loved to play on an organized team. I hope that I live long enough to see women in Professional Baseball.
July 23, 2017
A must-read. Gives a good, basic overview.
March 22, 2017
Cool to hear about the real history of women in baseball, not just the story from "A League of Their Own". Interesting that women in baseball still isn't really a norm (if existent at all). My favorite part was reading about Chattanooga's local woman player!
June 6, 2016
Briefly: Boring but important
Barbara Gregorich’s book broaches a topic that every baseball fan should at some point familiarize himself or herself with: the history of women in the game. Nonetheless, Women at Play is a bit dry, so while it covers a good topic, it sometimes has a bit of an “eat your peas” feeling to it. Gregorich orients the book around player-focused chapters that do an effective job of highlighting significant women in baseball history; however, the format sacrifices much of the narrative effect. Too, because the topic has been touched on so rarely, Gregorich sometimes comes across as too sympathetic to the women she profiles.
Ultimately, Women at Play is worthwhile reading for the baseball fan. The chapters function as pocket-size chunks of information—player profiles—that round out one’s baseball knowledge. But as far as the actual reading experience goes, the book is homework.
Barbara Gregorich’s book broaches a topic that every baseball fan should at some point familiarize himself or herself with: the history of women in the game. Nonetheless, Women at Play is a bit dry, so while it covers a good topic, it sometimes has a bit of an “eat your peas” feeling to it. Gregorich orients the book around player-focused chapters that do an effective job of highlighting significant women in baseball history; however, the format sacrifices much of the narrative effect. Too, because the topic has been touched on so rarely, Gregorich sometimes comes across as too sympathetic to the women she profiles.
Ultimately, Women at Play is worthwhile reading for the baseball fan. The chapters function as pocket-size chunks of information—player profiles—that round out one’s baseball knowledge. But as far as the actual reading experience goes, the book is homework.
December 16, 2012
A nice history of women and the national pastime. I would love to have seen the Rockford Peaches play the Racine Belles. What fun for those of us who also happen to be women and love the game of baseball!
August 19, 2011
Very informative history of women in baseball. Also explains the transition of women playing baseball to softball.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews