In baseball, women will soon have a league of their own | The Excerpt
On Sunday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Since its inception, baseball has always had a place for female athletes. In fact, colleges and universities had women’s teams as far back as the 1860's. But at some point, women were shuffled into softball and opportunities to play hardball disappeared. Until now. Associate Professor of sports leadership and management at Miami University Callie Batts Maddox joins The Excerpt to talk about the launch of the Women's Pro Baseball League next year and what it will mean for women and girls who are passionate for the sport.
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Archival Video:
Indiana, and in the township of West Baden, baseball is by no means a game for the mere men. The girls are right in the professional spotlight.
Taylor Wilson:
America's favorite pastime has a decidedly strong female fan base. A 2024 survey revealed women make up 39% of those who attended or watched an MLB game and it's not just in the stands. The number of women working professionally in baseball has grown. Now, Americans can look forward to seeing the Women's Pro Baseball League in summer 2026.
Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, May 4th, 2025, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. Women's sports have been on the rise, so it only seems natural that a women's pro league would take shape, but women already make up a rich part of baseball history. For more on that history and the current momentum of women's baseball, I'm joined by Callie Batts Maddox, an associate professor of Sports Leadership and Management at Miami University. Callie, thank you so much for coming on The Excerpt today.
Callie Batts Maddox:
Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's start with the moment right now. Really interesting moment. As I mentioned at the top, there is strong women's interest in baseball. We know there's strong interest from women's fans and franchises are catering to them with special meetups and clubs as well. But perhaps more interesting, Callie, is the rise of women on the MLB payroll. Let's just give out some stats. As of 2023, as you've outlined, women made up 30% of central office professional staff and 27% of team senior administration jobs. And on top of that, 43 women held coaching and managerial jobs across the major and minor league levels, marking a 95% increase in just two years. So, a lot of numbers there as you've outlined, Callie. Are these increases more about interest or more opportunities?
Callie Batts Maddox:
I think it's both. I think it goes hand in hand. The increase for women having on-field positions within Major League Baseball, or professional baseball more widely, has increased tremendously. And that is a result of having more opportunities, coaching, strength and conditioning positions, that on-the-field action that was really limited to men in the past. We've seen women being involved in professional baseball in administrative positions quite consistently, but it's really that increase on the on-the-field positions that is quite remarkable, where we're seeing that interest, the skill level, what women can contribute to the game and their passion for the game as well.
Taylor Wilson:
And just considering this increase in women holding coaching and managerial positions in baseball, how do you see the landscape changing, really, for women in pro baseball?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Well, in pro baseball, I think the opportunities will continue to increase. Major League Baseball has done a very good job of opening up pipeline opportunities for women who are interested in working in professional baseball. They do a yearly series that focuses on opportunities for women and really creating a circular pipeline and a mentorship program so that the women who are involved can be mentors and role models for young women who are interested in coming into that space. So, I anticipate there's going to be a very consistent involvement of women in baseball, and, hopefully, some increases, and we're going to see even more women taking on leadership roles.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Let's take a step back and look at the history of women in baseball. I know this has been a focus of yours, Callie. Women have played baseball at least since the 1860s. That's the Civil War era, not long after, really, the creation of the entire sport. And for more context, professional men's baseball started in 1869. So, women were playing even before the men had a pro league.
Callie Batts Maddox:
Correct.
Taylor Wilson:
Where were women playing early on and who were some of the early teams?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Well, early on, where we see in the 1860s, women at colleges and universities. So, at all women's schools, like Smith and Vassar, they were organizing baseball teams and this was hardball. And we've seen baseball has evolved. The early form of the game was very different than we know it today, but women were playing what we would consider to be baseball. And so they started in the colleges and the universities, then moved on to what were called Bloomer Girl teams in the 1920s and they would barnstorm across the country. And they're playing hardball. And they are enjoying it. They are really helping to spread the game, and they are quite committed to it.
Taylor Wilson:
That's so cool. How did the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League impact the opportunities for women in baseball and what were some of the challenges they faced?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Well, I think that's an interesting question because what we don't often hear about is the time before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. We had women playing baseball as early as the late 1860s in colleges and universities. We had the Bloomer teams coming up in the 1920s and the '30s. There was a really robust movement in the '20s of women's baseball. We have a shift to softball that comes along. And then the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League arises in 1943 in the wake of World War II, to give women the opportunity to play. And again, it experiences an evolution as well too. And it really gave women, many of whom were from the working class, the chance to come and play ball and make a good living and travel and make lifelong relationships and lifelong friendships.
Taylor Wilson:
Even going back to the 1860s, as you said, they were playing hardball as opposed to softball. And you've written about how women, at some point, got pushed into playing softball instead. Why did that happen and how did that happen?
Callie Batts Maddox:
It's a great, great, great question, and the history is a little bit convoluted, and I think it's a story that we don't often hear about. We don't often question. We have an overriding cultural assumption in the United States that baseball is the sport for boys and men, and softball is the equivalent for girls and women. Softball was invented in 1887 by a group of men in Chicago who wanted to play during the winter time. They thought, "This is fun. We're going to develop an indoor version of baseball." And it was meant for boys and men to play. Women started to play as well.
But then these connotations and these meanings, these gendered meanings started to be placed upon these two sports, where softball eventually emerged as that preferred sport for girls and women because it was perceived to be a surrogate to baseball. It wasn't real baseball. It kind of looked like it, but the ball was bigger, the field is smaller. It didn't take as much of that perceived strength or endurance to play, and softball then becomes that option for girls and women. It's a long story and it is kind of linked to broader changes in how we view gender in society.
Taylor Wilson:
We'll talk a little bit more about softball and baseball here in a bit, but I feel like we can't have this conversation without at least mentioning the role of media and pop culture, especially with some of these older women's baseball leagues. Sports and movie fans in particular will of course remember the 1992 movie, In a League of Her Own, of course, about the All-American Girls Pro Baseball League, which we just mentioned. Last fall even there was a documentary about women's baseball called, See Her, Be Her. How has the perception of women in baseball evolved over the years and what role do media and popular culture play maybe in this transformation?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Right. Well, the influence and impact of the original A League of Their Own film cannot be overstated. That was tremendously impactful, in my own life as well. That was really a strong statement coming out, trying to revitalize this history, revitalize the memory of women playing baseball. And it really kind of set this stage for a lot of people to look back and honor this history and start to question, "Well, wait a second. Why are we not seeing more women playing baseball, being involved in baseball?"
And we've seen then the Amazon show. Amazon had a show based on A League of Their Own. It only lasted one season, unfortunately, but it did a really admirable job of extending the storyline to include narratives around race and sexuality that were not addressed in the original film. We see a few documentaries coming out. There's one called Hardball: The Girls of Summer, which is also excellent, which asks really important questions about these cultural assumptions that we have. And then See Her, Be Her, which is taking on the question of the globalization of women's baseball. This is not just happening in the United States. We've seen a global rise in women playing baseball, women being involved in baseball, and it sets a really exciting future because these types of popular cultural mediums, the media coverage, can really reach a lot of people. And I think it captures the excitement around this movement.
Taylor Wilson:
I think that's a great point about what's happening around the world as well, Callie. Despite some of this progress we're talking about, what are some of the remaining barriers that women might face in pursuing careers in professional baseball or just being part of this sport in general?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Yeah. I think there's just still this tremendously stubborn cultural stereotype that we have. Girls and women get kind of funneled off into the world of softball, which is absolutely fine. It's a great sport. It provides fantastic opportunities for young women. But baseball is a different sport. It's a different game. It has a different history, a different feel to it, and we need to honor that. And I think one of the big challenges is really chipping away at that stereotype and really seeing that women are invested in the game, that we are fans, we have a passion for the game, and that we really deserve an opportunity to be involved at all these different levels.
Taylor Wilson:
Let's dig a little bit more into bringing more young women and girls into the sport. And I want to be clear, we're not here to disparage softball, right?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Not at all, not at all.
Taylor Wilson:
This is just about baseball.
Callie Batts Maddox:
Yeah.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah. But how can we encourage more girls to play baseball instead of maybe always being directed towards softball? And what initiatives are currently in place to support those?
Callie Batts Maddox:
That's a great question. There's several initiatives that are really setting a strong path forward to give girls that opportunity. There's an organization called Baseball For All, which focuses on running tournaments, youth tournaments for girls. They started, more recently, a college level women's baseball tournament, which is fantastic. But the key point here, I think, is establishing that pipeline. So a lot of times, myself included, this is part of my own story, is that if a young girl is playing baseball, maybe playing Little League, is doing well, really loves the game, she gets to a certain point where the opportunities stop. Where she might be told, "If you want to go to college and get a scholarship, you need to switch to softball." So, there's a lack of infrastructure. There's a lack of pipeline opportunity. So, that's the gap that we really need to fill. The interest is there, girls want to play baseball, but we need to ensure that they have steady opportunities throughout their career, all the way from Little League, from Tee Ball, up through high school, into college, and hopefully now into this exciting pro league.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. That makes sense to me. Who are some of the key figures in women's baseball today that young players could maybe look up to and how have they contributed to the sport?
Callie Batts Maddox:
Kelsie Whitmore comes first to my head. She's been incredible. She's out there playing professional baseball with the men. She's a great role model. She speaks from the heart of saying, "This is what I love. And I've had to really fight to play the game." Around the world we have Ayami Sato from Japan, who is probably the best women's pitcher in the world. She's phenomenal. Alex Hugo is a great ambassador for the women's game, has been very vocal in lending her support to really building the momentum for women's baseball.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, next year is a big year for this league. Just in general, looking ahead, what do you envision for the future of women's baseball, both in terms of professional opportunities and, really, also broader societal impact?
Callie Batts Maddox:
I think if we look at the new professional league that's slated to start in summer '26, this will be a global league. I'm very excited to see representation from other countries and international players coming in, and I think that's incredibly important. This is not just a domestic league just for Americans. It's not just our game. It's a globalized game. So, I think the presence of international players in the league will be important because, again, that could serve as role modeling for other young women in other countries who want to see that pipeline opportunity, who want to know that they could play professionally one day. Japan used to have a professional women's baseball league. They're working on another one as well. But this could be groundbreaking in terms of the global development of baseball.
On the flip side, I think there's some really exciting international development being done in terms of World Cup baseball. There's a women's baseball World Cup that's been held every two or four years for the past, oh boy, 20 years or so now, and that's growing. And again, that is international support that is really helping to broaden the conversation of sporting opportunities for women around the world and in some very surprising places. I was just reading today that there's the Asian Women's Baseball Cup taking place right now, and so we have Pakistan playing Sri Lanka, Thailand is playing Iran, which is incredible. And I think as Americans, we need to recognize that there are women around the world playing this game.
Taylor Wilson:
Amazingly put, I really love your passion for this topic, Callie. Thank you so much for hopping on with me and discussing.
Callie Batts Maddox:
Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.