Read on Twitter
I would like to take time on this day to remind everyone that girls and women play baseball, too. I've written a bit about this so please indulge me for a few tweets.
From Jul 2017, about an all-girls traveling baseball team: "Strickland pauses and then asks, "Can I say something else?" Confidently and unprompted, she says, "I will want to play baseball until I'm not allowed to play anymore."" https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2721039-girls-travel-baseball-team-mlb-youth
From Aug 2018, about women's baseball in Japan vs. the US: "The country has a pipeline from youth baseball to the pro league, something the U.S. can only envy at this point." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/japanese-women-baseball_n_5b804007e4b0cd327dfc774b
From Oct 2018, about the Women's Baseball World Cup: "And in an industry that is full of men, as far as I could tell, very few bothered to show up." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/womens-baseball-world-cup_n_5bd4c3b9e4b0d38b58841f3c
From Sep 2019, when I talked to USA baseballer Malaika Underwood for @BurnItDownPod, who said: "I don't think I fully appreciated the history of women in baseball until much later. But certainly having those role models was an important thing for me." https://www.burnitalldownpod.com/episodes/125
And, of course, there's a long history of women and girls playing baseball, it's exactly as long as the history of baseball itself. Funny that. This piece from @britnidlc is stellar: https://narratively.com/the-hidden-queer-history-behind-a-league-of-their-own/
Britni's piece here, too, about little league: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/23/maria-pepe-bfa-baseball-series-now
Then there's Dr. @mirarose88: https://read.dukeupress.edu/radical-history-review/article-abstract/2016/125/74/22290/No-League-of-Their-OwnBaseball-Black-Women-and-the
And @curlyfro's work, of which this piece on Manley is a great example: https://www.sbnation.com/2020/4/30/21238190/effa-manley-hall-of-fame-negro-league-newark-eagles
And I love Jennifer Ring's Stolen Bases so much: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48yen7sx9780252032820.html
OMG @mirarose88 I totally missed this interview! More from Dr. Davis on Black women in baseball: https://www.c-span.org/video/?467687-7/african-american-women-sports&event=467687&playEvent
I could keep going.... https://ussporthistory.com/2016/03/21/black-women-in-baseball/
But I'll end it here, with a piece about the 2018 Women's Baseball World Cup by @mckinneykelsey, who I cornered into being my friend while we were reporting on the tournament: https://longreads.com/2018/11/29/womens-baseball-world-cup-2018/
Feel free to drop other links. This is all to say, I'm thrilled about Kim Ng, but she's not a unicorn.
LOL j/k one more. On @BurnItDownPod, Amira interviewed Renée Tirado last year about inclusion in the MLB: "Because the goal is to place these women in roles and jobs to get them exposure." https://www.burnitalldownpod.com/episodes/103
