# Women playing Major League Baseball? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245 "2001-09-01T02:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/1 "2001-09-01T02:21:58Z")
Will a woman ever play for a Major League Baseball team? A possible scenario could be an American League team signing a woman pitcher, assuming the DH is still in effect. How soon could this happen? And how will the game change? ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/2 "2001-09-01T02:28:34Z")
Women have of course played professional baseball for minor league teams, but these were just publicity stunts, for the most part. The women in question were not particularly good players. It is possible that a woman will play major league baseball (anything is possible), but it’s not very likely. Women are just built differently physically from men. Perhaps there is a woman who can throw a 90 MPH fastball, but I don’t think she’s been discovered yet. Again, it’s possible that it will happen, but I’d wager against it. The best chance I’d see of it ever happening would be a knuckleball pitcher. It doesn’t take much as far as sheer strength, and I don’t see why a woman couldn’t master that pitch if she practiced it enough. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/3 "2001-09-01T02:50:12Z")
A woman will not play Major League baseball until a commissioner overturns [Ford Frick’s decision](http://www.baseballhistory.com/womenmain.asp) to officially ban women from playing professional baseball. > [@](#): > > In 1931, Jackie Mitchell became the first professional female player when she signed a contract to play with the Southern Association minor league team, the Chattanooga Lookouts. On April 2, 1931, Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, back to back, in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. Shortly thereafter, baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis terminated Mitchell’s contract on the premise that the game of baseball was too strenuous for women. On June 21, 1952 women were officially banned from the game of professional baseball by Commissioner Ford Frick. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/4 "2001-09-01T02:55:01Z")
Let me correct that… I’m a bit confused now, because to the best of my knowledge, Ford Frick’s declaration was never overturned. However, I did find a site about [Ila Borders](http://www.ilaborders.com/), the first woman to win a men’s professional baseball game. As I understand it, she plays for an independant league, so I’m guessing the Frick’s banning applies only to the Majors. ---
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/5 "2001-09-01T03:01:15Z")
Crunchy - Wow. I didn’t know that MLB has officially BANNED women. I can’t imagine that would hold up in court. In the article you referenced, it states that the White Sox drafted a woman in the amateur draft back in 1993. The player was a relative of the general manager, so that appears to be the motivating factor. Still, what if she tore up the minors and generated some interest? The Sox may have considered challanging the ban against woman players. I think a pitching-starved team would consider a woman if she was exceptionally talented. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/6 "2001-09-01T03:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > \*\*Crunchy - > > Wow. I didn’t know that MLB has officially BANNED women. I can’t imagine that would hold up in court.\*\* It wouldn’t, so it’s irrelevant. If a woman were actually to succeed in organized baseball, the “Ban” on women would be completely ignored. I doubt most owners are even aware it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/7 "2001-09-01T03:41:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > \*\*Will a woman ever play for a Major League Baseball team? > > A possible scenario could be an American League team signing a woman pitcher, assuming the DH is still in effect. > > How soon could this happen? And how will the game change? \*\* Will it happen? It’s possible, heck Mark hit 70 HR and Barry looks like he’s gonna give it a run. It might even be likely but never will it be common. I think they’d at most number a few players. How soon? Hard to say How will the game change? Not at all. Women competing against men have had a terrible history despite the very famous defeat of Bobby Riggs by Billie Jean King they almost always lose. It is almost always the man who wins. Both the Williams sisters lost a 1 set competition in 98, and there was a co-ed Canadian 1 set match last year, also the man one. Even though they don’t directly compete in foot races they races similar courses and I doubt there is any race from the 50 meter to the marathon where women have better times then men. And just as it has already been mentioned they are built differently. Men have a body design made solely for performance. Women’s bodys have to acommodate giving birth, this means there legs are further apart and there weight is distributed differently. They have higher fat content and less muscles. Also remember that the MLB is the elite of the elite. I’m sure there are women who could compete in college, A ball and maybe even AA but getting into AAA I think the level is just too high for them to perform. And then comes MLB. There may be a few that are exceptional and can make it but even if everything was open I’m sure there’d never be more then 1 or 2 at a time playing. And I think the same goes for the NBA, NFL and NHL. Although I do know there was a female goalie for one of the hockey teams. [but she only played 1 exhibition game. And sometimes you read an article like [url="[http://slate.msn.com/culturebox/entries/01-07-06\_111580.asp"]this](http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/7361/stats.htm"=Manon](http://slate.msn.com/culturebox/entries/01-07-06_111580.asp%22%5Dthis%5D(http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/7361/stats.htm%22=Manon) Rheaume[/url) which really makes you wonder if even they take themselves seriously. Oh, here’s the home page you might be[interested](http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~j-yen/SilverBullets/sb.html) in ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/8 "2001-09-01T03:45:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > **Wow. I didn’t know that MLB has officially BANNED women. I can’t imagine that would hold up in court.** I believe professional ML baseball is not subject to most business laws, specifically (and this one I’m sure of) it is not subject to laws about monopolies. I’m pretty sure it is pretty much given free reign to govern itself as it sees fit. But **RickJay** is right. If a woman did succeed in baseball, Frick’s ruling would be ignored and, if brought up, most likely overturned. IMO, I don’t see why a woman would even have to be restricted to pitching duties. There’s no reason a woman couldn’t play a field position. All you need for defense is good hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Whether or not they’d be homerun threats is irrelevent, as I can imagine a woman being a contact hitter, batting for average and stealing bases. From what I’ve seen, running speed, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination isn’t gender-specific. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/9 "2001-09-01T03:53:14Z")
I don’t expect to see women in major league baseball, but it’s not impossible. SUPPOSE, for a moment, that an elite woman athlete like Jackie Joyner-Kersee had trained as hard to be a baseball player as she did to be a heptathlon and sprint star. Jackie is, you’ll agree, MUCH faster than most men in major league baseball. And she’s a javelin champ, which means she has a very strong throwing arm. So… is it so outlandish to suggest that she COULD have made a good center fielder? ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/10 "2001-09-01T05:49:20Z")
Of course there was the legendary Babe Didrikson who played with the unusual “bearded” House of David baseball team. Once, While waiting her turn to bat a woman heckled her from the stands “where’s your beard, Babe?” To which Babe replied, “I’m sitting on mine, sister…” ---
**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/11 "2001-09-01T07:41:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > \*\*Crunchy - > > Wow. I didn’t know that MLB has officially BANNED women. I can’t imagine that would hold up in court. > > \*\* Do you think if a guy wanted to play for a WNBA team, the court would back him? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/12 "2001-09-01T08:10:40Z")
If a woman can play shortstop and hit over .270, the Dodgers could sure use her! ---
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/13 "2001-09-01T10:48:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by kgriffey79_ > > Do you think if a guy wanted to play for a WNBA team, the court would back him? That’s a darn good question. I suppose ideally, there’s no reason ANYONE can’t play in ANY league they want. Practically, though, I think the WNBA makes more sense than a ban on woman baseball players. Pro basketball is a contact sport. Even the most gifted woman athlete would struggle to compete against 7-foot-tall, 300+ lb men. Seperate leagues in basketball makes a lot of sense. As for pro football, a woman place kicker doesn’t seem too far-fetched. I’m not a big golf fan, but are there any practical reasons why men and woman don’t compete against one another on the pro level? ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/14 "2001-09-01T11:09:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Soup \* > \*\*I’m not a big golf fan, but are there any practical reasons why men and woman don’t compete against one another on the pro level? \*\* Men can hit the ball further. Which is why some, if not most, golf courses have seperate mens and womens tee areas. But this sport is probably their best chance to compete on the pro level. Despite the fact that women may be able to perform well enough to execute some plays there will always be a comparatively trained male player who is stronger and taller. So even though a woman could kick a field goal the team would be better off drafting a man who could kick one from further out. There also have been a few cases of all female sports teams (usually for young kids) being sued to allow boys to play. They refused surprsingly using the same arguements that boys used to keep girls out of their sports, namely the girls will get hurt. I think it was in Mother Jones magazine which I no longer have. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/15 "2001-09-01T11:20:28Z")
Here’s a similar article. [link](http://www.redding.com/newsarchive/20000823coldh017.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-playing-major-league-baseball/79245/16 "2001-09-01T12:44:56Z")
There already is a Division 1 (NCAA) female place kicker. > [@](#): > > JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Ashley Martin became the first woman to play and score in a Division I football game Thursday night, kicking three extra points in three tries for Jacksonville State against Cumberland… [http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2001/0830/1246153.html](http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2001/0830/1246153.html)