Women in baseball
Women have helped shape baseball in America for more than a century. Here are the key moments in a simpler, shorter version.
Early days and pioneers (mid-1800s to 1930s)
- Women’s baseball began in colleges in New York and New England. Teams formed at Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, and Mount Holyoke in the mid-1800s.
- An African American women’s team, the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, started in 1867.
- The Bloomer Girls were a famous all-female team in the late 1890s, touring the United States and drawing big crowds.
- Lizzie Arlington became the first woman to play for a professional men’s team in 1898, pitching for the Reading Coal Heavers.
- Nellie Twardzik was the first girl to play on a boys’ high school varsity team in 1935.
Women breaking ground on and off the field
- Lizzie Murphy was a standout in the 1920s, known for playing against major league players and earning good pay for a woman at that time.
- Margaret Donahue was the first non-owner female front office executive in Major League Baseball, starting with the Chicago Cubs in 1919 and serving in leadership roles until 1958.
- Effa Manley became a Hall of Fame co-owner of the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues (1935–1948) and remains the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006).
World War II era and the rise of women in professional leagues
- During World War II, many star players were drafted. To keep baseball going, Philip K. Wrigley helped form the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which operated from 1943 to 1954 with teams in twelve cities. The Rockford Peaches were especially successful.
- The AAGPBL inspired the 1992 film A League of Their Own and later a 2022 TV series that revisited the era.
Umpires, executives, and other administrative milestones
- Amanda Clement umpired semi-pro games as early as 1905, showing women’s early presence behind the plate.
- Bernice Gera became the first woman to umpire a professional game in 1972 after winning a discrimination case in New York.
- Pam Postema was the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball spring training game in 1988.
- Jane Forbes Clark has chaired the Baseball Hall of Fame board since 2000, contributing to the sport’s governance.
Little League, school, and college barriers
- Kathryn Johnston became the first girl to play Little League in 1950, but girls were barred by a rule until 1974, when a court case led to changes and then the law that year allowed girls to participate in Little League.
- Julie Croteau was the first woman to play NCAA baseball in 1988.
- Ila Borders became the first woman to start as a pitcher in a men’s college game in 1995.
Women in baseball management, scouting, and front offices
- Edith Houghton, a former player, became the first woman to work as an independent MLB scout in 1946.
- Kim Ng made history in 2020 as the first woman to be general manager of an MLB team, the Miami Marlins, and in 2023 she led a postseason-bound team. She later helped lead the Marlins again, though the team did not win a playoff game that year.
- Other trailblazers include Veronica Gajownik becoming the first woman to manage a Class High-A team (Hillsboro Hops) in 2023.
Women as coaches, players, and broadcast talent
- Justine Siegal helped launch the Women’s Pro Baseball League in the U.S. in 2024 and has worked to advance women as coaches and players.
- In broadcasting, Gayle Gardner (1989) and Lesley Visser (1990) were early pioneers. Jessica Mendoza became the first female MLB game analyst on ESPN in 2015. Since then, women have repeatedly broken broadcasting barriers, including all-female crews and prominent roles in play-by-play and analysis.
- In management and on-field roles, Bianca Smith became a minor league coach in 2021, the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball. In 2022, Rachel Balkovec became a minor league manager for the Yankees’ affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons.
- In 2023–2024, Veronica Gajownik and other women have continued to make firsts in management and coaching at various levels. Jocelyn Alo joined the Savannah Bananas in 2023, becoming a notable female presence in entertainment-style baseball; in 2024 she became the team’s first female member.
Women’s baseball around the world and milestones for players
- The first Women’s Baseball World Cup was held in 2004 in Edmonton, Canada.
- The United States won gold at the Pan American Games baseball tournament in 2015.
- International milestones include women competing in leagues and tournaments in Canada, Asia, and beyond, with newer leagues forming over the last decade.
Recent firsts and ongoing progress
- The list of firsts keeps growing: women starting, and sometimes pitching, in leagues once closed to them; women taking on roles as coaches, managers, and officials; and women shaping the sport’s design, stadiums, and broadcast coverage.
- New players continue to break barriers in college, minor leagues, and independent leagues. A growing number of women are working as executives, scouts, umpires, broadcasters, and coaches at various levels of professional baseball.
Overall, women have long helped run, coach, play, and broadcast baseball, and they keep pushing for more chances to compete and lead in the sport.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:54 (CET).