Baseball and Females
The legendary game of baseball, the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat, the hot dogs and peanuts, and most of all the excitement. America's pastime has had a long history filled with great moments, heroic players, and breakthroughs in our modern society. It all started in 1869 when the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings took the field. They were all male and would eventually be known as the first boys of summer. The first professional girls team was created six years later which in turn grew into more women's teams, but was overshadowed by the growing men's leagues and they eventually dwindled and faded away. The women knew they could play and compete at a level as high or higher than their counterparts and throughout the 20th century proved this by developing successful women's leagues and teams. These were strong determined women who believed in themselves and proved to the world that they were the girls of summer.
In 1870's women could not vote or own property, but they could play baseball. In 1875 the first professional girls baseball team was created. They wore uniforms that weighed almost thirty pounds, consisting of floor length skirts, underskirts, a long-sleeved high-necked blouse, and high button shoes. In the 1890's Amelia Bloomer developed a more practical uniform and in her honor the "Bloomer Girls" teams were created. The Bloomer Girls teams rarely played each other, but traveled across America challenging local town, semi-pro, and minor league men's teams. The Bloomer Girls won on frequent occasions, playing competitive ball. These teams gave women an excellent opportunity for employment, travel and adventure for anyone who could hit, field, slide, or catch. The Bloomer girls would eventually dwindle and disappear in 1934, and be replaced by professional softball teams. It was a less competitive game with shorter base paths, a bigger ball, no stealing, and underhand pitching.
In 1943 a man by the name of Phillip Wrigley received word from President Roosevelt that the Major League Baseball season would be suspended due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II. Phillip Wrigley wanted to keep baseball going through the wartime, and joined forces with several small town entrepreneurs and created the first official baseball league for women called the All American Girls Baseball League (AAGBL). Thirty scouts were hired to start looking for the best softball players all over the United States.
Ever since the creation of Major League Baseball (MLB), baseball has always been considered part of America’s pastime. A crucial role of American society was also included in baseball, segregation. The color barrier in baseball was broken on April 15, 1947 by the Brooklyn Dodgers when Jackie Robinson stepped on the field for his first at bat. With such a large part of American society now becoming integrated, many Americans were questioning their emotions, some were inspired by such an act of courage and others were filled with hatred towards a minority. “Professional baseball has become the laboratory to test American principles of equality and fairness.” , with this being said, baseball was a way for American’s to test the limits and their
Later in the century, the first women’s softball team was formed in 1895 at Chicago’s West Division High School. The team did not receive a coach for competitive play until 1899. At that time it was very difficult to develop interest among fans. About five years later women’s softball received more attention when “The Spalding Indoor Baseball Guide devoted a large section of the guide to the game of women’s softball (Cohen 52).” In 1933, the Chicago National Tournament also advanced the sport. At this competition, the male and female champions were honored equally. Also in 1933, “the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) was founded to govern and promote softball in the United States (World Book).” The ASA set up a committee that established one set of rules now used by teams in all parts of the world.
Connectors, mavens, and salesmen, personalities that are part of the “Law of the Few”, are essential for a social epidemic or revolution to begin. Gladwell describes connectors as “…people whose social circle is four or five times the size of other people’s. Sprinkled among every walk of life… are people with an extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are connectors” (Gladwell 41). Paul Revere, a gregarious individual who was a member of several social clubs, unknowingly used his powers as a connector to invoke a social epidemic during his “midnight ride”.
Advocates for removing the AD diagnosis from the DSM-V find that distinguishing between autism subgroups such as Asperger’s Disorder, Kanner syndrome and PDD-NOS is unreliable (Wing, et al., 2011). An article in the Research in Developmental Disabilities journal states that though some children’s disorders may evidently fit into one category, others have a mixture of features from different conditions that could be more easily classified on a spectrum. They contend that the diagnosis of Asperger’s ...
Baseball developed before the Civil War but did not achieve professional status until the 1870s (The Baseball Glove, 2004). In 1871 the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was formed. Unfortunately the organization ran into financial hardships and was abandoned in 1875. The following year marked the formation of the National League of Professional Baseball Players, which was soon shortened to the National League (Ibid). In 1884 the rival American League was founded and th...
In addition, to athletes like Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League was game changing to female sports. The All-American Professional Girls Baseball League was the first, and only, female baseball league in history. This league was developed during World War II when “ in the interests of patriotism, women were encouraged to do all the things normally reserved for men” (Johnson XIX). At the time the book, When Women Played Hardball, was written in 1994, no other professional sports team had lasted as long as this baseball league. The league lasted a solid nine years. These women did not just play baseball, they broke records. “ Kurys, the "Flint Flash", stole 201 bases [in a season]. Her
The film “A League of Their Own,” depicts a fictionalized tale of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. This league was started during World War II when many of the Major Leagues Biggest stars were drafted to the war. MLB owners decided to start this league with hopes of making money while the men were overseas fighting. Traditional stereotypes of women in sports were already in force before the league even begins. One of the scouts letts Dottie, one of the films main characters she is the perfect combination of looks as well as talent. The scout even rejects one potential player because she is not as pretty as the league is looking for even though she is a great baseball player. The player, Marla’s father said if she was a boy she would be playing for the Yankee’s. Eventually Mara’s father is able to convince the scout to take Marla to try outs because he raised her on his own after her mother died. Her father says it is his fault his daughter is a tomboy. In this case the film reinforces the traditional stereotype that mothers are in charge of raising their daughters and teaching them to be a lady, where fathers are incapable of raising girls to be anything other than a tomboy. The focus on beauty also reinforces the traditional stereotype that men will only be interested in women’s sports when the females participating in
As of 2011, baseball games were viewed by an average of 1.01 billion people, second highest in all sports in America (Calcaterra). Baseball’s popularity still remains high today. Because it is one of America’s oldest sports. Major League Baseball’s (MLB) unwillingness to change its founding principles, has been one of the reasons that the sport has remained popular through time.
Evidence provided to support these claims of human and wildlife harm is largely from laboratory studies in which large doses are fed to test animals, usually rats or mice, and field studies of wildlife species that have been exposed to the chemicals mentioned above. In laboratory studies, high doses are required to give weak hormone activity. These doses are not likely to be encountered in the environment. However the process of bioaccumulation can result in top-level predators such as humans to have contaminants at levels many million times greater than the environmental background levels (Guilette 1994). In field studies, toxicity caused by endocrine disruption has been associated with the presence of certain pollutants. Findings from such studies include: reproductive disruption in starfish due to PCBs, bird eggshell thinning due to DDT, reproductive failure in mink, small penises in alligators due to DDT and dicofol (Guillette 1994, Colburn et al 1996). In addition, a variety of reproductive problems in many other species are claimed to be associated with environmental contamination although the specific causative agents have not been determined. One recent discovery that complicates the situation is that there are many naturally occurring "phytoestrogens", or chemicals of plant origin that exhibit weak estrogenic properties.
Humans are among the many terrestrial mammals affected by the endocrine-disrupting capabilities of bisphenol A. The majority of human exposure comes from consumption of BPA from food products packaged in polycarbonate plastics (Crain et al., 2007). Laboratory studies done on mice indicate that exposure to high concentrations of BPA can cause pregnancy complications, reproductive organ defects, obesity, early puberty, and cancer (reviewed by Flint et al., 2012).
Lesko, J. (2005). League History. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association. Retrieved for this paper Mar 20, 2014 from, http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/12/league-history
Once women gained there places in the world of sports, there were still other obstacles to overcome. For example, during World War II, a women's baseball league was formed. However, the women were not there for the spirit of sport and competition. Their uniforms were cute and highly feminine. They wore skirts. This was a way to attract more spectators and to make sure that women playing baseball did not get to competitive or go against any standards for women of that time. Therefore, even when women were defying society, they were forced to conform in some aspects.
Maternity leave is a time when a woman leaves before her pregnancy and can stay gone from a company anywhere from 4-6 weeks, after the birth of her baby. The promise of holding your job is guaranteed, but on this leave you collect no income. The issues widely debated is whether men should have the option whether to take maternity leave and if maternity leave should be paid. Bonding is crucial to early childhood development for both parents. Introducing a baby into a family’s life, can affect a family financially and physically, due to lack of time with your child.
Kelly, Jon. "The Politics of Paternity Leave." BBC News. BBC, 26 Aug. 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
ASEAN was formed to promote economic growth, understand each other cultures and to enhance and sustain own country’s living standards so as to allow their citizens to maximize their full potential. These countries will also arrange a meeting regularly so as to discuss on how to improve on ASEAN Trade and also with more interaction, they are able to synchronize among them and it has the benefit to ensure that civil peace are always in place.