Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime (Writing Baseball)

By Jean Hastings Ardell

Book Overview

While baseball is traditionally perceived as a game to be played, enjoyed, and reported from a masculine perspective, it has long been beloved among women-- more so than any other spectator sport. Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime upends baseball's accepted history to at last reveal just how involved women are, and have always been, in the American game.

Through provocative interviews and deft research, Jean Hastings Ardell devotes a detailed chapter to each of the seven ways women participate in the game-- from the stands as fans, on the field as professionals or as amateur players, behind the plate as umpires, in the front office as executives, in the press box as sportswriters and reporters, or in the shadows as Baseball Annies. From these revelatory vantage points, Ardell invites overdue appreciation for the affinity and talent women bring to baseball at all levels and shows us our national game anew.

From its ancient origins in spring fertility rituals through contemporary marketing efforts geared toward an ever-increasing female fan base, baseball has always had a feminine side, and generations of women have sought-- and been sought after-- to participate in the sport, even when doing so meant challenging the cultural mores of their era. In that regard, women have been breaking into baseball from the very beginning. But recent decades have witnessed great strides in legitimizing women's roles on the diamond as players and umpires as well as in vital management and media roles. In her thoughtfully organized and engagingly written survey, Ardell offers a chance for sports enthusiasts and historians of both genders to better appreciate the storied and complex relationship women have so long shared with the game and to glimpse the future of women in baseball.

Breaking into Baseball is augmented by twenty-four illustrations and a foreword from Ila Borders, the first woman to play more than three seasons of men's professional baseball.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809326264
• ISBN13: 9780809326266
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.9" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Ladies' Day

I'm objective about this book, and I declare it a real winner. Although it's about women "breaking into" the great national pastime, men will find the historic aspects of interest, as well. The fact that the author quotes a "Washington Post" article of mine on the subject of the first Ladies Day Game played in the nation's capital does not influence my favorable opinion. It is a well researched and well credited book. I would hasten to recommend it.

"Breaking Into Baseball" Breaks New Ground

Just when you think anything and everything has been written about baseball, along comes this book. Ms. Ardell approaches the subject from all angles, including some I never thought of, and I've been around the game as a journalist for several years. Her research is particularly impressive, with details such as the first female umpire to sign a game scorecard. Professional baseball is one of the last bastions of male chauvinism, and Ms. Ardell reminds us that the national pastime isn't quite as national as we'd like to believe. Definitely worth a five-star rating; I'll be sending out this book as gifts to people in the business with the hope that it opens not just eyes but minds and hearts too.

Engaging and Inspirational

Jean Hastings Ardell has captured the essence of the connection between baseball and women in her well-written and thoroughly-researched chapters. Whether they are men or women, fans or players, readers will enjoy her fast-paced writing, her sense of perspective, her conscientious scholarship, and her sense of humor. Ms. Ardell's love for the game is evident on every page, and she taps into that connection for readers, enabling them to celebrate their own love for the game of baseball.