All-American Women's Baseball Classic honors -- and makes -- history
Melanie Martinez-Lopez
Young girls and their dads made their way to Durham Bulls Athletic Park, but they weren¡¯t there to watch the Rays¡¯ Triple-A affiliate play ball.
They arrived at the stadium to watch the All-American Women¡¯s Baseball Classic over the weekend of Oct. 11-13. The tournament was created by Sue Zipay, who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, as another step toward starting a women¡¯s professional baseball league.
She began her pursuit after discovering a young girl in Venice, Fla., who would only have the option of playing softball once she aged out of Little League. Zipay, 90, understood the frustration as a member of the 1953-54 Rockford Peaches. Zipay, the president of American Girls Baseball, was also in "A League of Their Own," the 1992 blockbuster film that celebrated the AAGPBL.
¡°I looked at her and I thought, ¡®This was me 80 years ago. What is wrong with this society? What's wrong with this picture?'¡± Zipay said in a phone interview with MLB.com. ¡°And that's the thing that got me going. She should be able to choose.¡±
More from MLB Pipeline:
? Top 100 prospects | Stats | Video | Podcast | Complete coverage
The All-American Women¡¯s Baseball Classic is playing a part in the growth of girls' and women¡¯s baseball, along with Major League Baseball youth initiatives to help make girls' baseball more accessible: the Trailblazer Series, the GRIT ID tour, the Girls Baseball Breakthrough Series and the Girls Baseball Elite Development Invitational.
This year, the tournament had to be held in a different location from Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles¡¯ Spring Training complex in Sarasota, Fla., where the event was held in the past two years.
Michael Goodmon, the executive vice president of Capitol Broadcast Company, offered the Bulls' facilities to host the event since CBC owns the organization.
¡°Michael Goodmon has a 13-year-old daughter who is passionate about women¡¯s baseball,¡± said CBC vice president of baseball operations Mike Birling. ¡°She does not want to play softball. She wants to play baseball. So Michael being the proud father that he is, he¡¯s very passionate about not only the game of baseball -- but now with his daughter growing up -- about women¡¯s baseball as well.¡±
Pieces of the AAGPBL history were maintained with the four squads that played in the tournament named after the original AAGPBL teams from 1943 -- South Bend Blue Sox, Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets and Rockford Peaches. Thus the 55 players who participated -- 13 of which were Women¡¯s National Team alum -- were honoring history while also being part of it.
When they walked around the concourse between games, players were asked for autographs and photos by young fans in attendance -- as well as by their competitors.
¡°Instead of a normal situation where your game is done and you go back to the hotel, these women were hopping into the stands to try and watch their friends play,¡± Birling remembered. ¡°It was pretty obvious who the women were and they stand out, so I think a lot of young kids just saw that and took that opportunity to talk with them.¡±
From the moment the players arrived in Durham, they received the pro treatment.
¡°One of the players called and said, ¡®Sue, I want to tell you thank you so much for what you started and what you¡¯ve done, and the Durham experience was wonderful,¡¯¡± Zipay recalled. ¡°She said, ¡®...They had our names on the locker, they washed our uniforms after every game. They provided food. The hotel accommodations were excellent.¡¯ She went on and on about how all the players felt like they were real pros, the way they were treated every single step of the way by Durham.¡±
Watching the event was not limited to those who were there in person. For the first time, it was live-streamed for fans to watch from home. Zipay couldn't attend the event due to medical reasons, but she was glued to her screen in her home in Sarasota.
¡°It¡¯s incredible. I watched every single game on the MLB app and listened to them, and it was great,¡± she said. ¡°People can still go back there now and see it. I can go back and see the finals. It means a lot, because one of the reasons I got started was a young girl here in Sarasota¡¡±
Watching the interest in women's baseball grow has reinforced to Zipay that her dream of seeing a women's baseball professional league can come to fruition soon.
¡°We [members of the AAGPBL board] are all dying to see another pro league before we die,¡± she said.