MLB: Can a Woman Play in the Major Leagues?

What would it take for a female to make all the way to the MLB? Let’s look into the possibilities.

On Friday night, the Sonoma Stompers took the field with two women in their lineup. Stacy Piagno was on the mound for the Stompers and Kelsie Whitmore took her place in left field. The first pitch from Piagno was a strike and the game was under way. Piagno got through the first inning without allowing a run or a hit and the final out was a fly ball caught by Whitmore in left. Whitmore later walked in her first time at bat. It was a nice start for both women.

Ultimately, Piagno was removed in the third inning with the Stompers down 3-1 and Whitmore did not get a hit in the game, going 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout (Piagno did not come to bat because the league uses a DH). Piagno allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks in two-plus innings. As the game was being played, the world of Twitter had some excited and encouraging female fans, along with some supportive men, but there were also men voicing negative views.

One guy tweeted, “but yet if a guy wanted to play softball or in the WNBA it’s not fair.”

Another added, “didn’t know feminist [sic] were up this late. This is a publicity stunt. They will be a thing in the past in two months” and “what’s great about it? Please enlighten me. I’ll think it’s a ‘okay’ story when the roles are reversed.”

The negativity could easily be written off as trolls, as the internet is filled with them, but the underlying theme of these tweets is that women can’t compete with men on the baseball field. I don’t believe these men are trolling just for trolling’s sake. I think they genuinely don’t believe women are talented enough to play baseball with men at this level.

Next: A look back at the history of women in baseball