For nearly all of the highlights of Julie Croteau’s pioneering baseball career — all, in fact, except for her time as a double in «A League of Their Own» — she shared the field with men. Often as teammates. Always as enemies. This is mostly the case with generations of actresses.
So when she recently heard about plans to give today’s female players a chance to shine against other women in baseball, Croteau had one thought.
«It’s about time,» she said with a sneer.
The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) announced plans last month to begin 2026 as a six-team circuit for female players. If and when it does, it will be the first women’s professional league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — the one immortalized in «A League of Their Own» — disbanded in 1954.
The increased interest in women’s sports in recent years makes it an ideal time to start a women’s baseball league, said co-founder Justine Siegal, the first woman to coach an MLB team with the Oakland Athletics in 2015.
Consulting firm Deloitte has estimated that women’s sports will generate $1 billion in global revenue for the first time in 2024 thanks to soaring popularity and marketing deals. The WNBA had its most watched regular season in 24 years thanks in large part to its star-studded rookie class led by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. The inaugural season of the professional women’s hockey league brought a record number of visitors.
«We’re definitely standing on the shoulders of the success of other professional leagues,» Siegal said.
Siegal sought advice from women running other professional leagues and examines what made them successful. This includes meeting the special needs of female athletes, who often face different responsibilities than their male counterparts.
In 2009, Siegall was the first woman to coach a professional baseball team with the Brockton Rox, and the first woman to take batting practice during the 2001 spring training of an MLB team with Cleveland.
At the time, Siegalo recalls finding babysitters for her daughter while she coached, and pulling her daughter out of school and, in some cases, bringing her to the field with her.
«I had to do a lot of things to make my dreams come true,» Siegal said. «That’s why I’m making a special effort to make sure we don’t overlook mothers who can compete and deserve a spot in the league.»
When she was 13, a coach told Siegal she shouldn’t play baseball because she was a girl. She was told to play softball, something many girls in sports face.
About 1,300 high school girls played baseball on boys’ teams across the U.S. in the 2023-2024 school year, according to a survey by the National Association of State High School Associations.
«When I see that number, I think there are 1,300 people who have had to basically fight the system to continue playing the sport they love,» said Croteau, who made headlines in the 1980s with a lawsuit against to his high school for the right to play on the boys’ varsity team. She lost.
«They had to stare down the athletic director or reach out to the baseball coach and they had to make it happen.»
More than 471,000 high school boys played baseball, while 473,000 girls played softball. The NCAA does not offer women’s baseball, but nine women played on men’s baseball teams in 2024, according to the NCAA’s demographic database. Approximately 21,000 women have played college softball.
Keith Stein, an attorney and businessman who co-founded the WPBL with Siegal, said they hope to help establish a solid culture of women’s baseball in the U.S. to create more opportunities for girls to play in the future.
Both Stein and Siegal pointed to the early interest in female baseball players as clues to the desire for a venue where women would compete against women at the highest level. Although there was no professional league for female players, they still play. The Women’s Baseball World Series began in 2004 to showcase female talent.
More than 400 athletes signed up for a tryout within 24 hours of the league launching its player portal, Siegal said.
«These were mostly elite players,» Stein added. «Some of the best players in the world – from the United States, of course, but there were players from Japan, Canada and Great Britain.»
The league will hold a scouting camp in the spring of 2025, and the draft will take place in the last quarter of the year. The WPBL will initially start with six teams, although Stein estimated that number could later increase to eight. In 2026 they will compete in the North East so they can travel by bus to the competition.
While Stein expects the WPBL to become one of the major women’s sports leagues in the near future, it won’t get there without facing the same obstacles as the women’s leagues before them.
Female athletes have long fought to be paid the same as their male counterparts, perhaps most prominently in the US women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay, which culminated in the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 2022 in the US House of Representatives .
«We shouldn’t gloss over certain realities,» Stein said. «And that reality is that female baseball players probably aren’t being paid what they deserve.»
Stein said he believes the compensation will be adequate for players hoping to participate in the league, including those who have to relocate from other states or leave their current jobs.
«But that will pale in comparison to what top-flight athletes earn in some other leagues,» he added. «That’s out of place at the moment.
“We’re going to get there because of what we’re doing. We will raise the bar for professional female baseball players. But it will happen gradually over a few years.»
Croteau, who is not affiliated with the WPBL, praised the league for trying to bridge a gap that existed long before she and teammate Beanie Ketcham were the first women to play in the MLB-affiliated minor league in the now-defunct league. Hawaii Winter League 30 years ago.
“The girls that are out there playing by themselves,” Croteau said, “those 1,300 girls that we’re talking about now that we knew were good enough because they made the team. We also know that they are strong-willed. They are ready to beat the system and make it happen.
«It helps them get noticed.»
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