McKinney: Home Field Disadvantage: What will it take to get women’s baseball the recognition it deserves?
From Kelsey McKinney at Longreads on November 29, 2018, with mention of SABR members Justine Siegal and Jennifer Ring:
The moment the members of Team USA disembarked their plane in Orlando, their fears were realized. This was the first Women’s Baseball World Cup ever played on United States soil, and they expected to be ignored.
At the last World Cup, played in 2016 in South Korea, Team USA didn’t make it to the final round of the only competition they ever play in. But at least in Korea they had been acknowledged. More than that, they’d felt important and beloved, barraged by reporters’ questions at every turn and hounded by fans: fans holding handmade signs with sparkling lettering, fans who knew their names and numbers, fans who sent love notes down to the dugout in the middle of their games.
For every day of the past two years each woman had trained, practiced, and dreamed about playing baseball. According to USA Baseball, the members of the U.S. women’s national baseball team are among the top 20 players in the country, but here at home, almost no one knows they exist.
Read the full article here: https://longreads.com/2018/11/29/womens-baseball-world-cup-2018/
Originally published: November 29, 2018. Last Updated: November 29, 2018.