The publication by the University of Nebraska Press in April 2017 of Making My Pitch: A Woman's Baseball Odyssey, the memoir I co-authored with left-hander Ila Borders, has sent me on my own odyssey around the country -- talks, panel discussions, book signings, and interviews. A few highlights: Ila and I led off at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ.... Women's History Month:"Equal to the Game: Women and Baseball," the Institute of Baseball, Whittier College, CA.... Laguna Beach Books.... César Chávez High School, Santa Ana, CA.... with "The Mighty Casey" Tim Wiles at Guilderland Public Library, Guilderland, NY.... The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, Cooperstown, NY: Skirting the Game: "The High Times and Challenges of Women Who Play Baseball," followed by a book signing in the Hall of Fame Bookstore.... BookCon, Javits Center North, NY.... the not-to-be-missed Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, Greenwich Village, NY.... KNBR-Radio with broadcaster Marty Lurie, San Francisco, CA.... Throwing out the first pitch for the Sonoma Stompers (Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs), Sonoma, CA.... Most recently, in June 2019, Ila and I appeared at Dodger Stadium, where we sold books and she threw out the first pitch. We then met up at the San Francisco Giants Oracle Park, where my husband Dan and I sold books at the pre-game celebration for the club's Pride Night, and Ila was interviewed by Marty Lurie. We ended the month in San Diego, where I moderated the Women in Baseball panel discussion for the Society for American Baseball Research 49th national conference. On the panel were umpire Perry Barber, Ila, Jewel Greenberg, producer of the documentary "Hardball," Justine Siegal, founder of Baseball for All, Janet Marie Smith, the Los Angeles Dodgers Vice President of Planning and Development, and Kelsie Whitmore, who played baseball for the Sonoma Stompers and is now majoring in kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton.
How I came to co-author Ila's memoir. In February of 1994 I picked up the local newspaper and read that a young woman was to be the starting pitcher for Southern California College in nearby Costa Mesa, California. I sat in the bleachers that sunny afternoon as Ila Borders stepped into history as the first woman to pitch a complete game in men's collegiate baseball. Her appearance that day attracted international media attention, and as we all gathered behind second base for an interview after her 12-1 victory, I was struck by Ila's composure, her focus, and her dedication. Despite the obstacles she perennially encountered, Ila had already been an all-star Little Leaguer and MVP of her boys' teams in middle school and high school. She went on to play four years of varsity men's baseball and four seasons of men's professional baseball, primarily in the independent Northern League. And she did it all as a closeted gay born-again Christian athlete. What a story. The book is a Junior Library Guild selection, recommended for high school students. Ila and I continue to hear from readers who are moved by her story. In Spring 2019 the University of Nebraska Press released a paperback edition.
After I was inspired to examine the women's side of the game I love best, I found myself traveling around the country to interview women in baseball. I wanted the whole story: women who have played hardball, umpired, front office executives, writers and film-makers, and Baseball Annies (aka groupies). I spent a beer-soaked afternoon in the Wrigley Field bleachers, talking baseball with women fans. Our passion for baseball, I learned, is a timeless story of wanting something that's denied you (involvement with the game) and finding a way to do it anyway.
Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime was published by Southern Illinois University Press in the spring of 2005. It quickly (and briefly) appeared on the Los Angeles Times list of bestsellers, is housed in more than 600 libraries, and serves as a text for sports history courses throughout the country, from New York University to Central Florida University to the University of San Francisco. At its best, baseball brings people together -- blacks, whites, and Latinos; men and women. I'm gratefied that Breaking into Baseball contributes to that sense of community.
Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime was published by Southern Illinois University Press in the spring of 2005. It quickly (and briefly) appeared on the Los Angeles Times list of bestsellers, is housed in more than 600 libraries, and serves as a text for sports history courses throughout the country, from New York University to Central Florida University to the University of San Francisco. At its best, baseball brings people together -- blacks, whites, and Latinos; men and women. I'm gratefied that Breaking into Baseball contributes to that sense of community.
One of the rewarding aspects of writing about baseball is meeting with your readers and other fans and authors. I frequently speak to writers' clubs, book clubs, and university students. I've spoken to groups such as the Los Angeles Angels' of Anaheim Fan Club to the Baseball Reliquary. I've presented my research at regional and national conferences of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), the Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, and the NINE Spring Training Conference.
Book clubs enjoy reading and discussing Breaking into Baseball with the author. When Carol Smith (far right) invited me to speak to her club in irvine, California, I walked into a roomful of Angel fans -- oh, and one Dodgers fan. (Photo courtesy of www.futureangels.com)
Talking baseball at Laguna Beach Books with two of my favorite local authors, Arnold Hano (with his classic A Day in the Bleachers) and faithful Chicago Cubs fan Tammy Lechner (with Our Team, Our Dream).
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The 27th NINE Spring Training Conference ~ March 4-7, 2020
Hilton Doubletree Resort, Tempe, Arizona
Register at www.nineconference.com
About NINE
Early on in my baseball research, I was fortunate to meet Bill Kirwin, a professor of Social Work at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Bill, who grew up a Red Sox fan in Boston, had the genius to organize in 1993 an academic baseball conference during spring training in Arizona's Cactus League. He foresaw that baseball researchers and authors as well as academicians who use baseball in their courses on business, history, literature, sociology, and other disciplines might appreciate the opportunity to present and discuss their work. Over the years, attendees at the NINE Spring Training Conference have also appreciated attending exhibition games (aka field research) as well as sitting up half the night arguing such topics as the best way to experience the game: radio, TV, or live at the ballpark.
Bill's interest in the game -- its history, context, and literature -- was catholic. His encouragement of my research into the feminine side of the game led me to believe that the stories I was discovering could result in a worthwhile book. At NINE I was able to present and refine many of the ideas that appear in Breaking into Baseball -- Thanks, Bill! -- an experience shared by many other of the conference regulars. To name just a few Roberta Newman, NYU; Jennifer Ring, University of Nevada Reno (A Game of Their Own); George Gmelch, Union College and University of San Francisco; Ed Edmonds, University of Notre Dame, and Frank G. Houdek (Baseball Meets the Law); and authors Robert Fitts (Banzai Babe Ruth and Wally Yonamine); Andy McCue (Mover & Shaker: Walter O'Malley, the Dodgers & Baseball's Westward Expansion); and Lee Lowenfish (Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman).
Our lead-off and keynote speakers have been stellar -- architect and urban planner Janet Marie Smith, who has worked on Baltimore's Camden Yards, Boston's Fenway Park, and Los Angeles's Dodger Stadium... Arnold Hano, author of more than twenty-five books, including the classic A Day in the Bleachers...Robert Creamer...Larry Dierker, major league pitcher, manager, and broadcaster, and so many more.
Baseball has no clock, suggesting that the game is eternal. Not so, sadly, our baseball heroes. Bill Kirwin was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2007. During treatment, he enjoyed one last NINE conference, one last summer of baseball, and one last World Series, won, fittingly, by the Red Sox. Bill passed away on December 11, 2007. During his last year, Bill, who had already put the editorship of the NINE journal into the capable hands of Trey Strecker, asked me to co-chair the conference, which I happily did for ten years before turning it over to David Pegram and Willie Steele. Bill Kirwin, a friend I continue to miss very much, would've enjoyed the presentations, conversations, and the books that NINE has inspired for more than a quarter century.
Many of the papers presented at the conference appear in the companion journal, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, published semi-annually by the University of Nebraska Press and edited by William Steele of Lipscomb University. To subscribe: www.nebraskapress.unl.edu
Hilton Doubletree Resort, Tempe, Arizona
Register at www.nineconference.com
About NINE
Early on in my baseball research, I was fortunate to meet Bill Kirwin, a professor of Social Work at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Bill, who grew up a Red Sox fan in Boston, had the genius to organize in 1993 an academic baseball conference during spring training in Arizona's Cactus League. He foresaw that baseball researchers and authors as well as academicians who use baseball in their courses on business, history, literature, sociology, and other disciplines might appreciate the opportunity to present and discuss their work. Over the years, attendees at the NINE Spring Training Conference have also appreciated attending exhibition games (aka field research) as well as sitting up half the night arguing such topics as the best way to experience the game: radio, TV, or live at the ballpark.
Bill's interest in the game -- its history, context, and literature -- was catholic. His encouragement of my research into the feminine side of the game led me to believe that the stories I was discovering could result in a worthwhile book. At NINE I was able to present and refine many of the ideas that appear in Breaking into Baseball -- Thanks, Bill! -- an experience shared by many other of the conference regulars. To name just a few Roberta Newman, NYU; Jennifer Ring, University of Nevada Reno (A Game of Their Own); George Gmelch, Union College and University of San Francisco; Ed Edmonds, University of Notre Dame, and Frank G. Houdek (Baseball Meets the Law); and authors Robert Fitts (Banzai Babe Ruth and Wally Yonamine); Andy McCue (Mover & Shaker: Walter O'Malley, the Dodgers & Baseball's Westward Expansion); and Lee Lowenfish (Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman).
Our lead-off and keynote speakers have been stellar -- architect and urban planner Janet Marie Smith, who has worked on Baltimore's Camden Yards, Boston's Fenway Park, and Los Angeles's Dodger Stadium... Arnold Hano, author of more than twenty-five books, including the classic A Day in the Bleachers...Robert Creamer...Larry Dierker, major league pitcher, manager, and broadcaster, and so many more.
Baseball has no clock, suggesting that the game is eternal. Not so, sadly, our baseball heroes. Bill Kirwin was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2007. During treatment, he enjoyed one last NINE conference, one last summer of baseball, and one last World Series, won, fittingly, by the Red Sox. Bill passed away on December 11, 2007. During his last year, Bill, who had already put the editorship of the NINE journal into the capable hands of Trey Strecker, asked me to co-chair the conference, which I happily did for ten years before turning it over to David Pegram and Willie Steele. Bill Kirwin, a friend I continue to miss very much, would've enjoyed the presentations, conversations, and the books that NINE has inspired for more than a quarter century.
Many of the papers presented at the conference appear in the companion journal, NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, published semi-annually by the University of Nebraska Press and edited by William Steele of Lipscomb University. To subscribe: www.nebraskapress.unl.edu