When Did Women’s Baseball Start?

Women’s baseball has a long and storied history, but the game as we know it today started in the late 19th century.

Pre-1900s

While there is no precise date for when women’s baseball started, the game has a long and interesting history. Women have been playing baseball almost as long as men have. The first recorded women’s baseball game took place in 1867, between the Blondes and the Brunettes in Springfield, Illinois.

Early women’s baseball teams

The first women’s baseball game on record took place in Philadelphia in 1867. That game, between the girl’s teams from the Philadelphia Athletic Club and the Washington Live Oaks, was played under modified version of the “New York Rules” of baseball. The New York rules were created in 1845 and were very similar to the rules used by the men’s teams of that era.

In 1874, an organized league, called the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, was formed and men’s baseball became a professional sport. Although women continued to play baseball informally, there was no longer any organized structure for women’s baseball.

The first professional women’s baseball team was formed in 1896. The Boston Bloomer Girls, so named because they wore bloomer-style pants instead of skirts like other female teams of that era, toured the country playing exhibitions against men’s teams. They were quite successful and helped to pave the way for other professional women’s teams.

The Bloomer Girls

The Bloomer Girls were a team of women’s baseball players who barnstormed throughout America in the late 1800s. The team was started by Cheney, who was also the first woman to hurl a baseball over the fence in competitive play. The girls played against both male and female teams, and their style of play – which included wearing bloomers (a type of baggy pants that ended just below the knee), instead of the more constrictive skirts that most women wore at the time – was considered very scandalous.

The Bloomer Girls were not the only team of women baseball players in the 1800s – there were several others, including the Chicago Red Stockings and the Brooklyn Eckfords. Although women’s baseball would continue to be popular throughout the early part of the 20th century, it would eventually decline in popularity, due in part to the increasing popularity of basketball and other sports.

1900s

The women’s baseball movement began in the late 1800s, when women’s suffrage was gaining momentum and women were demanding more equality. The first women’s baseball team was formed in 1867, but it wasn’t until the late 1890s that women’s baseball began to gain popularity. In the early 1900s, women’s baseball teams started popping up all over the country.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women’s baseball league founded in 1943. It lasted until 1954, when it folded due to declining interest in the sport.

The league was started as a way to keep baseball fans interested in the sport during World War II, when many male players had been drafted into the military. Initially, it was slow to catch on, but by the end of its run, the league had grown to 10 teams and attracted over 500,000 fans per year.

The league was featured in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” which starred Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. The film brought renewed interest to the league and its players, many of whom had been forgotten in the intervening years.

Women in the Major Leagues

It wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started playing baseball. In 1866, the first recorded game took place in Springfield, Massachusetts. The teams were the Blondes and the Brunettes. It was a charity game, with the proceeds going to support a local hospital.

In 1875, another game was played, this one between the Philadelphia Athletics and Hartford Oldergolds. It was reported that 3,000 people attended the game, which the Philadelphia team won by a score of 79-0.

The first professional women’s baseball team was formed in 1897. Called the Chicago Bloomer Girls, they played against both men’s and women’s teams. One of their most famous players was Lizzie Arlington, who later became one of the first women inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1898, another professional team called the Brooklyn Atlantic Club picked up some of the best players from the Bloomer Girls, including Lizzie Arlington. The Atlantic Club then went on to win two consecutive championships in 1899 and 1900.

Post-2000

Women’s baseball in the Olympics

Women’s baseball was first introduced as an exhibition sport at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. It was not until the following Olympics, however, that the first official women’s baseball tournament was held. The United States won the inaugural tournament in 1992, defeating China in the final. The sport has not been played at the Olympics since 2008.

Women’s baseball today

Women’s baseball has come a long way since it first started in the early 1900s. Today, there are women’s baseball leagues all over the world, and the sport is growing in popularity every year. In the United States, the Women’s Baseball World Cup is the highest level of competition for women’s baseball teams. The most recent World Cup was held in 2018 in Viera, Florida, and the USA team took home the gold medal.