The Women's Sports Foundation catches up with Mary Jo Stegeman, the founder of the Chicago Pioneers, about baseball, softball and her thoughts on the future of baseball for girls.
By Jena Donlin and Lindsay Hock
Published: August 26, 2009
Baseball. Millions follow the sport with a rabid intensity. Families become divided over their love for the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. Baseball is known as “America’s Pastime” and has become ingrained in our country’s culture. Yet, only a small number of female athletes participate in baseball. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, only 1,012 high school girls participated in baseball in 2004-2005, in comparison to the almost 500,000 boys that played during that same season. Softball, it seems, has become the girl’s equivalent to baseball. 918 boys and 364,759 girls played high school fast-pitch softball in 2004. Baseball and softball are equally as competitive and athletically challenging, but two wholly different sports.
So why do so many girls choose softball instead of baseball? Or begin in Little League play only to switch to softball once high school rolls around? Mary Jo Stegeman, the founder of the all-girls baseball team — the Chicago Pioneers — and mother of a member of the first two national women's baseball teams in the United States, has been looking for this answer for years. We sat down with Mary Jo to talk baseball, softball and her thoughts on the future of baseball for girls.
Women’s Sports Foundation: For those who are not familiar with the two sports, can you explain the difference between baseball and softball?
Mary Jo Stegeman: I can start out by saying that they are two different sports. Baseball is baseball, and softball is softball. In softball the ball is much bigger, and the field is much smaller. They pitch underhand, and the overall strategy of how the game is played is very different.
There is a big misconception about baseball being exclusively for boys and softball at high levels being for girls. This idea leads to problems for girls not being able to play on high school or college baseball teams. It would be a step in the right direction if people stopped equating the two sports. Equating them as the same sport is like comparing volleyball and badminton. They are played on similar sized courts with nets, but they are not the same sport. If you are playing one, no one is asking why you aren’t playing the other.
WSF: Why is it such a problem to see softball as the female equivalent of baseball?
MJS: Recognizing the two sports as separate is an important first step in helping more women get involved in baseball. The Women’s Sports Foundation asked the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics to review the issue of softball and baseball being considered the same sport, and the NCAA Divisions I, II and III voted to reverse the interpretations.
The reversal now allows a softball student-athlete to participate in a baseball league within other NCAA rules and bylaws. Previous interpretations of NCAA legislation stated baseball and softball were the same sport for NCAA amateurism and outside competition regulations. Therefore, a softball student-athlete could not participate on an organized baseball team during the academic year without jeopardizing her eligibility in softball.
The NCAA’s decision was monumental as it came from a credible organization that everyone recognizes, and this decision has been mirrored by other governing bodies, who have explicitly stated the two sports are different. And now softball players have the opportunity to participate in baseball without jeopardizing their eligibility. While some girls like softball, softball doesn’t fill the void for all girls who want to play baseball.
Softball originally was admitted into the Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee, because it was widely seen as the female equivalent of baseball. The Softball Federation and the International Baseball Federation have come out to acknowledge the differences between the sports.
WSF: How did you get involved in women’s baseball and the Chicago Pioneers?
MJS: I am the founder and everything else, besides coach, for the Chicago Pioneers. I was the eldest of seven girls growing up, and there was nothing for us sports-wise. We were all athletic but weren’t athletes because there weren’t opportunities. We loved sports and always felt left out of little leagues, but since we didn’t have a brother we didn’t really realize what we were missing.
When my husband and I had a baseball girl, it was an eye-opening, mind-boggling experience. She is 25 years old and still playing baseball. When we went to sign her up as a kid, we were directed to softball because the league directors didn’t know what to do with her. At her first game, it was like “Oh no, we got the girl.” They put her at the end of the line up. She got up to the plate with bases loaded and hit a grand slam. She became one of the better players in the league and was chosen for the All Star and travel teams.
We heard everything you can hear. We only saw a couple of other girls in her baseball career. They were all spread out. The girls were always good and if they stuck with it they were very good.
When my daughter got to high school, she went out with about 100 other freshman for the baseball team. She made it to the very last cut, but in the end the team was not ready to go co-ed. At that time in the state of Illinois, if a girl was on a baseball team and the team got to the state series, the girl could not go to the series if the school offered a softball team for girls.
My daughter still loved baseball, so we switched her to a girls team by getting in touch with Jim Glennie, who is the president of the American Woman’s Baseball Federation. One day after my daughter had been playing in an older women’s baseball league, she came to me and told me that she was either isolated by her age or her gender. When she was playing with kids her own age, they were primarily boys and when she was playing with women, they were significantly older than her. That is when I thought about having a peer group team.
The Pioneers evolved through my daughter’s experience and that need that wasn’t being met. This wasn’t rocket science or anything new. Girls play basketball with their own peer group. They can do anything on all female teams. Baseball is a sport, and girls want to play it. There are a lot of them out there, and they are good.
WSF: So tell us about what is next for the Chicago Pioneers.
MJS: The Pioneers are going to be the first U.S. all-girls team to play at Cooperstown. Over 15,000 teams have participated in Cooperstown tournaments, and the Pioneers will be the first all-girls team. The camp runs for a week, and they are guaranteed seven games in four days.
This was the next step in getting the Pioneers out there. Some of the parents had heard about the tournaments and wanted to do it. One thing led to another, and we were going. They will be playing boys, because that is all there is at the moment.
More information on the
Chicago Pioneers and
girls' baseball in general.
Read the Foundation's position paper on baseball and softball.