Same Old Same Old

A story in the Tribune this week about girls’ baseball in Chicago got me thinking about Clare, when she was twelve and in her second year of Bronco Ball. One night she hit a walk-off homerun into the parking lot, the next afternoon she finished fifth out of 25 in a homerun-hitting contest. In my two years of managing Bronco and Pony teams, she was the only player I saw leave the yard. In that homerun contest, she was the only girl, and going up against a lot of travel-team boys. I wonder what the four boys who finished ahead of her said about the twenty who came in behind her. Ideally, this would’ve been when Clare switched over to all-girls’ baseball, only there was no such thing. According to the Trib story, there are only ten girls’ teams nationwide that play a full schedule. The Humboldt Park Gators, a 12u team from what I could tell, would be one of them. I can only wish them luck, which they’ll need, and hope that this is a wave of the future, though I doubt it. Softball is such an entrenched institution that it won’t go quietly if and when challenged. Maybe girls’ baseball can mount something of a grass-roots’ challenge. Or it could come from a softball player willing to take a risk on baseball after her college career ends. I think the necessary talented players are out there, waiting to be asked. So, what’s keeping baseball from doing just that? I can only imagine.