Baseball hasn’t had much room for women. That may soon change, however – if only a little, as the Boston Globe reports on a female knuckleballer from Japan.
The knuckleball not needing speed but relying rather on unpredictability, I really think this girl has a chance. Maybe she’ll replace Wake when he retires?
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While I fully support her, and I think that a woman is more than capable of throwing a knuckleball, I think the social stigma against women in baseball will prevent her from reaching the major leagues anytime soon. Professional sports are the last bastion of the old-school male enterprises, and (in general) they’ll be damned if they let some women in to ruin everything. Regardless of her ability, it is enough that she is a woman. Even if everyone comes out and says the right things, it won’t happen. Someday, perhaps, the glass ceiling for professional sports will be lifted; it may even be in the process of being lifted now by the likes of Michelle Wie and Danica Patrick. Those two, however, excel at individual sports, not team sports. I’m not sure what the reaction will be for a woman to join a traditionally male team sport, but I suspect it will be similar to that of Katie Hnida, the kicker for the Colorado Buffaloes football team: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/rick_reilly/02/16/hnida/ Dan(Quote)
Except for a few statistical outliers, I doubt that will ever complete with men, on male teams, in male leagues at any significant level. Their bodies are just not as powerful as men.
It’s one thing to drive a car quickly; it’s quite another to play soccer, tennis, or baseball with men. Would the female pitcher, in fact, bat if she were in the National League? Sam Scott(Quote)
I would assume that she would have to. They certainly aren’t going to change the rules for her. That would, I would think, naturally lead for her services only being available to American League teams, just like, say, Jim Thome, who can’t field a position any more, is limited to the AL.
Now, if there were a female that could compete on a level playing field, I would certainly not stand in her way. I do think, though, that social inertia would provide huge amounts of resistance to her. I think the taboo would prove stronger than her lack of ability in terms of holding her back. Eventually, maybe it would be okay. But, like any other social revolution, it will take time, and it will not be easy. Dan(Quote)