A Ticket to History: A Commentary
By Adele Maurier, AAGPBL
To borrow the concept of Arnold Hano’s “A Day in the Bleachers” I would like to share my observations from the grandstand at the inaugural All American Womens Baseball Classic Tournament held at Ed Smith Stadium, spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota Florida Nov. 19 -22, 2022.
I signed up to attend the All American Womens Baseball Classic Tournament almost a year before, but with the tournament’s postponement from January 2022 to November 2022 because of COVID, my anticipation had waned as many events added up in the interim as life became more normal again throughout the year. It was November, a time when baseball is usually dormant, the World Series is over and most fans are resigned to wait until next year and focus on other things. I found my way into Ed Smith Stadium a beautiful park with a Spanish flair, surrounded by palm trees and with green grass ready for play. As I settled in my seat November 19th, and got ready to keep score to get better acquainted with the players –it suddenly occurred to me: The women warming up in front of me were playing BASEBLL. I got excited –like “It’s opening day!” excited or “Our team is in the playoffs!” excited. Of course I knew I was attending a women’s baseball tournament, but what really hit me was despite being a baseball fan since I was 5 or 6, being an associate member of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League Players association since 2013, meeting many former AAGPBL players, reading countless books and articles and watching documentaries about women playing baseball, I suddenly realized that I had NEVER seen a women play baseball. Not in person, and not on TV. I had never seen ONE woman play baseball in a game anywhere let alone four teams of women on a professional field. Why had I not made an effort to go find a woman playing on a men’s team somewhere to take in a game? Why had I not made plans to watch team USA at some point or other? I don’t know. But I do know why I was in the stands watching these women play.
