Historic Women’s Baseball League Prepares for First Season in Over 70 Years

Female baseball players from around the globe gathered at the Boston Red Sox spring training facility to prepare for the launch of America's first women's professional baseball league since 1954. The Women's Pro Baseball League will begin its inaugural eight-week season on August 1st with four teams competing.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Standing on the field at JetBlue Park, Kelsie Whitmore surveyed a scene she never imagined would become reality during her athletic career.

Female baseball athletes from across the globe were practicing together, exchanging advice and receiving instruction from major league coaching staff. In fewer than five months, these women will compete in America’s first professional women’s baseball league in more than seven decades.

“I never thought this would ever happen for me in my prime career,” Whitmore explained. The accomplished pitcher and outfielder has earned multiple medals competing for Team USA’s women’s national baseball squad. “I never thought it was ever going to happen, truly.”

Wednesday marked a milestone moment for Whitmore and fellow athletes from the Women’s Pro Baseball League. The emerging organization participated in a two-day training event at the Florida spring training facility of the Boston Red Sox, gearing up for their season debut on August 1st.

For ten years, the Red Sox organization has conducted women’s baseball training camps and invited several WPBL standouts to participate in Wednesday’s practice sessions. Notable participants included experienced Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato and former Little League sensation Mo’ne Davis.

Davis, who made history at age 13 as the first female to record both a victory and shutout in Little League World Series competition, remained close to instructors throughout the two-hour training session, seeking guidance to improve her skills. She departed with valuable coaching advice, particularly regarding maintaining a lower batting stance to create power through hip rotation.

“This is another moment that I take when I go back home — what do I need to work on?” Davis reflected. “For me specifically is hitting approach. That’s the one I’m really focusing on because I want to be a better hitter. I want be a more consistent hitter. … I appreciate all the coaches that helped today. Whatever question you had, they were open to answering it.”

The WPBL has scheduled an intrasquad exhibition game for Thursday, taking place before the Red Sox spring training matchup against the Minnesota Twins.

“These athletes have done something that hasn’t existed in 80 years,” commented Shawn Smith, Red Sox general manager of Florida operations. “And they’re at the pinnacle of their craft right now only to get better. For us to be here — I feel like a little kid. I can’t describe it any other way.”

The WPBL will debut this summer featuring four franchises — Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York — conducting a six-week regular season followed by a two-week playoff series at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

America has been without a professional women’s baseball organization since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ended operations in 1954, but the WPBL aims to establish a permanent opportunity for women to pursue professional baseball careers. Such chances have been rare in the United States, where female players seeking opportunities beyond youth programs have typically needed to pursue unconventional routes, often competing alongside male athletes.

A San Diego native, Whitmore began her professional career in the Bay Area playing for a mixed-gender team, the Sonoma Stompers, in 2016. The 27-year-old athlete has captured two silver medals representing the United States at the Women’s Baseball World Cup and earned gold at the 2015 Pan-Am Games in Toronto.

Selected as the top overall pick by San Diego in the WPBL’s first draft, Whitmore has become accustomed to being the sole female player on most rosters and frequently envisioned competing alongside other women players.

With this vision now becoming reality, the expectation is that this league will establish opportunities that were unavailable to Whitmore and many of her contemporaries.

“A lot of us women have created the path and created it without knowing what that looked like,” Whitmore observed. “Now there is a path for them, and so these young girls have something to look forward to.”