Women's Baseball

During the month of July Baseball takes center-stage in the United States. Hopefully all of you have made it to a local minor league game by now. I was at a minor league baseball game the other week and noticed that there weren't many women players in the minor leagues. Actually there are pretty close to zero women in the minor leagues.

This got me thinking could a women's professional baseball league catch on in the United States?

Many of you have probably heard of the All-American Women Professional Baseball League which started during WWII when  the country didn't have enough men to field teams and lasted for a surprisingly long time. If you aren't familiar go check out the movie "A League of the Own" it's a pretty easy movie to get a hold of.













Right now in USA there is a little bit of an amateur women's baseball culture. Right now there are around 859 girls playing boys high school baseball. (Women Knocking on Baseball's Door) There is also a women's professional softball league (http://www.profastpitch.com/) made up four teams two of which actually have stadiums. There is a professional women's baseball league in Japan but it is hard to find much more that the wikipedia page on the league. (Girls Professional Baseball League) It is made up of only four teams. It appears to have no corporate sponsors which is the life-blood of professional sports in Japan even the American football league in Japan has major corporate sponsorship like IBM, Panasonic, and Fuji.

I think there could be a niche for professional women's baseball in the United States. The player pool would be women currently playing amateur baseball and former college softball players interested in still playing sports at a high level. Starting off the league could run its season during February and March in minor league baseball stadiums before the minor league baseball season strikes up. Teams could be placed in smaller cities that are known for supporting their minor league baseball team by being in smaller markets publicity would be cheaper. The teams could be ran on bare-bone budgets like many independent baseball leagues and players could stay with host families to keep costs down. Teams could feature a lot of knuckleball pitchers and Submarine pitchers which will help games seem fun and different for the hardcore baseball fan. Teams would also hold on to their baseball players for the entire season, as opposed to minor league baseball where players move up and down the ranks, making it easier to have hometown stars.   

Favorite ESPN 30 for 30 Documentaries

I am a huge documentary fan! I particularly enjoy sports documentaries probably more than I enjoy watching sports. With this being a holiday season I figured many of you are sitting at home and many be in the mood to watch a documentary or 2. Here is a list of my 3 favorite ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries. This is based off of the first line of documentaries that aired on ESPN between Oct 6th 2009 and Dec 11 2010. All of the films were directed by famous directors. All of them are home-runs wonderful documentaries and I think they can all be streamed on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix you are welcome to borrow them from me I have them all on DVD. Here is a list of all of the documentaries:

30 for 30

3. Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?

This is the story of the little professional football league that could until being brought down by greed. If you enjoy this documentary also try "Once in a Lifetime: the Story of the New York Cosmos" another great documentary from ESPN that would be on this list if it was a a 30 for 30 documentary.
 
2. Once Brother

This is probably the most powerful sports story ever told that most people have never heard of. If you are a history nut particularly a war history nut you have to see this movie. Honorable mention for this list and a documentary you should check out if you enjoy this one is "The Two Escobars".

1. Pony Excess

The last in the series and in my opinion the best. This documentary goes need into the rise and fall of Southern Methodist football. If you enjoy this one you might enjoy "The U" as well. Fun game to play while you watch "The U": spot all of the times you see Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. He was all over Miami U football. It weird the WWE never really played of The Rock's football success.