Baseball season is underway and that prompted this post. It’s not unusual for a young girl to want to play team sports, but that wasn’t always the case. Maria Pepe, now 52, is credited with opening the door for millions of girls to play Little League softball. In 1972, eighteen years after the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (immortalized in the film, A League of Their Own) ceased to exist, there were no opportunities for girls to play organized ball because Little League was only for boys. Eleven-year-old Pepe’s attempt to play in the all-boys league ultimately resulted in a national campaign to pass what would become Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, guaranteeing women and girls equal educational opportunities, including sports. Read her story here.
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