Primary Source Learning: Women in Baseball

Use this primary source set of women in baseball to have students examine cultural attitudes of American women from the late 1800s through the 1920s. You might start with having students complete a gallery walk with the images. After, you might have them analyze the song lyrics and read various newspaper articles (be sure to have them read about the newspaper as well; to do so, click on the newspaper name). Next, you might challenge students to put the images in chronological order. Then you could have them check their order by reviewing the image bibliographic records. Finally, you might have students create products (poem, song, slideshow, etc.) that make personal connections and demonstrate their learning.

Images

Star bloomer girls base ball club	Is he going or coming?	Boston national bloomer girl’s base ball club
Ball game which was part of the field day of the junior high schools	Princeton University woman baseball player	Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey
“Bean him!”*	Female baseball player	Socially prominent women and their daughters playing baseball

Sheet music

• “Who would doubt that I’m a man?“

Newspaper articles

• Bloomer Girls: All-girls novelty act sweeps country playing baseball – Topics in Chronicling America
• “Billiards for Women” The Evening Times (Washington, D.C.), 10 March 1897
• “Women Play Baseball” Los Angeles Herald [microform] (Los Angeles [Calif.]), 01 Aug. 1909
• “College Women Will Play Baseball” The San Francisco Call (San Francisco [Calif.]), 23 March 1910
• Sage College (Ithaca, NY) Athletic Council decree El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.), 19 Dec. 1912
• “Girls Play Real Baseball” University Missourian (Columbia, Mo.), 05 May 1915
• “University Women’s Baseball Teams Are Rounding into Shape” University Missourian (Columbia, Mo.), 28 March 1916
• “Lady Sealpax: New Athletic Underwear for Women” advertisement The Evening Missourian (Columbia, Mo.), 04 April 1918
• “Women’s Baseball Series Begins Saturday” The Evening Missourian (Columbia, Mo.), 03 Oct. 1919
• “Strength or Grace?” The Watchman and Southron (Sumter, S.C.), 13 May 1922
• “Fathers of Vassar Seniors Capture Baseball Game from Their Daughters” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), 13 June 1922
• *“Bean Him!” larger image

Additional sources

• A League of Their Own Library of Congress Blog April 3, 2013
• Toni Stone: First Woman to Play Big-League Baseball Headlines & Heroes March 15, 2022
• “The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig” Smithsonian Magazine July 2013
• Women’s Baseball by John M. Kovach Google Books preview

Related resources

• Primary Source Learning: Baseball
• Primary Source Spotlight: Baseball
• Featured Image: Concerning the American Girl Puck magazine