Rob Manfred joins RBI WS softball roundtable | MLB.com

Good for MLB and kudos to Rob Manfred for picking up the ball on this issue. I have been calling for more of a partnership between MLB and softball for many years. It seems as if Manfred also sees the opportunity for a woman to break through the minors and into MLB baseball, another issue I have written about before. There are plenty of examples of girls who have competed versus the boys at the HS level. It shouldn't have taken Monee Davis doing something at the LL level to open the Commissioners eyes. But we'll take whatever progress we can get.

I do hope the focus on the Monee Davis' of the world does not leave women's softball out in the cold. Here is one area where baseball can take the lead over the other major sports. There is no comparable league to the NFL for women, period. Nor is there one comparable to the NHL, although there could be. The NBA and the WNBA do coexist and there could eventually be a woman who could break through and play in the NBA before MLB breaks the barrier. 

I would like to see MLB beat them to the punch and I think the way to do it is to encourage participation by raising the bar for women's softball by subsidizing a professional women's softball league. I know they subsidize RBI and there are calls for them to subsidize college scholarships, here there will be a wash to expenses since presumably their minor league affiliated costs will decrease somewhat. They need to start thinking of these cash outlays more as investments in the future of the game rather than as pure expenses. 

from mlb.com  

http://m.reds.mlb.com/news/article/247390390/rob-manfred-joins-rbi-ws-softball-roundtable/?partnerId=ed-11797296-1010698173

Manfred committed to raising softball's profile

Commissioner talks to youth players during RBI World Series roundtable

By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | August 9th, 2017

CINCINNATI -- It was not a scheduling coincidence that Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred visited the RBI World Series on a day when girls softball participants were playing their semifinal games on Wednesday. Manfred came to Cincinnati specifically to talk softball and to engage with young women who play.

Manfred was part of a roundtable discussion at the Kingsgate Marriott Hotel at the University Of Cincinnati that included Reds chief operating officer Phil Castellini, Reds senior vice president of business operations Karen Forgus and Northern Kentucky University softball head coach Kathryn Gleason.

"It gave me an opportunity to put a special focus on softball," Manfred said. "Youth participation is a huge priority for Major League Baseball. I think historically we have given inadequate focus to softball in addition to baseball. We want to make sure that our efforts capture the entire population, male and female. We love the idea of making our softball programs every bit as high profile as our baseball programs."

Cincinnati, the Reds and the MLB Urban Youth Academy are hosting the 25th annual Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series baseball and softball tournaments. The semifinals were scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, and the finals are slated for Friday.

During the roundtable discussion, it was the softball players who got to ask the questions.

"What opportunities do you have for women who want to play professional baseball?" one player asked the Commissioner.

In his reply, Manfred brought up visiting the Little League World Series shortly after his 2014 election as Commissioner and meeting Mo'ne Davis, a pitcher out of Philadelphia who became the superstar of the tournament, and who helped her team from Philly win the RBI World Series Junior Championship, throwing five sold innings in the semifinals.

"She changed my view of the prospects of a woman playing professional baseball," Manfred said. "When she looked at me and I looked at the look on her face, and she told me she thought she was going to be able to be good enough to play professional baseball. ... There was a look of determination in her eye that was really inspiring to me. One of the reasons that we started the women's baseball part of our [youth] program was to recognize that some young women out there would prefer to play the same game the boys play for a longer period of time."

Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05. Follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon and Facebook and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Jessica Mendoza versus John Kruk: Tale of the Tape (psst...spoiler alert: it's no contest)

OK, tale of the tape, Mendoza versus Kruk:

Intellectual Appeal:
Advantage Mendoza. The average IQ level in the booth goes up by 30-40 points easily with this move alone, we'll get to the Boone - Schilling trade-off later. Mendoza, a Stanford grad. Kruk, IDK room temperature IQ maybe?

Visual Appeal:
Advantage Mendoza. Not that this is, or should be that important because the camera faces in the opposite direction 99% of the time, but I'm just saying.....again the Q-rating, or whatever measures this sort of frivolousness just went through the roof.

Auditory Appeal:
Advantage Mendoza. This was the one area where Kruk may have had a shot to win, but he has't really offered much to the broadcast in years. Other than a certain self-deprecating, Uecker-esque appeal to his career -- which was actually pretty good -- there's only so many beer-swilling, crotch-grabbing locker room stories one can slip in to a baseball broadcast without detracting from the game. Mendoza has transitioned almost seamlessly from the softball side to the baseball side, leaving behind the urge to present opinions with a "this is how we did it in softball" caveat. She gets the game of baseball as if she was the one who had Kruk's career and presents a well-rounded, intelligent viewpoint nine times out of ten.

Easier to listen too, easier to watch, easy decision to make. Mendoza by unanimous decision.

As to the Boone for Schilling trade-off, neither one is particularly easy to listen to. Schilling gets removed for shooting his mouth off  too often outside the booth. Instead of putting down the gun or removing the ammunition, he just kept shooting himself in the foot.

And he'll probably blame anybody or anything but himself for the removal. Too bad. Some people live in houses without mirrors. 

from Big Story:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0ba4005862c14acc8d321c01d2741e0f/jessica-mendoza-joins-sunday-night-baseball-full-time

Jessica Mendoza joins 'Sunday Night Baseball' full-time

Jessica Mendoza wonders what she'd be doing during the upcoming Major League Baseball season if not for some events out of her control.
The retired softball star was scheduled to call two Monday night MLB games late in 2015 for ESPN and hoped to get a regular gig this year, but figured she might need to wait longer for a slot to open up.
Instead, six days after her debut, she leapt onto the network's showcase platform of "Sunday Night Baseball" — and hasn't left since.
ESPN announced Wednesday that the 35-year-old Mendoza is now a permanent fixture in the Sunday prime-time booth. She'll join another new analyst, Aaron Boone, alongside returning play-by-play voice Dan Shulman.
They replace Curt Schilling, who moves to Monday, and John Kruk, who returns to "Baseball Tonight."
"It's just crazy when I look back, and literally less than six months ago I had no idea what was going to happen after the Monday night games," Mendoza says.
Just like that, she's the most prominent woman calling national games for a major men's sport — one of the few in the booth, not limited to sideline reporter. It's an ascension that seems to have happened blindingly fast, and yet it was also a slow and steady climb.
An Olympic gold medalist and the sport's premier hitter, Mendoza found herself needing a new career when softball was dropped from the Summer Games. The Stanford alum joined ESPN in 2007 and didn't give much thought to calling baseball until the following year, when Kruk took part in Women's College World Series coverage.
Mendoza saw how knowledge of one sport could translate to the other. Still, she acknowledged, historically there was just "one-way traffic" — her father, a baseball coach, would guide her softball teams, but a woman typically wouldn't instruct baseball players.
She later did some sideline reporting on men's sports and studio work for "Baseball Tonight." In June, Mendoza became the first female game analyst for a men's College World Series telecast.
Meeting with senior coordinating producer Phil Orlins in April, she was eager to work games but wary of seeming like a gimmick. Mendoza remembered watching in 2012 when former U.S. teammate Michele Smith appeared on a nationally televised MLB game on TBS and "feeling like she was a guest."
She dryly describes how she didn't want her male colleagues to promote her presence in the booth: "We have a female with us today, yay."
But Mendoza came away from that meeting confident ESPN was serious about her long-term prospects as an MLB game analyst. Not that she ever imagined a spot on "Sunday Night Baseball" could come anytime soon. She laughs in recalling that when she attended a Sunday night game early last season to observe the crew, she felt like a total groupie.
On Aug. 24, she called the Monday night matchup between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. The next morning, Schilling posted then quickly deleted a tweet comparing Muslims to Nazis. ESPN pulled him from that Sunday's game and replace him with Mendoza.
She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep — squeezed by the pressure that her performance could sway whether other women received future opportunities to call men's sports.
"I knew even the smallest mistake, it felt like the world would come after me," Mendoza says.
As a player, she would visualize how a huge game would go, but "it's hard to do that when you've never done it." On the field, she would take confidence from her preparation, but now there wasn't time.
"I could have totally sucked," she says.
Yet while this was her first "Sunday Night Baseball" assignment, it was hardly her first live sporting event. As the pitchers started throwing and the batters swinging, she realized it was no different from the dozens of softball games she worked each season.
"You could feel the change in her comfort level inning by inning even in the first game," Shulman says.
The Cubs' Jake Arrieta made history that night by no-hitting the Dodgers. Mendoza made history after her debut earned rave reviews, sticking on Sunday night the rest of the season and becoming the first female analyst to call a nationally televised MLB playoff game when she worked the AL wild-card matchup.
John Wildhack, ESPN's executive vice president for programming and production, doesn't want to speculate about what kind of position Mendoza would've held in 2016 if not for Schilling's tweet. She was undoubtedly a big part of the network's long-term baseball plans before that, he adds, preferring to focus on how she managed the circumstances that were in her control.
"She seized the moment," he says.
As Wildhack talked to others in the industry about Mendoza's performance, he realized: "Wow, this was not just good. This was really, really, really good."
Boone adds that what he heard "from very smart people I respect is she said some things on games from an analysis standpoint that made them take note."
Still, there were occasions in those first couple of broadcasts that Mendoza hesitated before making a point, fearful of the repercussions of a misstep. The moment would pass and she'd never get in that observation.
That happened less and less by the wild-card round. The additional games, along with her studio work during the playoffs, also allowed her to introduce herself to players and managers around the batting cage and in the clubhouse.
She fondly remembers chatting with Royals star Eric Hosmer during the World Series, his bat in her hand, just two great hitters talking shop. Mendoza hopes that soon she'll no longer need to start each conversation explaining who she is, why she's there, and how she understands the intricacies of their swings.
"It just felt so good for the guys to see me as a peer and not just a female," she says.
And now with the benefit of a whole offseason, Mendoza has time for her beloved preparation. She expects to put together an Excel spreadsheet on each team.
Returning from the World Series, Mendoza happened to be on the same flight as "Monday Night Football" producer Jay Rothman. He showed her video clips that coach-turned-analyst Jon Gruden compiles and narrates for his colleagues to highlight areas he's focusing on.
Hoping to learn more, she shadowed the Monday night crew for three days before the Nov. 9 game between the Bears and Chargers in San Diego. Mendoza attended all the meetings, sat down with play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico for three hours, and peppered Gruden with questions about his routine. She wanted to know everything from the volume of his notes to where his eyes go during a play.
With her new role, Mendoza, who lives in California and has two young children, made one particular request: She'll still call the Women's College World Series.
She and Boone will be the fifth different analyst team in six seasons for "Sunday Night Baseball" since Jon Miller and Joe Morgan departed after 21 years in 2010 — partly because Bobby Valentine and Terry Francona each left the booth to return to managing.
The 42-year-old Boone, who joined ESPN in 2010 after playing a dozen seasons in the majors, moves up from the Monday night games. "Sunday Night Baseball" also gets a new producer in Andy Reichwald, who also comes over from Mondays, while Buster Olney returns as the reporter.
"If this team establishes themselves as we hope and we think they can," Wildhack said, "it will be terrific for us, terrific for 'Sunday Night Baseball' and terrific for the sport."

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[Ask Coach Wolff] TITLE IX ISSUES: 40 Years After Title IX BecameLaw, Why Are There Still So Few Female Coaches?

 

The article asks a very good question. And it can be extended even further. Why are there so few female coaches in the youth and HS ranks in the sports that they participated in?

You would think that a after a couple of generations of women athletes passing through their chosen sports would have the time and the passion for the sport enough to give something back. I would think that strictly from a potential liability standpoint the high schools and colleges would have a preference for female coaches coaching female athletes.


from askcoachwolff.com:
http://www.askcoachwolff.com/2015/10/12/title-ix-issues-40-years-after-title-ix-became-law-why-are-there-still-so-few-female-coaches/

Ask Coach Wolff has posted a new item, 'TITLE IX ISSUES: 40 Years After Title IX Became Law, Why Are There Still So Few Female Coaches?'

How Narrowing the Gender Gap in Youth League Coaching Would Serve the Players

By Doug Abrams

 Late last month, the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com carried two articles
about the under-representation of women in youth league coaching ranks
nationwide. The University of Minnesota's Nicole LaVoi estimates that women
coach only about 10% of boys' teams, and barely a [...]

You may view the latest post at
http://www.askcoachwolff.com/2015/10/12/title-ix-issues-40-years-after-title-ix-became-law-why-are-there-still-so-few-female-coaches/

Best regards,
Ask Coach Wolff

Sarah Hudek adjusting to College | College Baseball Daily

Hudek is flying under the radar as far as a national news story goes compared to say a Mo' ne Davis -- and there are various reason for that -- but as the story indicates she is not the first to get to this level of play and she certainly will not be the last. Being a LHP will help. A knock-out secondary pitch would help, but she is the daughter of an ex-big leaguer, so that will help as well.

She would get more attention if there some "other" socially significant back stories that could be attached to her ascent, but WTH? She deserves kudos for advancing to this level and bears watching moving forward.

from College Baseball Daily:
Sarah Hudek adjusting to College | College Baseball Daily:

Sarah Hudek the first female to play college baseball in Louisiana and one of the the first in the country is adjusting to life at Bossier Parish Community College where she is a member of the 58 student athletes on the squad.

“I was really nervous coming here and not knowing what to expect, but the guys have been very accepting,” said Hudek, whose grandparents live in southeast Shreveport. “It’s been an adjustment for me, as well as for them. But the meshing has gone well so far, and I’m excited.”

Hudek is one of 58 student-athletes on the BPCC squad, but the only one who doesn’t dress in the parking lot. The baseball team doesn’t have a clubhouse with a shower, so the guys change clothes wherever they can, or wait until they get home.

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WAIT..WHAT?!? | All in a name: Madison Bumgarner rules the (softball) mound | Yahoo Sports

C'mon man!?!? Are we getting a weird glimpse of a parallel universe?

The one where the Cubs are the preeminent dynasty in baseball and the Yankees are the sad-sacks?

from Yahoo Sports:
All in a name: Madison Bumgarner rules the (softball) mound | Prep Rally - Yahoo Sports:

How many Madison Bumgarner's are there? Apparently, at least three. They all hail from the same small town in South Carolina. One is the 2014 World Series MVP. Another once dated that MVP. And now NBC Charlotte reports a third is emerging as a star on the softball mound.  It gets confusing, following all of the Bumgarners in South Caldwell, a.k.a. "Bumtown." The high school softball pitcher says she is a sixth cousin of the San Francisco Giants pitcher. They must have inherited at least a few of the same genes, as the younger Bumgarner is tearing up the competition this season. 

'via Blog this'

That would mean the Giants really finished last three of the last five years, wouldn't it?

It was creepy enough to hear Madison Bumgarner ( the Giant ) actually dated a girl named Madison Bumgarner, now this. And I'm not a prude, for the most part, but c'mon. Where does it all end?

I think I can tell them apart though.

His off-season workout seems to revolve around activities that drive away "sissy hands". I'm sure the distaff Madison Bumgarner's workout does not address such concerns.

She likely refers to her defense the way most people refer to belly-buttons, i.e.: "innies" ( for infielders ) and "outies ( for outfielders ).  I hear this on the softball field all the time, and there it seems perfectly appropriate and acceptable, but I swear if I hear this on a baseball field -- like with the songs thingy -- I will stop the game and lodge some form of protest. That would be a first.

I'm going to go out on a limb and venture a guess that Madison Bumgarner ( the Giant ) has never referred to his infielders as "innies" or his outfielders as "outies". At least, I hope he hasn't.

Maybe I'm the weird one. Or perhaps, I got sent to the wrong universe by accident.

James Brown delivers powerful speech about domestic violence

Powerful words by CBS NFL anchor James Brown. Not surprising coming from him, he appeared at our church for a Sunday special event, to be interviewed by our pastor. He clearly gets it. Language matters, culture matters and in many seemingly small but ultimately significant ways, both clearly have to change.

Part of the problem, is the evil is disguised by virtue of both it's small size ( Oh, what's the harm? ) and that it is seemingly innocuous at first. Words and language and attitudes, as they become part of the lexicon, spread like a virus. Phrases like "boys will be boys" become culturally accepted and embedded. When left unattended they can grow like a cancer and destroy. Wearing this disguise, they are allowed to manifest themselves and grow larger. Words and language and the effect on attitudes matter. Strangely enough, the idiom "boys will be boys" is based on the premise that it is expected that men will behave badly. Self-fulfilling prophecy coming back to bite us in the butt.

I included a blog post below from author Ann Voskamp which she posted after the Steubenville rape incident and I meant to post it then and didn't. Her words are perhaps even more powerful than those of Brown and her post bears reading in its entirety. By men more so than women, because it gets to the crux of what James was saying:

But wouldn’t it be productive if this collective outrage, as my colleagues have said, could be channelled to truly hear and address the long-suffering cries for help by so many women? And as they said, do something about it? Like an on-going education of men about what healthy, respectful manhood is all about.

And men, if some of Ann's words and sentiments hit you in the face like a shovel, that's good. We've identified where the problem resides. Now for the the solution -- which Ann's post very capably provides BTW -- that many of the male commentators, and some females -- like Janay Rice, seem to struggle to find.

And I would say, if her words do not in some way shape or form touch your heart or cause you to think about self-evaluation or change, then that's not good. You may need help.

And I have never told anyone what happened next, but after Steubenville, to stay silent is to let perpetrators perpetuate. We were looked in the eye, Son, and what we were told, those words tried to shatter God — “Boys will be boys.” Son. When the prevailing thinking is boys will be boys — girls will be garbage. And that is never the heart of God.

But you know what, we've been here before.  And here we are again. Because ultimately it's not an NFL problem or an HS football jocks gone wild problem, it's a societal problem. Once again, opportunity is knocking. It's high time we answered the door.

To paraphrase the best of both James Brown and Ann Voskamp:
---
from newrepublic.com:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119422/cbs-sports-james-brown-commentary-ray-rice-nfl-domestic-violence

Here's a partial transcript:

...this problem is bigger than football. There has been, appropriately so, intense and widespread outrage following the release of the video showing what happened inside the elevator at the casino. But wouldn’t it be productive if this collective outrage, as my colleagues have said, could be channelled to truly hear and address the long-suffering cries for help by so many women? And as they said, do something about it? Like an on-going education of men about what healthy, respectful manhood is all about.

And it starts with how we view women. Our language is important. For instance, when a guy says, ‘you throw the ball like a girl’ or ‘you’re a little sissy,’ it reflects an attitude that devalues women and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion. Women have been at the forefront in the domestic violence awareness and prevention arena. And whether Janay Rice considers herself a victim or not, millions of women in this country are.

Consider this: According to domestic violence experts, more than three women per day lose their lives at the hands of their partners. That means that since the night February 15th in Atlantic City [when the elevator incident occurred] more than 600 women have died.

The good news about domestic violence (yes, there is good news) is that its reported incidence has fallen dramatically in the last two decades. There's no single, agreed-upon reason for why, but most experts think changing cultural expectations have played a major role. Statements like Brown's can make a real difference.

-----
from aholyexperience.com and Ann Voskamp:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/03/after-steubenville-what-our-sons-needs-to-know-about-manhood/

. And there’ll be a mother in Steubenville who will be shattered that her teen son’s behind bars and how in the world did that happen. We’re all getting a lot wrong.

Like that night I was 19 and I saw it in my rear view mirror, how a 20-something man reached over and started fondling a terrified 14 year-old sleeping girl. How he shrugged his shoulders when we confronted him, like he was brushing away an annoying fly. How there were girls that whispered that he’d grabbed them too in the dark of a car when he drove them home from youth group, how there were all these shy and ashamed girls who were violated and forced and indifferently robbed.

I want to tell you, son — we were all church kids. There was no alcohol. There were no parties. There were no football teams.

There were young men who opened their Bibles and didn’t value the worth of a God-fashioned woman made for glory, young men who sang worship songs and satiated their lust by ripping off the dignity of a sacred human being, young men who said women were the weaker vessel meant let’s drink them dry and be merry.

We went to the church elders.

A handful of us girls with one teenage boy who knew what he saw and wasn’t afraid, we went to the elders and sat there with our hands literally shaking and our mouths impossibly dry and we tried to find words for what should never have to be said. My cheeks and throat burned.

And I have never told anyone what happened next, but after Steubenville, to stay silent is to let perpetrators perpetuate.

We were looked in the eye, Son, and what we were told, those words tried to shatter God —

“Boys will be boys.”

Son. When the prevailing thinking is boys will be boys — girls will be garbage.

And that is never the heart of God.

Does Grunting Improve Your Sports Performance? | STACK

Does Grunting Improve Your Sports Performance?

				Does Grunting Improve Your Sports Performance? Find out whether grunting during tennis matches and other sports actually increases performance.
				View on www.stack.com	Preview by Yahoo

If it does, it should be banned, right? Seriously, I've worked games where an opposing coach wants the softball pitcher who "excessively" grunts is distracting his hitters. I usually suggest he does a better job coaching his hitters so they are not so easily distracted, but whatever.

from STACK:
http://www.stack.com/2014/07/02/grunting-sports/

Some think it’s a tactic of deception—attempting to distract the opponent and hide the sound of the ball. Others think it actually impairs breathing and oxygen consumption.

 However, a recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that grunting may actually have tangible performance benefits.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska had five male and five female NCAA Division-I tennis players participate in two standardized practice sessions—one with grunting and the other without. Each athlete wore a portable metabolic unit to measure oxygen consumption, and each shot was measured with a radar gun.

RELATED: Who Wore the Best Tennis Shoes in History

The finding: grunting increased average groundstroke velocity by 3.8 percent. It also did not impair oxygen consumption—which came as a surprise.

.....

The researchers theorized that an increase in trunk stability when grunting produces the added velocity. The core can more efficiently transfer and produce force without wasting energy, which translates to more powerful groundstrokes.

This caused an instantaneous improvement among the tested athletes, which is remarkable given that NCAA athletes are already near the top of their game, so small improvements are hard to come by.

Did the study have limitations? Certainly. The athletes were only measured over two-minute periods, and a long tennis match can last upwards of five hours. Also, each athlete reported feeling more tired when grunting, even though physiological data indicated otherwise.

However, the study provides a pretty compelling reason to give grunting a try next time you play tennis. Also, it may also apply to other sports skills involving quick bursts of power, such as a baseball swing or a slap shot.

'via Blog this'

In the gym, I'm sure they get many complaints about excessive grunting.

Maria Sharapova turned it into an art form in tennis I suppose, but that's a post for another blog.

Oh what the heck, here we go. Gosh darn it if there isn't a thing called a "grunt-o-meter" and a formal ranking of the female tennis players -- never the males -- what's up with that?

http://www.businessinsider.com/loudest-womens-tennis-shrieks-2013-6?op=1

RANKED: The 10 Loudest Grunters And Shriekers In Women's Tennis

				RANKED: The 10 Loudest Grunters And Shriekers In W... Guess how high Maria Sharapova scored.
				View on www.businessinside...	Preview by Yahoo

WARNING: 

Don't let your spouse or boss (same thing, right?) catch you watching these (turn down the volume) or you'll be banned for a week from something you love to do, just like Stephen A. Smith. Apology or no apology.

Chelsea Baker's path to mound at Trop as unpredictable as her signature pitch | Tampa Bay Times

from MaxPreps.com

Chelsea Baker, a Little Leaguer we featured here back in 2010, throws BP yesterday at the Trop. 
http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/girl-power-indeed.html

From the video, it appears she is facing the expected obstacles one would expect given the novelty of her participation in baseball rather than softball. But, I will still say that her mastery of the knuckle-ball could be the equalizer that allows her to continue to advance another step closer to being the first female to participate in MLB. It takes power and force production out of the equation for her as a pitcher, which is ultimately the largest impediment to having a female pitcher, even at the HS level. 

from Tampa Bay Times:
Chelsea Baker's path to mound at Trop as unpredictable as her signature pitch | Tampa Bay Times:

She pitched 5 ½ years without a loss, pitched two no-hitters, grew so solid on the mound that she landed on ESPN's E:60, Good Morning America and CNN. At the request of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, she sent her jersey for an exhibit called "Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball." The press started calling her the Knuckleball Princess.

Last week she met Maddon at an event where she was honored for being the first female player to make a varsity baseball roster in Hillsborough County (she wore a black dress and Chuck Taylors). She gave him a signed baseball from her first game pitching for Durant High School. He invited her to throw some pitches to his boys during batting practice.

'via Blog this'

The ides that a woman can pitch at the professional level is not that far-fetched. Another young lady we profiled in 2008, Eri Yoshida has gone on to pitch professionally both in Japan as well as in the Arizona Winter League.

from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eri_Yoshida

Eri Yoshida (吉田 えり Yoshida Eri^?, born January 17, 1992, in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan) is a Japanese professionalbaseball player. She plays as a sidearm knuckleball pitcher for the Ishikawa Million Stars of the independent Baseball Challenge League.^[1] In 2008, at the age of 16, she became the first female drafted by a Japanese men's professional baseball team.^[2]

Baseball career[edit]

Yoshida was fourteen years old when she taught herself how to throw the knuckleball after watching Major League Baseball pitcher Tim Wakefield on television.^[3][4] She stands 1.55 metres (5 ft 1 in) tall,^[2] and her pitches have been clocked at 101 kilometres per hour (63 mph), while her knuckleball measures around 50 mph.^[5] As a high-school sophomore at Kawasaki-kita Senior High School in Kawasaki, she threw the pitch well enough to earn a place on the school's baseball team.^[3] Her success caused a sensation in the national media, who dubbed her the Knuckle Princess.^[3] In 2008, she signed a contract to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise of Kansai Independent Baseball League.^[2][4]

Yoshida made her professional baseball debut at the Osaka Dome in the opening game of the Kansai Independent Baseball League on March 26, 2009 in front of 11,592 fans. She faced two batters, walking the first and striking out the second in a 5-0 win over the Osaka Gold Villicanes.^[6] She appeared in 11 games for the Kobe 9 Cruise and moved on after the season to focus on advancing up the pro ranks. She appeared in a one-inning battle against the top hitters of the Hiroshima Carp on November 24, 2009.^[7]

On December 15, 2009 the Arizona Winter League announced that they had reached an agreement to allow Yoshida to play in their thirty-five game season.^[5] The league served to showcase players who had been overlooked by major league teams in the draft by giving them a chance to play in front of professional scouts.^[5] On February 12, 2010, Yoshida got her first win in Arizona Winter League play, throwing four shut-out innings in a 5-0 win for her team, the Yuma Scorpions, versus Team Canada of the Arizona Winter League.^[8]

Why Boys Are Better Throwers, And How Girls Can Close The Gap | ThePostGame

Why Boys Are Better Throwers, And How Girls Can Close The Gap | ThePostGame:

"The overhand throwing gap, beginning at 4 years of age, is three times the difference of any other motor task, and it just gets bigger across age," said Jerry Thomas, dean of the College of Education at the University of North Texas. "By 18, there’s hardly any overlap in the distribution: Nearly every boy by age 15 throws better than the best girl."

Haspel writes that a skillful overhand throw involves three phases: the step, the rotation and the whip. Men are superior at each of those phases, and the difference may be most prevalent in the rotation. Thomas said men tend to rotate their hips forward before turning their shoulders and opening their bodies, whereas women rotate their hips and shoulders in one motion. Women lose speed in their throwing motion by not separating their rotation."

The explanation for this contrast goes back thousands of years. According to Thomas, the men who were best at throwing rocks got the girls. Meanwhile women were often holding a baby when they threw, and that constricted their motion. Now, Haspel notes, many women have a throwing motion that looks more like they are tossing a dart. Harvard softball coach Jenny Allard called overhand throwing "the most undertaught skill in softball."

With the proper teaching, women can overcome the evolutionary head start of men. Indeed, if girls were to learn the proper rotation and throwing motion, they could render Ham Porter's insult useless.

from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/throw-like-a-girl-with-some-practice-you-can-do-better/2012/09/10/9ffc8bc8-dc09-11e1-9974-5c975ae4810f_story.html

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