No Girls in the Clubhouse

Even though teenaged girl Jackie Mitchell once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, women are still striking out on the hardball diamond. This book builds on recently published histories of women as amateur and professional players, umpires, sports commentators and fans to analyze the cultural and historical contexts for excluding females from America's pastime. Drawing on anthropological and feminist perspectives, the book examines the ways that constructions of women's bodies and normative social roles have pushed them toward softball instead of baseball. Sportswriter accounts, Title IX sex-discrimination suits, and interviews with players explore the obstacles and the social isolation of females who join all-male baseball teams, while also discussing policies that inhibit the practice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Preface     

PART I: THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN FROM PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL
1. Patriarchal Myths     
2. "Contraband Pleasure": Victorian Era Baseball, 1866-1890     
3. "Playing to the Surprise and Delight of the Crowd": Bloomer Girls and Barnstorming Exhibition Players, 1890-1935     
4. "More Than the Usual Variety of Curves": The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1943-1954     
5. "A Woman Has Her Dreams Too": Three Women Players in the Professional Negro American League, 1952-1954     
6. "Do Something Momentous": The Florida Sun Sox (1984) and the Colorado Silver Bullets (1994-1997)     
7. "But Ila's for Real": Ila Borders, 1985-2000     

PART II: THE EXCLUSION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN FROM AMATEUR BASEBALL
8. He-Sport and She-Sport: The Origins and Infrastructure of Gender Exclusion in Amateur Baseball     
9. "It's Baseball Lib": Little League Baseball and Public Americana, 1939-1974     

Conclusion: "Islands of Privateness" or Islands of Privilege     
Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index