Every Out Gay Player In The Women’s Professional Baseball League

Batter up!
Hear that call!
The time has come for one and all
To play ball.

The day is finally here…a day that’s been years — nay, decades — in the making: the return of women’s professional baseball to the United States. Tonight, a dream deferred, following the dissolution of the short-lived Ladies Professional Baseball League, will be realized as the inaugural season of the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) launches at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

“Across the USA and around the world, women have always played baseball. From backyard games with older siblings, to rec leagues across the country, women have found ways to play the sport they love. Baseball is America’s pastime, but the professional game hasn’t evolved to reflect the diversity of those who play, watch and love this sport. That’s about to change,” WPBL Commissioner (and Founder) Justine Siegal said. “A long time dream is coming into focus: a professional women’s baseball league for a new generation. The Women’s Pro Baseball League is here.”

The league debuts this weekend with games featuring its four founding franchises: the New York Heights and the Los Angeles Queens open league play on Saturday, while the Boston Hunters San Francisco Firebells follow on Sunday.

The WPBL is dedicated to paying homage to the trailblazers who paved the way and the team names reflect that. The Boston Hunters take their team name from Harriot K. Hunt, a groundbreaking physician and women’s rights activist. The New York Heights are a tribute to Dorothy Irene Height, a pioneering civil rights and women’s rights leader from the Empire State. Women’s baseball legend Lizzie Murphy lends her nickname — “Queen of the Diamond” — to the WPBL’s Los Angeles franchise. The San Francisco Firebells pay homage to Lillie “Firebelle Lil” Coit, a champion of the city’s volunteer firefighters.

This weekend’s games will mark the first of two games for each franchise this week. The six-week long regular season will stretch from August 1st to September 6th with each team playing twice a week (15 games total). For the most part, the game will resemble the game we’ve always known, aside from a few key differences: WPBL teams will play seven innings instead of nine, the outfield fences will be closer in (compared to MLB fields), and players will use aluminum bats instead of wood.

The league’s first-ever playoffs will begin on September 9th with two semifinal series and the final series to crown the WPBL’s inaugural champion will kick-off on September 16th. You can watch all the excitement of the WPBL’s inaugural season from home: ESPN Select will broadcast all regular and playoff games live and Scripps Sports Network will broadcast 11 regular season games. Fans outside the United States can watch all the action on the WPBL’s Youtube Channel.

The 60 players who take the field this weekend will be among the world’s best and they will have run a highly competitive gauntlet to get here. Last summer, the WPBL held their first tryouts and the response was overwhelming: 600 women from 10 countries descended on Washington, DC and tried to realize their dream of playing professional baseball. Over the course of four days, scouts whittled down the number of players at the tryout by putting them through drill-focused sessions, athletic performance testing, and player evaluations. After final cuts, just 21% of the original group remained and they make up the WPBL’s first class of draft prospects. Then, on November 20, 120 of those women went from prospects to players as each of the league’s four franchises participated in a six round, snake-style draft to select each team’s first 30 players. Rosters have been subsequently trimmed to just 15 players per team, just 10% of the players who started this journey a year ago.

The remaining 60 players represent eight countries: the United States (27), Canada (11), Japan (8), Mexico (5), Australia (4), South Korea (3), Curacao (1), and the Dominican Republic (1). Players range in age from 18 (!!) to 35. While they all come from different places, each player in the WPBL has a story of perseverance, as they spent years trying to find a way to play the sport that they love.

“We’ve all grown up in this same boat of being the only girl on the team and had to overcome similar hardships,” Los Angeles’ Ashton Lansdell told Elle. “But then we’ll all come together on one field and we see each other in every other one of us.”

But, of course, this is Autostraddle and there’s one pressing question that needs to be answered: who all’s gay here?

When we ran down the gays on the WPBL roster back in November, those names represented all the players who had been drafted but the players on the opening day rosters reflect just those players who have been signed. Since then, we’ve become aware of more out players, which means even though nine of those drafted gays from our original list didn’t make it onto final rosters, we’re still landing at 18 verified queer players among the 60 players — or, roughly 30% of the league — who will suit up for the WPBL’s opening weekend of action. Am I disappointed that the team called the “Queens” doesn’t have more gays on it? Yes, yes I am. But in Frankie de la Cretaz’s profile of Ashton Lansdell and Denae Bites, Lansdell confessed, “I can’t speak for everyone, but I definitely feel like the community of women’s baseball is probably 95% gay — not a legit statistic!” So, there’s still hope that Team LGBT will continue to grow.

What’s particularly noteworthy about the WPBL’s queer contingent: they are some of the league’s top talent. To wit, in recent group play for the World Cup, Ashton Landsell put together “one of the greatest hitting performances in Women’s Baseball World Cup history.” Five players hit two home runs during the group stage, three of them were queer: Landsell, New York’s Denae Benites and San Francisco’s Kelsie Whitmore. Boston’s Raine Padgham, an out pitcher from British Columbia, Canada, was among the strikeout leaders in group play. The player widely considered to be the greatest pitcher in women’s baseball, Ayami Soto, is also out.

So while our contingent of gays might be small, we are mighty and I can’t wait to see what all these players bring to the WPBL.

Manager: Keith Foulke

Position: Right-Handed Pitcher

Position: Catcher

Position: First Base

Manager: Eric Young Sr.

Position: Third Base

Position: Catcher

Position: Right-handed pitcher

Position: Centerfield

Manager: Rachelle “Rocky” Henley

Position: Catcher

Position: First Base

Position: Catcher

Position: Infielder

Position: Shortstop

Position: Third Base

Position: Centerfield

Position: Catcher

Manager: Matt Williams

Position: Right-Handed Pitcher

Position: Second Base

Position: Left-handed pitcher

Let’s play ball!