The Women’s Professional Baseball League made its debut Saturday night in Springfield, Ill., and the Los Angeles Queens won the first game 10-8 over the New York Heights. More than 4,000 people came to Robin Roberts Stadium to watch the first official contest in the new league, which began play in rainy conditions under a damp, windy sky.
That made the night more than a box score. It was the first women’s professional baseball league in the United States in almost 30 years, and the crowd watched the sport’s restart unfold in real time. Maggie Foxx delivered the league’s first hit on a two-run single in the opening inning, and Denae Benites followed later with the WPBL’s first home run, a two-run drive to center in the fourth.
The league had framed the evening as a tribute to the past, present and future of women’s baseball, and the pregame ceremony carried that weight even after the rain delay. Maybelle Blair, who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1943 to 1954, threw the ceremonial first pitch to Kelsie Whitmore. Blair said the moment felt incredible, a reminder of how long women’s baseball has waited for a stage like this, after the game that inspired A League of Their Own had been part of the sport’s last full professional chapter.
For Rosalee Mabry, 9, the night was simpler and more immediate. She was there with Antonietta Mabry, who said it was exciting to give her daughter exposure to female professional athletes. Rosalee said it was cool to see professional women play, and after the rain soaked the 101-year-old ballpark, the sight of women taking the field still landed with the fans who stayed for every inning. The Queens led 8-4 before the Heights rallied, then Los Angeles answered with two runs in the sixth and four more in the final frame to finish the job.
The opener gave the WPBL a real start, but it also left the basic question of scale: how many games this league will play, and how the schedule will hold together after the first weekend. The Firebells and the Boston Hunters were set to play Sunday, and that next game will be the first clue to whether this debut is a one-night celebration or the beginning of something built to last.
