This year marked the first time in 70 years where women had a professional baseball league in the United States. The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) launched its inaugural season in Springfield, Illinois–neutral ground for the four teams, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York–and fans flocked from across the nation to see their favorite women play ball.
I made the pilgrimage this summer, turning my 5-year-old into the most enthusiastic San Francisco Firebells fan imaginable. It was an incredible experience, and without question, one of the queerest spaces I’ve had the pleasure of being in (and yes, that includes Pride!). The players were phenomenal and incredibly diverse, representing the best of ball playing globally.
That got me thinking about books. What was the field looking like in the sport of sapphic baseball romances? Despite the history of women’s baseball and the popularity of A League of Their Own–both the 1992 original and the 2022 Netflix series–there is a noticeable lack of f/f baseball romances. (And no, softball isn’t baseball).
- Playing for Keeps by Jennifer Dugan–This YA novel follows star baseball player June, who is on her way to a rich college ball career and nursing a bad injury and baseball ref Ivy, who dreams of officiating at the professional level. The first time they meet, Ivy tosses June from a game for grandstanding–but their start as enemies doesn’t last long. Soon, sparks are flying.
Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler–Sarah’s passionate about baseball and when she becomes a full-time sports reporter, she’s thrilled. It’s at a game when Sarah meets Molly and finds an instant spark. The chemistry isn’t as quick for Molly, who worries Sarah may be more into baseball than a relationship–and that Sarah may abandon her like her ex.
- The Change-Up by Syd Parker: Sawyer Evans is a college baseball coach and runs a training program for female athletes. She loves her life but is disappointed her baseball career ended when she finished college. Bellamy Carter is an accountant with a son, and for most of his life, it’s been just the two of them. But when Sawyer is in town on a scouting trip for Bellamy’s son, their lives may end up becoming more entangled–and romantic–than either could have imagined.
Where technically Spangler’s title isn’t about the ball players, and where a romance like Chris Paynter’s Two For The Show is about a lesbian ballplayer in the male leagues, it seems like there’s a lot of space here to take the popularity and passion behind the WPBL and grow the options for sapphic baseball romance. That’s not to touch on the fact that these romances don’t represent the diversity of the actual women playing baseball at any level–collegiate or professional.
The field is wide open, and there’s certainly an eager audience.