It's Time for Women in the National Past Time

Recently, 36-year-old Justine Siegal pitched to the team of her childhood dreams – the Cleveland Indians – during spring training. She was the first woman ever to do so.

She admits that she had wanted to play on that team until age 15, when she stopped dreaming, and found out that girls were not welcome on the professional field in baseball. This is the so-called “rule” that millions of people question and, more importantly, has crushed millions of dreams.

In the United States, women and girls have many rights and freedoms. They can vote and own land and have great jobs. Even better, they can play a variety of sports including tennis, swimming, basketball, and soccer on a professional level. One thing they are not “allowed” to do is play baseball. They cannot play with men or even have a professional league of their own. If the sport of baseball is truly the traditional American pastime, why is half of its population deprived of its fun? If there is a WNBA for basketball players and a WTA for tennis, why shouldn’t there be a Women’s Major League Baseball?

Isn’t America the land of opportunity where supposedly anyone can do anything? Well, not for girls. Over the course of the history of baseball, not only girls, but also their talent has been confined to college, high school, and travel softball. Can you imagine all the dreams crushed, the hard work for nothing? What if you happen to have more talent than a man who is your age? You are denied because you are a girl.

So, I sincerely hope that someday in the future, some people will realize that there is something wrong in the big picture of sports. I also hope there are more people like Justine Siegal who shoot for the moon no matter what. Maybe sometime in the near future girls will be professional baseball players.