Question for all the women. Your playing experiences

[captlid]

1. How did you get into baseball?
2. Was it encouraged in your family or a passion from within?
3. What do you like most about the game of baseball?
4. What is the highest level of baseball you have played?
5. Do you currently play? with guys? women's league?

1. Started playing sandlot ball with guys around the age of 10. Played until the age of 18. Joined a women's league in my area the year after.
2. There is a huge complex of about 12 baseball fields walking distance from me. I loved going to the park and got hooked watching the older players.
3. The smell of leather, freshly cut grass and the sound of wood hitting the ball!
4. Local women's league and played with high school level players as a teenager. Also tried out for the women's national team for kicks!
5. Yes, in a women's league in our city.

[NotAboutEgo]

1. I don't ever remember not being into baseball. My mom said I went to my first Tiger game when I was 4. My parents and just about everyone else on both sides of my family always listened to the Tigers on the radio and watched them on TV. I started playing sandlot from the time I was 5. I started playing organized fast pitch at age 10... but always wanted to play baseball.

2. For me, it's a passion from within. It's something I've been aware of my whole life. Even though I was exposed to baseball at a very early age, no one ever forced it on me or encouraged me to play it in any way. I decided on my own that I wanted to play it (since the age of 5... that's as far back as I can remember wanting to play it).

3. It's a very complex, challenging game, yet it can be so simple. It's fun to play and watch. It really challenges your mind, which is what I love most about it. It also challenges you physically. It's played outdoors in the sunshine and warm weather... at least, that's how it is most of the time. I feel a connection to the nostalgia of baseball... not sure exactly why... but I do. I don't feel that with any other sport, even though I like other sports. For me, it's also very aesthetic. I love the challenge of the game, the atmosphere of playing on a field, the atmosphere of being at a pro game, the fun that is created from it, hanging out with friends while playing and while watching it, also the smell of the grass and the sound of a ball hitting a glove... I love the nature of the game!

4. I currently play on a women's team (semi-pro)... have since 2000, I've played on a men's amateur team (2003), I played with another women's team when I was still creating my women's team (1999), I've played in several competitive women's baseball tournaments around the country and in Canada since 2001, and I have been playing in the Tigers fantasy camps (coed) since 2001 (I play in local games with other campers... men and women... in the summer as well). I've tried out for the Colorado Silver Bullets, and I also tried out for the U.S. national women's team in 2004. I've taught hitting lessons professionally to both boys and girls and have taught at many youth baseball clinics.

5. I've been playing organized hardball since 1999 (2007 is my 8th year of organized baseball). I started playing sandlot ball when I was 5 (1976). I played fast pitch for 7 years (just using it here as a comparison to baseball). I have done a ton more in baseball than I ever did in softball.

[hot_corner_gurl]

1) Well, I'm only 16...and I've been playing the game since I was 4, after I went and saw my brother play in high school. I went to my first big league game about a year later, which was actually a Yankees game, where I watched the A's defeat them, and have ever since been an A's fan.

2) Passion. All the way. I never really got the chance to live with my parents (they were and have been in and out of prison), so they weren't a huge influence. My 3rd foster family was the one who took me to a Yankees game, so I have to give them credit for introducing me to the game. In terms of playing, I always saw (and still see) baseball as a way to get my anger out. I'd play with a fury just to get all of the frustrations of my life out, which really creeps out the opposing team!

3) Everything. There isn't a thing about the game that I don't like.

4) CWBL, although I haven't played at all this year due to an injury (concussion).

5) Yes, I currently play on my high school baseball team. I play catcher and
3rd (hence my username...). I actually prefer catcher, but becase I'm so small compared to the rest of the guys, coach won't let me because I'm "too east to barrel over..." But oh well. At least I get to play!!!

[JeepingBaseball]

1. How did you get into baseball? Grew up with it at Shea Stadium (my family worked there. Grandfather worked at Ebbets Fields and the Polo Grounds before going to Shea) and have found memories of playing catch with Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez and Lee Mazzilli. On the other side of my family, My grandmother was chummy with many of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Always heard these awesome stories about the boys of summer.

2. Was it encouraged in your family or a passion from within? My participating in sports when I was growing up is a bit different then most people I know. At the time soccer was my only choice with a real team and stuck with it for 8 years. But I could always be found playing stickball or a pickup sandlot game somewhere. Nothing ever did excite me more than baseball.

3. What do you like most about the game of baseball? Too difficult a question, seriously. I wouldnt know where to begin.

4. What is the highest level of baseball you have played? I have played with the NYWBA for 1 season. Paticipated in the 24 Hours For Africa. Participated in the Roy Hobbs Baseball Tournament with the Chicago Gems. Hope to be participating in the CAN AM Tournament in Detroit this year with the Dangers, in addition to the Roy Hobb Tournament in October and the Myrtle Beach Tournament if they ever decide on a date.

5. Do you currently play? with guys? women's league? I currently make myself available to any team who needs a player. I'm in the process of launching the Georgia Women's Baseball League this summer and hope to have teams set up for the 2008 season.

[csheldon25]

1.I got into playing in 1995 when one of my softball teammates asked if anyone wanted to play hardball, I was 41. I played until this year I retired.
2.I've always played sports including college and my family was always behind me.
3.I like any thing with a ball,a bat and a glove. I like the stragety of playing 1st base it's different than softball.
4.I tried out for US team in 2002 and I did play in nationals in 99. I was inducted into the National Women's Baseball Hall Fame in 2003.
5. I retired but I did play for the Michigan Stars, Detroit Danger, Motown Magic, South Bend Blue Sox. While with the Danger I got to play in the last ever official game played in Tiger Stadium.

[LadyMarlin71]

1. How did you get into baseball?
2. Was it encouraged in your family or a passion from within?
3. What do you like most about the game of baseball?
4. What is the highest level of baseball you have played?
5. Do you currently play? with guys? women's league?

1. Played in the backyard with my big brother and our friends. In 2005 I read about Mamie "Peanut" Johnson and decided to look for a women's team to play on.

2. Passion.

3. Everything.

4. Women's teams. In 2006 as a member of the Orlando Heat, we won the Women's World Series.

5. I didn't play this year because of my graduating from art school, but I hope to move to Tampa to be closer to my team next year.

[RightEGirl]

1. How did you get into baseball?

I started playing at age 4, with one season of tee-ball, then played continuously until age 15 when I was denied the opportunity to try out for the HS Baseball team. After an elite and pro career in Fastpitch Softball, I had the great opportunity to return to baseball, first in Holland, then after returning to the States, with women's tournament teams and men's MSBL. I have to thank Shawna Macurio for my return to baseball. If not for her posting on the ISF (International Softball federation) website (and my chance reading of it!) I might not have followed this incredible path!!! Thanks for posting that, Shawna!


2. Was it encouraged in your family or a passion from within?

My Dad was an American Legion-level ballplayer (and later, a coach) and encouraged me at any early age. Playing ball was just something you did in my family...it was so integral to everyday life for me that it was like breathing or eating...you just did it automatically. At about age 12 -13, I was actually pretty "burnt out" and for the first time questioned why I was playing. Did I love the sport? Or was it just something automatic? Did I love playing, or was it just "comfortable" because I had an aptitude for it? After nearly deciding to sit out a season, I decided to play, just out of habit and fear of boredom over the summer. It was during this season that I re-discovered my true love of the game, and realized my passion for it went far beyond just doing it because that's what was the normal routine in my family. Now, I play every game for the passion of it, the adrenaline, the nuances, the strategy, and the kind of sisterly (and when I play with men, brotherly) camraderie that only baseball and softball teammates ever experience.


3. What do you like most about the game of baseball?

Personally, as an infielder the thing I like best is tagging a stealing runner out, digging out low throws at 1B, and turning a double play from anywhere. As a Pitcher...well, there's nothing better than hitting your spots and striking batters out. In general though, I love the flow of the game...the moments of adrenaline, and the moments of sheer, utter silence, where all you can hear is your own breathing. I love the smell of the grass, the way the field looks just before the first spike touches it, the sound of the chalk or spray paint being laid down and the bases put in place. Then there's the sound of a ball on a wood bat and the pop of the ball into leather. I love looking down the bench and seeing my teammates all focused and full of the same passion I feel for the game.


4. What is the highest level of baseball you have played?

That's a tougher question to answer than it might seem at first glance! Probably the highest women's level I've played is on elite teams. The level of play was extraordinary at Kenosha this last year, and when we played against the Japanese club team in Hong Kong (silver medal for us). A very, very high level of women's ball was played both by Philly and by So. Florida Crush this last Memorial Day, when my team (the Crush, silver medal)) fell to Philly in the final 1-0, and Kristin Caldwell (Philly) pitched a no-hitter. In men's ball... probably a tie between my men's team in Holland and the 18+ MABL league I played in early this year.


5. Do you currently play? with guys? women's league?

As you can tell from my answers above, I currently play with both men and women...wherever I can get a game in!!! : )

I have played with the So. Florida Crush, the Washington Stars, the Cal Sabres, and the NorthStars N. American All-Star team in women's ball, and with Almere '90 (Holland), The Spokane Dodgers, Coeur D'Alene Rockies, and Spokane Rangers in men's ball. I will soon be playing in my first "men's" MSBL/MABL World Series in Phoenix, with the Houston A'z team.

[NotAboutEgo]

Nice write-up, Tiff! You're very welcome about helping you get back to baseball. You know me... always trying to get the word out about women's baseball!