After Toni became a Nun, she went on to earn her Bachelor of Science Degree in English, History and Math from Alverno College. She then earned three Master Degrees and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She taught in the Physical Education Department and the School of Social Work at the University.
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Ryan is a board member of the International Women’s Baseball Center (IWBC). We first connected back in 2016 when my old organization, the BIG Vision Foundation, in partnership with the IWBC sponsored the Ruth Hartman Memorial Girl’s Baseball Festival.
At the time, Ryan was living in Wilmington, Delaware and wasn’t a member of the IWBC board yet. He wasn’t sure if he really should to drive up to check out the event. After some convincing from his friend, Debbie Pierson, he did go, and it turned out to literally be a life changing event for him.
A few weeks later, he received a call from IWBC president, Kat Williams asking him to serve on the organizations board. He accepted, and the rest is history. Ryan was the brainchild of the IWBC’s Women in Baseball Week and has been an active member of the board since he joined the organization.
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Anyone who knows me, knows that baseball is in my blood, so to get to visit the Field of Dreams site was pretty exciting for me to say the least.
Ever since I can remember, baseball has been a part of my life. For me, it was always about more than just the game itself. It was the entire experience. From seeing a perfectly groomed field before the game begins, the smell of the fresh cut grass, the sight of the perfectly straight white lines which have been applied with mastery. Those lines and their perfect 90-degree angles. Their contrast on the brown infield dirt and bright green outfield grass. It is truly about as perfect of a scene that a human could create.
The hustle and bustle of the crowd, the smell of the hot dogs, peanuts, and popcorn. All of it combined makes it so much more than just a game for me.
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This was the last podcast that I was able to do while Sandy and I were at the BFA Nationals in Aberdeen, Maryland. She puts the explanation point on the ten amazing women that I was able to sit down with and talk to at that event.
Rocky is the third former Colorado Silver Bullet as well as the third member of Evolution Girl’s Baseball that I was able to sit down and talk with.
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Jennifer literally eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. I’m pretty sure that if you took an X-Ray of her chest, you would see a baseball beating as her heart. At one point in her life, she said that if she could live on a baseball field, she would. Her dream was very close to coming true when we were able to connect and talk at the Baseball for All Nationals as she was juggling her coaching duties between both the DC Force Girl’s Baseball team and the Alexandria Aces of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Summer League.
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Denae is a member of the Evolution Girl’s Baseball 19-U program as well as a member of the US Women’s National Baseball team that won the gold medal in Mexico in 2019.
Still on location at the Baseball for All Nationals, Denae has been participating in the BFA National tournament since 2016 when she played in the 2nd annual event in San Francisco. Even at a young age, Denae understands the importance of paving the way and helping to create more opportunities for the young girl’s that will be following behind her.
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Alex is a former member of the United States Women’s National Baseball team, as well a current member of national team coaching staff and the founder and president of the San Francisco based, Evolution Girls Baseball program.
This was another one of the podcasts that I was able to do on location at the Baseball for All Nationals in Aberdeen, MD.
We talk about her journey from baseball player to baseball coach. She played in a women’s professional baseball league and then onto the US Women’s National team. She was named to the national team coaching staff in 2019.
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Anika is an award-winning illustrator, writer, designer, cartoonist, storyteller & author of The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (March 10, 2020; Chronicle Books) and the illustrator of “Birdie Can, Too!” by Malaika Underwood (Feb. 2, 2021).
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I went to Spring Training in Battle Creek, Michigan and was picked up by the Chicks as a left-handed pitcher. I actually had no pitching experience and had never played organized baseball. In my home town of Lakeview, Ohio, I had practiced baseball with our school team all through high school, but of course, they would not let me play in the games. I was also the batgirl for our town team of men and practiced with them and went to all the games. I loved the game and had a strong arm.
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The past six weeks have been an extremely difficult time for me emotionally, but this week, my cup overflowed with joy and gratitude.
We spent the week at the Ripken Experience in Aberdeen, MD attending the Baseball for All Nationals. Baseball for All is nonprofit organization that was founded by Justine Siegel to help create opportunities for girls and women in baseball. To clarify, I’m referring to baseball, not softball.
Many times, when I start out having a conversation with someone about this subject, they will stop and say, “You mean girls’ softball, right?”
I politely clarify by saying, “Nope, baseball. Girls Baseball.”
I was first exposed to women playing baseball in 1994, when I coached a team that played against the Colorado Silver Bullets Women’s Professional Baseball team. From that point on, I always asked myself why the sport that I loved so much was a “Boys Club?”
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As we were mapping out our route on this leg of our journey, I realized that we’d be going through Anna Kimbrell’s neck of the woods. I had seen on Facebook that she had just started conducting some baseball clinics for girls at K3 Sports Academy in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
I reached out to her to see if she’d be ok with us stopping by the clinic and then doing a podcast together. She quickly agreed to the podcast and I was excited to finally get a chance to meet her in person and hear her story.
Kimbrell, a catcher for Team USA Women’s baseball has been affiliated with the organization since she was only 15 years old.
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A look back at a history making day. In this week’s episode of The Journey of My...
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