Baseball. A game that we’ve all grown to love. Whether that love began the day we were born or in our childhood or even in adulthood, we all share the same passion. We are the ones who go to the game for the sake of the game, not as a place to socialize. We think that people who dislike baseball are strange. And we know that having a good bullpen is one of the greatest necessities in life. We want our team to play well. We want our team to win the World Series. And at the end of the day, all we want to do is sit down and watch a game of baseball.
But I see an issue with baseball and it’s not about replay review, the designated hitter debate, or the way the games are called. It’s about something much bigger than that. Females are very much underrated and underrepresented in the baseball world. And there’s a bias that surrounds the game. I’m not putting the blame on anyone and it’s not one person’s fault. It’s just a very obvious stereotype that I think needs to be addressed.
I run a Giants Twitter account. I’ll post about the team, I’ll post stats and I’ll live tweet my reactions. I first began the account as a freshman in high school. I didn’t put my name on the account, I didn’t post any pictures and I didn’t say anything about who I was. People would ask me questions about the game, the team, history, stats, etc. And I was able to answer them. But little did they know, the face behind the account was a 15 year old girl.
By not enclosing who I was on Twitter because of my fear that I wouldn’t be taken seriously, I played into the stereotype. I believed the stereotype. I didn’t want to admit who I was because I’m a girl and hey, what do girls know about baseball? Who would take me seriously?
Just last night, a Dodger fan had the audacity to question my love for the Giants. But in the process of doing so, the fan said, “HE calls himself a true Giants fan?” What made that fan automatically assume that I was a guy? The stereotype did. And as much as I’d like to blame the Dodgers fan for this assumption, I can’t.
I’m bringing this up because I think that it’s important to start talking about it. It's important to bring awareness to this issue. I tweeted a mini-rant last night and got so many responses from people telling me their stories and their takes on the subject. And it really opened my eyes to how much needs to be changed.
I think a lot of people who know me understand my love for baseball and the San Francisco Giants. And quite a few of my goals in life surround those two subjects. I’m a Social Media Marketing student with the hopes of working for the Giants. I want to travel and visit all 30 MLB ballparks. I also run this blog in which I write about what I know: baseball.
I definitely think that we’ve made progress over the past few years. We had Jennie Finch as the first female pro baseball manager for the Bridgeport Bluefish in May. Additionally, Pitch is set to premiere in just two days. It’s a fictional drama series about the first woman to play in MLB. Times are changing and stories like these help to inspire. Not only that, but they also help people understand that the stereotype means absolutely nothing. Yeah, there are a lot of females who know nothing about baseball. There also happen to be a lot of males that know nothing about the sport. All that matters is how you portray yourself and your knowledge of the game. So if you want to start a sports blog, go for it. If you want to run a baseball Twitter account, do it. I highly suggest it and I’ve met a lot of great fans through mine. And if you love the game of baseball, support it whole-heartedly and don’t be afraid of the stereotype.
Feel free to share this post and let's start a conversation. Together we can destroy the stereotype. And don't forget, always BEAT LA!