For the first time in decades, women baseball players have a league of their own

Sabreen Dawud

Reporting Fellow

Published

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Milwaukee native Yaz Rodriguez grew up watching her brothers playing baseball while her father tossed her a ball in friendly games of catch. “When I was able to play in middle school,” she said, “I did softball until my freshman year of college.”

Baseball had always been her passion, but playing it simply wasn’t in the cards for many young girls.

Last month, Rodriguez joined dozens of other players who were trying out for the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL), set to begin its first season in May as only the second women’s professional baseball league in the United States. It follows in the footsteps of the historic All-American Girls Professional Baseball League of the