Sliding into Home (18 page)

Sliding into Home
is a work of fiction. Greendale is not a real town. Joelle and her friends are not real people. But Joelle’s situation is very real.

I got the idea for this book when I read a newspaper article in the late 1990s about a young girl who wasn’t allowed to play baseball. Intrigued with her story, I looked on the internet to find more information. During my search, I discovered that other girls who wanted to play baseball had been told no. Girls all across the country are
still
being told no.

When I looked back at the history of baseball, I couldn’t understand why young women would ever be denied the chance to play. Women have been playing baseball since the game was invented. Vassar College, a prestigious all-women’s institution, was founded in 1865. Within a year, Vassar had two baseball teams. Shortly thereafter, several other women’s colleges also had baseball teams. The players wore long-sleeved shirts with high necklines, wide skirts that hung to the ground, and high-button shoes. But it wasn’t long before disapproving mothers forced all of these early teams to disband!

During World War II, while many of the male Major League ball players were off fighting in Europe and the Pacific, the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League was formed. Young women played in this league from 1943 until 1954. The popular 1992 movie
A League of Their Own
was based on these players’ experiences.

Today there are more than twenty-three all-women’s baseball teams throughout the world. As of this writing, the Women’s Baseball League (
www.baseballglory.com
) is in the process of obtaining approval for the American Athletic Union (
www.aausports.org
) to sanction girls’ baseball in the United States.

The Pawtucket Slaterettes Girls Baseball League in Pawtucket, Rhode Island is a real girls’ baseball league. And they really do have a website at
www.slaterettes.com
. This league has been around since 1973, when nine-year-old Pookie Fortin wanted to play baseball with the Pawtucket Darlington American Little League (DALL). That organization did not allow girls to play on their teams and refused to let her join the league. The young girl’s family took DALL to court. Pookie never did play for DALL, but her situation led to the formation of the Pawtucket Slaterettes Girls Baseball League.

Perhaps there will come a day when
any
girl who wants to play baseball will be able to. The Women’s Sports Foundation (
www.womenssportsfoundation.org
), is another organization that is working toward that goal.

While writing this book, I corresponded with several girls around the country who were eager to play ball but couldn’t, for one reason or another. I hope to hear soon from girls whose baseball dreams have come true.

We all have dreams—and that’s what
Sliding into Home
is really about!

—D. H. B.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2003 by Dori Hillestad Butler

Cover design by Paul Casale
Book design by Melanie McMahon Ives

ISBN 978-1-4804-6708-8 (ebook)

Peachtree Publishers
1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
www.peachtree-online.com

Distributed by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com

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