Fort Myers hosts first women's pro baseball league since 1954

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — The Women’s Pro Baseball League made a stop in Fort Myers this week as players took part in spring training events ahead of the league’s inaugural season.

The WPBL held a two-day spring training camp at JetBlue Park, the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox, with an exhibition game, FanFest and a pregame ceremony. The league says it is the first professional women’s baseball league since 1954.

For Kelsie Whitmore, the league’s first overall draft pick, hearing her name called at the inaugural draft was the realization of a childhood dream.

“The little six-year-old version of me was super stoked inside,” Whitmore told WINK News. “Growing up I was dreaming of being a part of a draft and being picked, and so, to be picked number one overall was awesome.”

Whitmore said women like her have wanted to compete in pro baseball, but haven’t had a platform to do so before now.

“That's the biggest part, that is so important for this league, and for these young girls out there, they now have something to look forward to, a direction to go in,” Whitmore said. “We've been here all along playing it. It's just now we're finally being seen.”

The league’s inaugural season will feature four teams, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with about 15 players on each roster. The teams will compete on neutral turf, playing at a field in Springfield, Ill.

The league was co-founded by Justine Siegal, who has been breaking barriers for women in baseball for years. Siegal became the first woman to coach a men’s professional baseball team in 2009 with the Brockton Rox, the first woman to throw batting practice for an MLB team in 2011, and the first woman coach employed by an MLB team in 2015 with the Oakland Athletics. She also founded Baseball For All, an organization focused on creating opportunities for girls in baseball.

She told WINK News that her vision is to expand the WPBL across the country.

“In 5 years, we see teams in cities all across America,” Siegal said. “This is America's pastime. There's a lot of baseball fans out there and with women playing, it's even better.”

The WPBL’s inaugural season opening day is on Aug. 1.