#Shortstops: Signatures of the Times
In 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League played its last game.
More than 640 women paved the way for representation in professional sports, which we still see today. Seventy-two years later, the Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) played its first-ever game, with the Los Angeles Queens eventually being crowned the inaugural season champions.
The professional athletes that have played in these two leagues demonstrate resilience and strength. But the women off the field do the very same.
Women have been contributing to sports for decades and they continue to make strides. Suzyn Waldman, a longtime analyst and reporter for the New York Yankees, made history in the mid-1990s as one of Major League Baseball’s first female television broadcasters. Ever since Waldman’s first appearance, women have continued to work in the broadcast booth.
On July 20, 2021, Melanie Newman, Sarah Langs, Alanna Rizzo, Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner became the first all-female crew to broadcast a regular season Major League Baseball game for YouTube. To commemorate this historical day, the five women signed a baseball.
During the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles contest, Newman gave the play-by-play, Langs provided analysis, Rizzo worked on-field, and Watney and Gardner served as pre- and postgame hosts. Hundreds of photographs were taken, signs were created and cheers rang out through Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., to support this crew and the history they were making.
Today, Newman is a radio and television play-by-play broadcaster for the Orioles; Langs is a sportswriter for MLB.com; Rizzo provides coverage for the Boston Red Sox; Watney is a sportscaster and reporter for Apple TV+; and Gardner is a sportscaster for Altitude Sports Network in Colorado. As the sport of baseball continues to grow, especially the WPBL, women continue to make history on and off the field.
The July 20, 2021, signed baseball is part of the Museum’s collection and is on display in the Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball exhibition.
Elizabeth Zomeri was the Archives intern in the 2026 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development
