Taylor Wilson
speaker
177 appearances
7 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard May 2025
Taylor Wilson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsNo recordings in the last 12 months.Older appearances are listed below; set an alert to hear about the next one.
Appearances
Indiana, and in the township of West Baden, baseball is by no means a game for the mere man. The girls are right in the professional spotlight. America's favorite pastime has a decidedly strong female fan base. A 2024 survey revealed women make up 39% of those who attended or watched an MLB game. And it's not just in the stands. The number of women working professionally in baseball has grown.
Now Americans can look forward to seeing the Women's Pro Baseball League in summer 2026. Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Today is Sunday, May 4th, 2025, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. Women's sports have been on the rise, so it only seems natural that a women's pro league would take shape. But women already make up a rich part of baseball history.
For more on that history and the current momentum of women's baseball, I'm joined by Callie Batts-Maddox, an associate professor of sports leadership and management at Miami University. Callie, thank you so much for coming on the excerpt today.
So let's start with the moment right now. Really interesting moment. As I mentioned at the top, there is strong women's interest in baseball. We know there's strong interest from women's fans and franchises are catering to them with special meetups and clubs as well. But perhaps more interesting, Callie, is the rise of women on the MLB payroll. Let's just give out some stats.
As of 2023, as you've outlined, women made up 30% of central office professional staff and 27% of team senior administration jobs. And on top of that, 43 women made held coaching and managerial jobs across the major and minor league levels, marking a 95% increase in just two years. So a lot of numbers there, as you've outlined, Callie. Are these increases more about interest or more opportunities?
And just considering this increase in women holding coaching and managerial positions in baseball, how do you see the landscape changing really for women in pro baseball?
All right, let's take a step back and look at the history of women in baseball. I know this has been a focus of yours, Callie. Women have played baseball at least since the 1860s. That's the Civil War era, not long after really the creation of the entire sport. And, you know, for more context, professional men's baseball started in 1869. So women were playing even before the men had a pro league.
Correct. Where were women playing early on and who were some of the early teams?
That's so cool. So how did the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League impact the opportunities for women in baseball? And what were some of the challenges they faced?
So, you know, even going back to the 1860s, as you said, they were playing hardball as opposed to softball. And you've written about how women at some point got pushed into playing softball instead. Why did that happen and how did that happen?
We'll talk a little bit more about softball and baseball here in a bit. But I feel like we can't have this conversation without at least mentioning the role of media and pop culture, especially with some of these kind of older women's baseball leagues.
Sports and movie fans in particular will, of course, remember the 1992 movie In a League of Her Own, of course, about the All-American Girls Pro Baseball League, which we just mentioned. Last fall, even, there was a documentary about women's baseball called See Her, Be Her.
How has the perception of women in baseball evolved over the years and what role do media and popular culture play maybe in this transformation?
I think that's a great point about what's happening around the world as well, Callie. Despite some of this progress we're talking about, what are some of the remaining barriers that women might face in pursuing careers in professional baseball or just being part of the sport in general?
Let's dig a little bit more into bringing more young women and girls into the sport. And I want to be clear, like we're not here to disparage softball, right? Not at all. But how can we encourage more girls to play baseball instead of maybe always being directed towards softball? And what initiatives are currently in place to support those?
All right. That makes sense to me. Who are some of the key figures in women's baseball today that young players could maybe look up to and how have they contributed to the sport?
Well, you know, next year is a big year for this league. Just in general, looking ahead, what do you envision for the future of women's baseball, both in terms of professional opportunities and really also broader societal impact?
Amazingly put. I really love your passion for this topic, Callie. Thank you so much for hopping on with me and discussing.
Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaylee Monaghan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts at usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, April 19th, 2025. This is The Exit. Today we're learning more about what conditions Kilmar Abrego-Garcia has been held in. Plus, the Supreme Court pauses deportations of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. And we discuss the threat of domestic terrorism 30 years after the Oklahoma City bombing.
Showing 81–100 of 177 · page 5 of 9
← Previous
Next →