The “Ladies” & the “Tramps”

Abstract

This study considers the negotiation of a woman's place in the national pastime—and by extension greater American culture—in the pages of Sporting Life (SL) and other media outlets in the 1880s. Microfilm of a census of 348 SL issues from the publications inception in March 1883 to December 1889 was scanned for any references to women, ladies, or females in baseball. Ninety-four articles were identified and examined through an interpretative textual analysis. The manuscript illuminates four modes through which SL addressed women's participation in baseball—pronounced skepticism, selective incorporation, backlash, and silence—and the overarching binary that emerged in the representation of female baseball enthusiasts. The piece also considers how debates over gender were shrouded in discourses about class and religion.