Just after the end of the Civil War, baseball captured the American heart and mind. Although baseball was quickly deemed a “masculine game,” women also embraced it. Ever since, organized baseball has struggled with the desire for male exclusivity versus women’s desire to participate as fans, players, umpires, front office personnel, and sportswriters.
            How much has changed for women in baseball over the last 150 years? How much has not? These questions and others will be explored by baseball scholars Jean Hastings Ardell and Amy Essington in a lecture sponsored by the Baseball Reliquary in conjunction with its exhibition “Women in Baseball: There’s No Place Like Home (Plate),” which runs from June 2-June 30, 2003 at the Burbank Central Library, Burbank, California. The lecture program will be held on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 7:00 PM in the Burbank Central Library Auditorium, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd., and is open to the public and free of charge.
            Jean Hastings Ardell will provide an historical overview of women in baseball, while Amy Essington will focus on some of the women who participated in the professional game, discussing their experiences both on and off the diamond. Lizzie Arlington, Alta Weiss, Amanda Clement, Lizzie Murphy, Helene Britton, Jackie Mitchell, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Effa Manley, Toni Stone, and Jackie Autry are the key figures to be covered.
            Jean Hastings Ardell is a freelance writer, based in Corona Del Mar, California, whose book about women and baseball is forthcoming from Southern Illinois University Press. Amy Essington is a Doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University. She teaches American History and American Studies courses at CSU Long Beach and CSU Fullerton. Her dissertation is on the integration of the Pacific Coast League, and she has presented and published on the Negro Leagues, integration, and Effa Manley.
            For additional information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at skpubs@earthlink.net.