Episode Seven: Women in the Negro Leagues

The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues

On today's episode, Curtis talks to Dr. Leslie Heaphy, who teaches sports history at Kent State University and has contributed to several books, including The Encyclopedia of Women in Baseball. Their topic today is the history of women in baseball, specifically Black baseball.

The conversation starts with a broad history of women in the game, as spectators, reporters, and players, before moving on to the Negro Leagues, where Dr. Heaphy talks about some of the women who played the game, owned the teams, and helped run the leagues. They touch on Effa Manley, who is currently the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and discuss the difficulties of researching this topic.

You can read Dr. Heaphy's piece on women in Black baseball on Baseball Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/articles/women-in-the-negro-leagues-leslie-heaphy.shtml

Also, congratulations to DOCTOR Curtis Harris on successfully defending his dissertation this week!