‍

What do you do if you’re a young girl who wants to play a sport that simply does not accommodate women? Kelsie Whitmore chose to ignore the people who told her she’d never be as good as the boys, and by focusing on staying true to herself and making the most of her own abilities she’s been able to prove them all wrong, and is now breaking records as she rises through the ranks of the minor leagues. This True Superhero is forging a path for a new generation of girls, and providing them with something that Kelsie never had when she was growing up - a talented, successful female role model in baseball. 

‍

‍

Living room of dreams

Kelsie was born in 1998 in San Diego, and from an early age she and her little brother would play baseball anyway they could. They’d play outside, and when it was raining they’d convert their front room into a makeshift playing field, with the fireplace as home plate and couch pillows as bases. Their father encouraged and coached his children - despite the risk they posed to the mantelpiece ornaments - and was excited about seeing them graduate to Little League games, but when he asked Kelsie if she’d like to sign up she told him “I just want to keep playing catch. Let’s just keep doing what we always do.” Kelsie’s concern was that she didn’t want to wear her hair up, as all the girls she saw playing softball did. “I knew that I didn’t want to play softball because that wasn’t what we played at home, but at the same time I also didn’t want to have to change who I was in order to play baseball.“ Her father told her that she could wear her hair down if she wanted, and Kelsie’s baseball career began.  

‍

‍

She loved the game, and was also very good at it. She could hit, and she could throw faster than the boys, and in the supportive environment of Little League she never thought there was anything unusual about being the only girl on her teams. Everybody was having fun and not being overly competitive, but that was all set to change once she reached high school. 

‍

The Look

Kelsie’s experiences changed almost immediately once she got to the more competitive world of high school sports. She began to notice a reaction to her presence that she calls The Look: “It usually starts with a double-take. Then it’s just this stare, with a little bit of a squint, and a real serious face. There’s no smile or anything like that. The best way I can describe it is a look of pure judgment. One that says, “What are you doing here?” 

‍

‍

The Look - and the comments that would often follow it - began to wear Kelsie down, and by her own admission she didn’t process the negativity in a productive way. Rather than focus on her own game, she focused on trying to match the boys, to pitch faster and hit harder than them, and she believes this stifled her development as a player for some time. Happily she found the solution to these problems within herself, giving herself pep talks and shaking off the anxiety caused by the attention generated by her mere presence on the mound. She would tell herself: ”Be yourself, Kelsie. You are who you are. This is the only body you have. You’re not going to be able to throw 90-plus. You need to be a contact hitter. Work with your mid- to upper- 70s fastball. Hit the ball on the ground and use your speed. Take advantage of what makes you … you!“ Once again, refusing to change who she was in order to play baseball was the correct approach, and it paid dividends on the field that were noticed by scouts. While still only 16 she traveled with the US to Japan to participate in the 2014 Women’s Baseball World Cup, as the US women’s national side won silver, losing out to the hosts in the final.  

‍

The reluctant softball star

The next step for Kelsie should have been college baseball, but there is no college baseball for women in the US, which only caters for women’s softball at a collegiate level. Kelsie was definitely good enough to play baseball on a men’s college team,  but no college was willing to give her an opportunity. Kelsie had never played softball in her life, and in her words “never wanted to hear about softball”, but with no other options found herself forced to expand her horizons. She attended a softball camp - the only player there wearing her hair down - and word of her availability quickly spread. She was inundated with offers, and opted to join California State, in Fullerton, where she greatly enjoyed her time playing softball, but also insisted on wearing her hair down and sporting a full baseball uniform. Once the softball games were over, she’d practice pitching and batting with the smaller baseballs, and in the summers she signed up to play with local independent pro ball teams. In 2016 she was signed by the Sonoma Stompers, along with fellow USWBT member Stacy Piagno, and they made history together by being the first women teammates in US professional baseball since the Negro Leagues of the 1950s.  The Stompers then signed catcher Anna Kimbrell, and with Whitmore on the mound the pair formed the first all-female battery in professional baseball since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, seventy years earlier. 

‍

‍

Flying high with the ‘Hawks

Kelsie’s opportunities to play were severely limited by the Covid-19 epidemic, but on the other side of lockdown Kelsie’s career continues to flourish. In early 2022 she signed with the Staten Island Ferryhawks of the Atlantic League, becoming the first woman in modern history to play in an MLB Partner league. She made her debut as a pinch runner, but her pitching debut was more spectacular; she took the field in the top of the ninth innings against the Lexington Legends, with the bases loaded and two outs, and former major league player Ryan Jackson at bat. The Ferryhawks were 3-1 down and could ill afford to give up more runs, but Kelsie delivered, getting ahead in the count before retiring Jackson with a fly out. Her teammates were unable to reverse the deficit, but she had done her part and proven many doubters wrong. 

‍

‍

There are a lot of doubters, and many of them are in the stands when the Ferryhawks go on the road. Kelsie describes how she is subjected to constant “chirping” from opposition fans, with a chorus of “she’s not good enough, she’s not fast enough, pick her off!” emanating from the crowds. There are worse comments on social media, but she’s learned not to look at those the hard way: “It’s hard to not see what people are saying about you, and so I read it and man, it affected me so badly, but I was young, I didn’t know how to handle it.” The good news is that for all the doubters, there are far more who believe in her talent, including former major league star Nelson Figueroa who is now her pitching coach at the Ferryhawks, and has helped her to develop new pitches that should help her to stay competitive at higher levels. Whether Kelsie is able to rise even further in her young career remains to be seen, but one thing that is not in doubt is the impact that she has already had as a role model and inspiration to other young girls. As she puts it: “I’m really happy that I can be someone that those young girls can look up to and just be inspired by, motivated by. I never had a female role model growing up, my dad was really the one that I stood by and looked up to, so I wanna be what I didn’t have growing up for these younger girls… It's a great feeling!” Even if Kelsie herself does not make history as the first woman to feature in an MLB game, the path this True Superhero has forged will make it far easier for those who follow.