Sharing the Stories of Girls and Women in Baseball, Around the Globe.

Grassroots Baseball celebrates the amateur game around the globe and promotes the benefits of sports in people’s lives, through baseball. Sports isn’t merely a diversion, and its influence doesn’t end at the chalk line. Playing sports offers so much more than just the final score on the field, especially in historically underserved communities, where they can empower and transform the lives of youth, minorities, and women. ...READ MORE

Grassroots Baseball is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, EIN 85-1306523.

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Grassroots Baseball: Women

Grassroots Baseball

is sharing the stories of the past, present and future of girls and women in baseball, on and off the field, around the globe.

Kelsie Whitmore

Lois Youngen

Kellianne Jenkins

PERRY BARBER

Justine Siegal

Maybelle Blair

Baseball For All

Grassroots baseball: From the road

Featured

Jun 22, 2023

The Hall of Fame is in Great Hands with Jane Forbes Clark at the Helm

Jun 22, 2023

As baseball’s doors to inclusivity continue to swing open, there are women in leadership roles who are a substantial part of the game’s fabric. There’s a growing number who are in senior executive positions, but there is only one who serves as her organization’s ultimate visionary, and that’s Jane Forbes Clark, who leads the world-renowned National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Jun 22, 2023

Apr 19, 2023

Alta Weiss “The Girl Wonder”

Apr 19, 2023

A TURN OF THE CENTURY STAR PITCHER, A FUTURE AAGPBL STAR, AND AN AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALL.

“Would you like a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth?”

“My eyes lit up and I said, “yes!” And then she said, “would you like me to sign it?” and I said, “yes!” She took out her pen — there were no ballpoints in the 1940s — and she signed it.”

This conversation took place around 1946 between two very unusual baseball players. One was a 13-year-old girl, growing up in isolated Ragersville, OH, with baseball as one of her only entertainment options. “There was no television and I didn’t want to read. I guess there was a radio, the only real good thing to do was get out and throw the ball around, and my dad would play pitch and catch with me,” recalled Lois Youngen, now 89 years old.

Apr 19, 2023

Mar 29, 2023

We Were the Only Girls to Play in Yankee Stadium

Mar 29, 2023

“We Were the Only Girls to Play in Yankee Stadium” is an essay from the forthcoming book “Yankee Stadium 1923-2008: America’s First Modern Ballpark.” The book, being published by SABR in 2023, was edited by Tara Krieger and Bill Nowlin.

Between 1923 and 2008, Yankee Stadium hosted 6,746 major league baseball games, including 161 postseason games and 4 All-Star Games. On August 11, 1950, the stadium hosted its first and only game between two teams of female professional baseball players, when the Chicago Colleens and the Springfield Sallies of the AAGPBL played a three-inning exhibition prior to that day’s contest between the Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics.

Mar 29, 2023

Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin

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In her first book, Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin, photographer Jean Fruth features more than 250 of the best images from all levels of the amateur game in the US as well as several hotbeds of baseball around the world. Each chapter opens with a portrait of a baseball legend and a first-person essay recounting his early memories of playing the game. Some of the stars highlighted in this full-color book include Whitey Ford, Vladimir Guerrero, Hank Aaron, Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, and Ichiro Suzuki. The pages that follow in each chapter document the game from sandlots to big time ballparks, and at every level of organized baseball, giving readers a window into how these legends’ careers began. With an introduction by Cal Ripken, Jr., a foreword by Steve Wulf, and an afterword by Johnny Bench, this book makes the perfect gift for baseball fans of all teams.

The All-Time Route 66 Major League Roster

Baseball and statistics are synonymous.

Grassroots Baseball’s partner, Baseball Reference, developed a fun database of every player born within 50 miles of historic Route 66 whose final season playing came in 1926 — the year the historic highway opened — or later.

Strikeouts Image with names mentioned in text adjacent — Follow us on social media!

Who holds the Route 66 record for most triples? Hall of Famer Paul Waner, from Harrah, Oklahoma, with 191. And who hit the most home runs among players born along Route 66 in Illinois? Curtis Granderson, from Blue Island, has 344. Did you know that Max Scherzer, from St. Louis, has the most Route 66 strikeouts? His total outdistances Hall of Famers Don Drysdale, from Van Nuys, California, and Robin Roberts, from Springfield, Illinois. Speaking of triples, Bobby Bonds (Riverside, California), and Hall of Famers Lou Boudreau (Harvey, Illinois) & Rickey Henderson (Chicago, IL) each ended their illustrious careers with ... 66 triples.

Sort by any category, including city and state. Have fun comparing contrasting and debating at Baseball Reference.

Hall of Fame Know-How.

“You learn discipline, you learn time, you learn to say thank you, you learn manners you learn failure, you learn how to deal with failure because this, let’s face it, this is a sport of many failures, you learn success and how to balance failure to success. We want everyone to be a Hall of Famer. Not everyone can be, but we can each be a great teammate.” — Hall of Famer Jim Thome

“The beauty of the game is that it parallels life in many ways. I tell parents all the time that whether or not your kid makes it to the big leagues is irrelevant. It’s about the journey and what the game teaches you. Even if you don’t make the big leagues, you are going to be a better person with anything else you do, because of baseball.”
— Hall of Famer Goose Gossage

“Practice, practice, practice. By playing catch, fielding ground balls, and hitting, you will improve your skills.”
— Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers

“The importance of being part of a team, and showing up on time for practices and games. I learned that games were a team concept not something you did individually. By listening and learning from your coaches you get better with every practice and game.”
— Hall of Famer Jim Palmer

“The overall team effort determined the outcome of the game, not an individual performance.”
— Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan

Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman teaches a young man about arm angle and throwing at a Grassroots Baseball clinic at Hodgetown Stadium in Amarillo, TX.

Juan Marichal, the first player from the Dominican Republic elected to the Hall of Fame, imparts his wisdom with Little Leaguers in Santo Domingo.

Hall of Famer Little League Moments

“On Opening Day 1958 I was 11 and playing for the 7-Ups. I hit two home runs, one to left field and one to right. I’ll never forgot it. My dad gave me $2, one for each of the home runs.”
—Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers

“Getting to walk on to the Oakland A’s field on Little League Day. Growing up 45 minutes east of Oakland, the A’s were my favorite team and Vida Blue was my favorite player. When I was with the Mariners, I was warming up in the bullpen in Oakland, and here it was again, Little League Day. It came full circle for me.”
—Hall of Famer Randy Johnson

“My parents would take me and some of my Beverly Hills Yankee teammates to Hamburger Hamlet, win or lose. Of course, the hamburgers tasted better after wins!”
—Hall of Famer Jim Palmer

“When I played in Asheville, NC we came within one win of going to the Little League World Series. It was such a great experience. It was disappointing as I was the losing pitcher in that game but I remember that experience vividly to this day.”
—Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr.

“I threw a no-hitter and lost, 1-0, on my own error.”
—Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt

“Pitching seven no-hitters, and, listening to my dad who was my coach and who made me a catcher.” —Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez

“I lied about my age. I was an 8-year old as you had to be nine to play. I made my mom take me. They found out. I went home and cried, and then played the next year. I pitched a perfect game when I was 12. The umpire missed the call on what should have been the final pitch, but I still ended it by ringing up the hitter. I’ll never forget it.”
—Hall of Famer Tom Seaver