American Girl
If You Go
Reds Hall of Fame and Museum
100 Joe Nuxhall Way
Non-Game Days
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Game Days
6:40 Games: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Afternoon games: 10 a.m. until 2 hours after the game ends
If you truly believe “There’s no crying in baseball!” the Women in Baseball exhibit at the Reds Hall of Fame might make you question that stance.
The exhibit traces the history of women in the sport, from 19th-century sheet music for The Baseball Waltz, written by Hattie A. Brooks, to contemporary magazine covers of women playing today. Along the way it explores the many contributions women and girls have made – and continue to make – to America’s pastime as players, fans, broadcasters, writers, coaches, managers, owners and executives.
The groundbreaking individuals and their achievements serve as inspiration to all those striving to make a dream come true. You’ll see a uniform and memorabilia from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as well as a poster for the movie they inspired, A League of Their Own.
Photos by Shae Combs
Did you know Rosie, as in Rosie Reds, is an acronym?
You could look it up.
Or we could just tell you: Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthusiasm.
Since 1964, the Rosie Reds, a philanthropic and social organization, have had enthusiasm and dedication not only to the Cincinnati Reds but to local baseball and softball communities. Each year the Rosie Reds raise more $30,000 to support those communities, from events, trips, raffles and donations. It was a natural fit to team up for Women in Baseball, especially during Women’s History Month.
“With Women in Baseball, this was an area we just hadn’t ventured into that seemed relevant to the current times,” said Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. “What’s nice about this exhibit is we’re learning things that we didn’t know about baseball. It’s about the game and how it has evolved into what we call America’s pastime. But I think what’s called into question sometimes, is why is it called America’s pastime. Women in Baseball provides some of those answers.”
As with all its exhibits, the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum was not alone in its efforts to bring Women in Baseball to the public.
“We are fortunate to have a great relationship with the Hall of Fame,” Rosie Reds president Sara Matthews said. “They helped create a display to honor our 50th Anniversary. We also became a Legacy Champions donor when they underwent their renovation, and we have a permanent display case in the Reds Timeline gallery. Thus, broadening the reach to include Women in Baseball was an easy choice. It’s the perfect exhibit for our Hall of Fame to showcase and one we are thrilled to be a part of.”
By Design
Another unique element of the exhibit was the influence of women in the design process. Members of the Reds Creative Services team work hard on the rotating exhibits every winter, and this year, senior design manager Sara Green and graphic designer Caitlin Schulte were tasked with bringing vision for Women in Baseball to life.
They began the process with extensive research, followed by highlighting key ideas and deciding which to showcase in the exhibit’s prominent design elements. Green and Schulte created a mood board to visually capture all the elements so they could begin incorporating their research and ideas into the overall look of the exhibit.
One of the biggest decisions was developing a logo that encapsulated everything Women in Baseball was about. Schulte experimented with a number of options and had several meetings with Hall of Fame staff before settling on the final product, which features a balanced combination of past and present.
“To represent the past, I replicated the way baseball teams have historically treated their logos with a cursive, handwritten look and a swash underneath the letterforms,” she said. “This treatment gives it a handmade, detailed quality that lends itself to the way women used to hand-make their own baseball uniforms. And to represent the present, the letters are clean, streamlined and smooth, contrasting with sharp edges which gives it a modern feel. The solid red drop shadow also gives it a contemporary look, while representing how women in baseball had to be bold because they were doing something that was not considered to be ‘normal’ or ‘culturally in line’ with their role as women at the time.”
Schulte and Green also learned more than they ever imagined about the subject matter. Absorbing all the content during the early stages of planning helped shape the final product that fans will see when touring the exhibit.
“When I first heard about the Women In Baseball exhibit, I thought, like I’m sure many others do, about the movie A League of Their Own, but it’s so much more than that,” Green said. “To be a woman working in baseball and be a part of telling this story from start to finish through creativity and design is an honor. The future is still unwritten for women in baseball and I look forward to helping continue that narrative.”
Another unique element of this year’s exhibit was the female influence from a design perspective. Members of the in-house Reds Creative Services team work hard on the rotating exhibits every winter, and this year, senior design manager Sara Green and graphic designer Caitlin Schulte were tasked with bringing the Hall of Fame’s visions for Women in Baseball to life.
The exhibit will remain open throughout 2023. With school groups, camps, families, and baseball fans visiting the Hall of Fame, thousands of girls and women of all ages will have the opportunity to see themselves represented in the game of baseball like never before.
“When you walk in the room, you see all the images on the wall, large pictures of females playing baseball going back to the 1860s when the Red Stockings were becoming America’s first professional baseball team,” Walls said. “I think girls are going to come in here and say, ‘Whoa, what’s that?’ And that’s what it’s all about, seeing and understanding that they can be whatever they want to be and not what they’ve been told they should be. The door is wide open now and people are understanding that baseball is better when more people all involved.”
A wall in the exhibit offers a quote from Babe Ruth:
“I don't know what’s going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball.”
He might have said the because one of the only women to pitch in Major League Baseball, Jackie Mitchell, struck him out, on April 2, 1931. The 17-year-old then struck out Lou Gehrig for good measure.
Women, in one way or another, have always been a part of baseball. Now we’re celebrating it.
– Tricia Suit