Beth Greenwood’s baseball resume speaks for itself.
Greenwood, who is currently the pitching coach at Vassar College, has played for Team USA, was a coach for the high-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, and was the first American woman to play catcher in an NCAA baseball game when she was at the University of Rochester.
But when she was drafted by Boston in the third round of the first-ever Women’s Pro Baseball League Draft last week, the Amherst, New Hampshire, native had a bit of a pinch me moment.
“It’s pretty special to not just be drafted and be a professional baseball player, but to be able to play for kind of your hometown, it’s something that I think as a little kid, that’s what you dream about when you’re in the backyard swinging off the tee into the fence,” Greenwood said. “And so I think all those things and those visions you play in your head as a little kid, I was like, ‘Holy s***, this is happening, like this is real.’”
Greenwood was one of 120 players selected in the draft for the league that is being touted as the first true pro American women’s baseball league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League of the 1940s and ’50s.
And now the teams representing Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco will offer a new home for the game.
“These four franchises are only the beginning as the WPBL builds a league showcasing elite women athletes playing America’s pastime,” said host CJ Silas on draft night.
A new league for a global game
Although the WPBL is repping four cities, next year’s inaugural seven-week season is set to take place next year entirely in Springfield, Illinois.
The draft was a big step to get to that season.
In August, hundreds of players gathered in Washington, D.C. for tryouts for the WPBL. Greenwood had been pre-scouted so she was able to watch the first couple of days and saw both familiar and new faces.
“A lot of international players that had made it all the way out there just to try out was pretty remarkable to me because I think it just shows how important this is for not just players here but across the globe,” Greenwood said.
The draft featured players from Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and more. Boston had a particularly global draft: Greenwood counted about half of the draft picks coming from outside the U.S.
“A lot of the names that we have on our roster...were players that I played against in the World Cup last summer,” Greenwood said. “So it was a lot of the really big names from Team Canada, I know we have a Team Mexico player. ... We want this to be the best league in the world.”
Next steps for the game
Greenwood and her fellow draft picks still have to make the final roster. Each team will have approximately 15 active players.
But if all goes well, soon Greenwood will actually get paid to play baseball. Beyond that, she’s excited to create real team chemistry since she said most other women’s baseball events are usually two weeks long, at most.
“And so this was the first time that I was like, ‘This is so exciting. We’re gonna have a season to build a team and to do this,'” Greenwood said. “And it doesn’t have to just be like if this week’s going bad, you’re screwed. It’s like, no, we have a season to build this and have that opportunity.”
Maybe even more importantly, though, Greenwood is looking forward to how this path will support other women and girls who want to play baseball — especially since there’s another sport they are often told they have to play instead.
“I think any woman or girl in baseball that you ask, they’ve been told that they need to switch to softball,” she said. “I’m sure that I’ve been told that more times than I can count.”
For Greenwood, it shouldn’t be complicated. If players want to play baseball, softball, or both, it should be up to them. She hopes that the league can help create more opportunities for girls to play baseball.
That was a sentiment echoed by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s opening remarks during the draft.
“Both on the field and in our front offices, baseball is a game for everyone,” he said. “I am delighted that girls will soon be able to watch the Women’s Pro Baseball League and aspire to play and participate in the future.”
The WPBL draft was a big moment for everyone whose name was called. But after she was drafted, Greenwood was thinking of all the players who eventually had to stop playing the game.
“And so I almost got emotional because I was like, you know, they had this dream, too. And it just for whatever reason it didn’t work out for them,” she said. “But they’re so excited that it’s gonna work out for somebody else and all of the girls behind them. And so it was special because this isn’t just for all of us who are getting to play. It’s for all of the women who are the same age as me or older who didn’t get that opportunity, too.”
