Despite the Fact that the Great American Pastime has been almost Exclusively Identified as a MaleSport, Women have Played Baseball in Minnesota for over 100 years. In the early years, from the late nineteenth century through the 1920s, Women Played Baseball in Minnesota on College Campuses, in Industrial Leagues, through Local Church and Community Groups, and on Barnstorming Teams.
EARLY YEARS
The earliest evidence that women played baseball in Minnesota is a photo from Thief River Falls, dated 1893, of ten female players with two male player-managers. The note accompanying the photo reads, “Thief River Falls Ladies Baseball Team Champions of Northern League, 1893. This note suggests that there were multiple women’s teams playing competitively at this time. Baseball Historians Gai Berlage, Harold Seymour, and others have documented that women played baseball as Early as 1865 at Vassar College.
In the Thief River Falls photo (#12 above), the Women are Wearing the Same Type of Long Dresses with
Long Sleeves worn by Women in the Early Pictures of Vassar baseball teams photo (#11 above), adhering to the
Victorian Standard of Feminine Modesty.
Women not only played Hardball at Elite Women’s Colleges on the East Coast in the early twentieth century, but also at coeducational institutions in the Midwest. The Minneapolis Journal of March 17, 1906 announced the start of the Women’s Baseball Season at the University of Minnesota: “Girls Will Indulge in National Game.” The article highlights the fact that the Women would Play Behind Screens, typically used for Secret Football Practices, so that the Men Could Not See Them. “If it is Found iImpossible to Play the Game on Northrop Field Safe from Masculine Observation, the Girls plan to Introduce Indoor Baseball in the Girls’ Gymnasium.
Baseball was also played by women at Carleton College in Northfield, starting around 1915. In 1916, there were four baseball teams, each representing a class, from freshman through senior. By 1922, the intramural women’s baseball program was well established. A May 17, 1922 article in The Carletonia listed the lineups for the four teams as they headed into the end-of-year tournament. The teams consisted of ten players, including two shortstops. Surprisingly, the freshman team won the championship by defeating the juniors in the final game by a score of 25–24.
Baseball at Carleton was typical of the women’s game in this time period. It was played indoors at least part of the time, although there are references to outdoor play as well. Indoor baseball, a precursor to softball, was a popular sport for girls and women in the 1920s. Women’s baseball at Carleton was also typical in that it featured intramural, not intercollegiate play. According to Jenny Ring, intercollegiate play was off limits for women because “too much competition was regarded as unhealthy for girls,” and “travel was also believed to be too strenuous and unsuitable for the health and morality of the young women.”4 Finally, by 1922, Carleton Women were Playing in Bloomers rather than Long Skirts, an evolution that was typical of Women’s Baseball during this time period.
Women also played baseball on Minnesota soil when, starting in the late Nineteenth Century, Barnstorming Teams visited the state. These teams were called “Bloomer Girls,” and they went from town to town all over the country, challenging men’s amateur, minor league, or semi-professional teams to games. The bloomer teams usually had two or more men as members, and sometimes the men dressed as women. The term “bloomer” is derived from the name of the mid-nineteenth century advocate for women’s rights, Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who argued that Women should have the option of wearing less Restrictive Clothing.
Bloomer Girls teams came from Chicago, Boston, Canada, and elsewhere to play games in Minnesota communities. An early appearance by a women’s barnstorming team occurred in 1895, when the Ladies Champion Baseball Club of Chicago visited Duluth. In 1909, the Chicago Bloomer Girls came to Bemidji to play a game against the town team. The article in the Bemidji Daily Pioneer previewing the game notes that a “record-breaking crowd” was expected.5 The captain and proprietor of the team was Miss Bernie Carleton. Carleton was among several women who managed and owned barnstorming teams, an unusually powerful role for women during this time period.
The Bemidji press was relatively respectful toward the Women’s Team, although the reporter expressed typical attitudes of the time when noting that “the members of the ladies’ team are well-behaved and conduct themselves in an unapproachable manner at all times.” The restrained tone of the Bemidji paper, however, was not shared by the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, which contained this July 30, 1916, headline about a visit by the Western Bloomer Girls: “Comedy for Fans When Bloomer Girls Lose to Minneapolis Athletics.” This game, with a final score of 11–8, was played in Nicollet Park before a crowd of 600 “curiosity seekers. The game was unusual in that the bloomer team consisted entirely of women. One of those women, Maud Nelson, was one of the most accomplished and famous women baseball players of all time. Nelson was well known for her exceptional pitching, as well as her hitting and her fielding skills at third base. According to Barbara Gregorich, Nelson was a “world renowned Bloomer Girl pitcher, a third baseman, a scout, a manager, and an owner of the best teams of her era…
For forty years she was always there.
MAKER UNKNOWN - SCHOOL UNKNOWN
UNIFORM MEASUREMENTS
TEAM LOGO (G) BASEBALL PATCH, SIZE: 5 3/4" x 4 1/2"
MATERIAL: WOOL FLANNEL- UNDERSKIRT, SILK BLEND
BACK ZIPPER
SLEEVES FEATURE SNAP BUTTONS
BUST: 30"
WAIST: 26"
SLEEVE LENGTH: 20"
HIP: 28"
FLARE: 18" CLOSED/41" OPEN PLEATED
SHOULDER TO HEM 32"
WAIST TO HEM 17"
***NOTE***
THIS WOMEN'S LONG PLEATED SKIRT/DRESS IS A BASEBALL UNIFORM
POSITIVITY NOT A CHEERLEADERS OUTFIT
CHEERLEADERS UNIFORMS (1940-2026)
MEGAPHONE PATCH AND/OR POM-POMS WITH THE SCHOOL LETTERING
ALWAYS PRESENT ON FRONTS OF THEIR CHEER OUTFITS
Cheerleaders use pom-poms (or "poms") and megaphones as essential props to boost crowd engagement and enhance school spirit during games, rallies, and performances. Poms, typically held, add visual flair to motions, while megaphones amplify voices over noisy crowds. These tools are often Customized with Team Colors, Logos, and Mascots on Cheer Outfits.