“The girls showed surprising form, their fielding, batting and baserunning being fully up to the mark. Their pitcher had the Park Nine guessing, and in one innings [sic] retired the side on strikes.”
– The Globe, June 3, 1902
Though women were discouraged from taking part in baseball, teams of “Bloomer Girls” defied gender conventions and travelled from town-to-town to challenge men’s teams to exhibition matches. The clubs were made up of young, single women who played in loose-fitting trousers – hence the term “bloomer girls.” They played gruelling schedules and often had to set up their own fences and grandstands.
The most famous were the Boston Bloomers. When they came to Toronto in 1902, they drew thousands of fans. Some people climbed trees and scaled rooftops to get a better view as police officers tried to control the crowds. The Bloomers beat Toronto’s Park Nine in one of three games, proving baseball was a sport for more than just men.
