Remember the 1994 movie The Little Rascals? In the film, the little boys were part of a group called “the he man woman haters club” whose clubhouse had a sign that read “no girls allowed.” Before 1974, the Little League system operated in a similar manner as this fictional club.
One brave 11-year-old girl, Maria Pepe, worked to change this. When she was kicked off her team because of her gender, she sued and won the right for girls to play. She paved the way for countless little girls to come. She really hit one out of the park for her gender.
It was the summer of 1972, and Maria was ecstatic because she made it on a Little League team. Her coach overlooked the fact that she was a girl and technically should not be allowed because of a sexist league policy. Girls were banned from Little League in the 1950s.
Maria lived, breathed, and dreamed about baseball back then. It was all she could think about.
“When somebody would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always answer that I wanted to be a Yankee,” she stated.
She was pumped to pitch for her team and even played three games. Then word got around about her. The League threatened to take away her team’s charter. Her coach, Jimmy Farina, was forced to tell her she could no longer play.
“I think it was hard when Jimmy came to our home and he wanted the uniform back. That was very hard. I got to keep my cap,” Maria recalls fighting back tears.
Maria and her family decided to fight back. They, along with the National Organization for Women, sued Little League Baseball for gender discrimination and won. The League attempted an appeal, but also lost that effort. By 1974, girls were allowed to play ball.
Immediately after the ruling, in Hoboken, New Jersey, where Maria wanted so badly to play, 50 girls attended tryouts. In a bittersweet moment, Maria had aged out of the league at 14 years old. She does not regret making things better for those that came after her.
“There is a heartbreak at a young age, but I do get to play forever through all the girls that came after me. And so, that’s a blessing,” she said.
Maria’s legacy is the 5 million little girls who have played Little League since her victory. One such little girl, Mo’ne Davis, has a mean fastball which she showed off in the 2014 Little League World Series. Another is Ella Bruning, the only girl to compete in 2022’s World Series. These girls bring Maria joy.
“That makes me happy. I could die tomorrow and know that I helped open doors,” Maria concluded.
