What year did women's baseball start?

Answer 1

While most people think it began in the World War II era, when the men went off to war, the truth is we have evidence of female teams in the late 1870s-1880s. Baseball was sweeping the country at that time, growing in popularity among men, and some women decided they too wanted to play. Several women's colleges tried to have baseball teams, plus there is newspaper evidence of a few amateur and semi-pro female players. By the 1890s, some of these teams were touring-- there was the "Young Ladies Base Ball Team," and a Boston-based team called the "Bloomers." These teams were generally regarded as a novelty or a curiosity, but often their games were well-attended. And even in the early 1900s, some women's teams existed, such as one at the University of Michigan in 1915.