First Girls in Little League Baseball
BY J. PATRICK LEWIS
December 26, 1974
Title IX of the 1972 Education Act is signed, providing for equal opportunity in athletics for girls as well as boys.
The year was 1974
When Little Leaguers learned the score.
President Ford took out his pen,
And signed a law that said from then
On women too would have the chance
To wear the stripes and wear the pants.
Now what you hear, as flags unfurl,
Is “Atta boy!” and “Atta girl!”
J. Patrick Lewis, “First Girls in Little League Baseball” from A Burst of Firsts: Doers, Shakers, and Record Breakers, published by The Dial Press. Copyright © 2001 by J. Patrick Lewis. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Source: A Burst of Firsts: Doers, Shakers, and Record Breakers (The Dial Press, 2001)