FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Growing up a tomboy in Indiana, Tammy Wagner used to shag balls at the boys’ Little League practices near her home. There was no baseball league at the time for girls.
Now a North Fort Myers resident, Wagner, 55, plays co-ed softball in Cape Coral. But with so few women in the league she said she plays mostly with guys.
So it was a refreshing change of pace Thursday afternoon when Wagner, wearing a red Boston Red Sox jersey and white pants with a red stripe, took over at shortstop in the bottom of the third inning of an all-women’s baseball game at JetBlue Park. It was the first game of this year’s Red Sox Women’s Fantasy Camp, which runs through the weekend in Fort Myers.
In the field, Wagner threw out a runner at first. In her first at bat she grounded out to second. The ball was low and inside. She shouldn’t have swung, she said. Rookie jitters.
“It was awesome,” she said after returning to the visitors’ dugout. “I’m living the dream, man. I’m playing on a Major League ball field, shortstop, with women. It’s awesome.”
This is the second year the Red Sox have held a women’s fantasy camp, which gives die-hard fans the opportunity to practice and play with former pro ball players at Major League facilities. They join the New York Yankees are the only Major League Baseball teams to host a camp specifically for women, said Tom Kennedy, the Red Sox camp’s director.
The four-day Red Sox women’s camp kicked off Wednesday with infield, outfield, hitting and pitching drills. The organization had batted around the idea for the women’s camp for a few years before committing to it last year, Kennedy said.
“I think we saw there was an interest in women to play baseball,” Kennedy said. “Very passionate Red Sox fans, very passionate baseball fans who were interested in the experience but were intimidated by the mostly-male weeklong camp.”
For about $2,500, the 41 campers get to work with former Red Sox players, including outfielder Trot Nixon, relief pitcher Alan Embree and catcher Rich Gedman. Those three, along with Victor Rodriguez, the Red Sox assistant hitting coach, served as managers, drafting the campers onto four teams who will play one another through Saturday’s championship and consolation games.
While there is plenty of competition on the field, the games are really about making new friends and having a good time. There are no scouts in the stand or world championships on the line, which is probably for the best because there were a few botched pop-ups and dropped throws in that first game.
Several of the campers noted how long that 90-foot run to first base seemed.
“People want to win and they want to play hard, but we want everyone to enjoy it,” said Janet Mitchell, 60, a Red Sox fan from Baltimore Orioles territory in Maryland.
The Red Sox week-long camp starts Sunday. About 140 campers, mostly men, paid $5,200 to participate.
Nixon, a member of the Red Sox World Series championship team in 2004, said the women’s camp is slightly less competitive than the mostly-male camp.
“I love the atmosphere out here with the ladies,” he said. “They’re excited to be here.”
Shirley Burkovich, 83, and Mary Moore, 84, former players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League featured in the movie “A League of their Own,” watched Thursday’s action from the stands. They’re at the camp promoting the game and the International Women’s Baseball Center.
“It takes us back to our playing days,” Burkovich said of the fantasy camp.
Although she couldn’t play in a game, Carole Williams was excited as any of the women to participate in the camp activities. Williams, 55, a lifelong Red Sox fan from Belmont, Massachusetts, and a wheel-chair user, served as a bench coach for Nixon’s team, keeping score and being in charge of the lineup.
“I know my limitations,” she said. “I’m going to take advantage of whatever I can do physically.”
Williams’ moment of glory was entering the locker room and seeing a Red Sox locker and a wooden baseball bat with her name on it, just like the pros.
“The bat made me cry,” Williams said. “I’m picking it up and swinging it, like I want to play.”
Growing up a tomboy in Indiana, Tammy Wagner used to shag balls at the boys’ Little League practices near her home. There was no baseball league at the time for girls.
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Information from: The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, https://www.news-press.com
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