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Red Sox Dustin Pedroia Motivates Young Girl’s Baseball Dream

Brandon Nickel|

When professional athletes are in the news, it’s usually because of two things: some highlight play in last night’s game or the lowlight felony they ‘allegedly’ committed. So when you see a report about a professional baseball player inspiring someone to do their best, don’t dismiss it as corny or boring. These moments have been few and far between, just like real heroes, in recent years.

Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been a hero for Red Sox Nation for years. Yet, one person in particular has seen him as a motivating factor in how she approaches her life. That’s right, a girl. WBUR 90.9, a radio station in Boston, had Doug Tribou post the story on their site, which was very interesting and it is highly suggested that you read it in its entirety.

According to Tribou, Sydney Dore, a 14-year-old girl “switched sports and is competing with boys — all because of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.” All 5’3″ of her grade-8 frame is showing her love of baseball, instead of softball, because of Pedroia’s words in the media. She came down to Fort Myers to let her idol and the rest of the world know what he did for her. “Standing near the Sox dugout at Jet Blue Park, she held a sign:

Not to say that men don’t like softball, but, traditionally, the game has been a place for girls who like baseball. The attitude has been that girls can’t keep up with the boys in games like baseball. Softball often becomes the dumping ground, for a lack of a better word, for girls when the boys getting older and stronger, near their high school years. Yet, does it sound like Dore is intimidated by that? Not in the least. “The first time she got up, she got an RBI. She helped us win one of our games by hitting a bases-loaded single, scoring a couple runs,” said Lorne Wheatcraft, head coach of the junior varsity baseball team at McKeel Academy of Technology, a charter middle and high school in Lakeland, Florida.


Does that look like the face of an intimidated girl to you? She plays catcher, one of the most demanding positions physically and mentally, and sometimes second base. The only one to make this young woman blush is the man himself who inspired her:

Baseball has been in the shadow of alpha-male stupidity for too long. You don’t believe it? Read more of Tribou’s article for examples. The opposing team, coaches, and parents doubted Dore’s ability, only to be shamed into revealing their gender-stereotyping and severe ignorance.

Why can’t girls play with the boys? Who’s to say that a girl couldn’t get a scholarship and play baseball in college, or, better yet, professionally? We, as a society, have seen many female athletes make most men look like infants. It is absurd in 2015 to assume that a girl cannot do anything as well as a boy.

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Let’s set aside any physical contact issues, as baseball is a game which has very little. The crashing at the plate is almost completely eliminated now; although, Dore’s determination looks like it would trump any boy’s intensity, at the moment. The conflict in the great game is between the pitcher, over 60 feet away from home plate, and the batter. The rest comes from athleticism. If she can make the throws, the runs, the catches, and the hits, then what’s the problem?

Some men teach our boys to assume that they are the superior gender, out of fear and prejudice. They define themselves as physically dominant with the belief that it’s what separates them from the female form. If a woman bests them in physical challenges, somehow, the men believe that they are less ‘manly’, whatever that means. Maybe, if they give girls like Dore a chance, the boys would see the advantages of women playing on the same baseball team.

Manon Rhéaume was the first female goalie to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League, who inspired many girls to play hockey. Hayley Wickenheiser played in the Swedish men’s professional league and was afterwards named “one of the ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in Hockey’ by The Hockey News (ranked #59 on the 2011 List), one of the ’25 Toughest Athletes’ by Sports Illustrated,” publications read by men around the world. Who’s to say that men cannot accept Sydney Dore being the first woman to play in Major League Baseball?

Besides, we don’t love the movie A League Of Their Own to mock women playing baseball; we love it because of how hard their struggle was and that they really could play. And, they really still can.

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