Julie Croteau, the first woman to play and coach in NCAA men’s baseball, spoke Thursday about breaking through gender norms to play the sport in which she excelled and loved.
The fourth annual Girls Empowerment Trail Blazer virtual event, which also celebrated Women’s History Month, was hosted by Owensboro Community & Technical College.
Those watching the event included Girls Scout troops, middle school students and more — and they got to interact with Croteau when she asked questions such as “What would you do if you could do anything?” and “Is there a door that seems closed to you that could be busted open during your lifetime?” and “Are there any areas where you feel discriminated against or have to fight your way through?”
Croteau, a former Women’s Major League Baseball player with the Colorado Silver Bullets, talked to the girls about pushing through the negativity to do what they love.
“The world tells us on a regular basis that we have to learn to muster the courage to tell the world ‘yes,’” Croteau said. “There are cultural rules and expectations set upon us. But we know the world is going to change, and we can be part of that change.”
Croteau told listeners that it was impossible to live in a world without judgement, imploring them to live for themselves and to open up the doorways that presented themselves along the way.
“I had reached the point where I was playing professional baseball, and I got a phone call from FOX asking me to do commentating work,” she said. “I was terrified. I didn’t have the experience. But it was a doorway, and I followed that opening. And I’m glad I did because it’s what led me [to a career] in communications today.”
Croteau first made history when her family filed a lawsuit in 1988 against Osbourn Park High School for the right to play on the boys’ baseball team. Her family lost the case, but the court case brought attention to the gender stipulations athletes such as Croteau faced.
It wasn’t until Croteau was 5 years old that girls were legally allowed to play in boys’ athletic leagues. She told her audience Thursday that her parents signed her up for little league as soon as the law passed — and she was one of two girls on the team.
“I was the first on my team to catch a pop-up. I remembered thinking in that moment, ‘I love this. I’m good at this,’” she said. “That’s the first time I can remember that feeling in my life, and it never went away. So if you get that feeling in your life, pay attention.”
That feeling prompted Croteau to try out for the boys’ high school baseball team, where she eventually made the All-Star team. She then went on to play college baseball for St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
She eventually became the first female to coach a Division 1 mens’ baseball team at the University of Massachusetts.
She said her work ethic, not her size, was what catapulted her success, because she was able to become a starting player over boys who were bigger and stronger than her. In college, she finished her senior year with a .306 batting average and a .400 on-base percentage. She went on to become a stunt double in the critically acclaimed “A League of Their Own” movie, where she even had a line that made the final cut.
Even with her many successes, it wasn’t always easy. Croteau told her listeners she went through rough patches with insecurity and that she was berated — even spit on — by those who wanted to see her fail. She was accused of seeking attention and thrust into the spotlight at a young age simply for wanting to play the sport she knew and loved.
In the end, it didn’t matter if everyone wasn’t rooting for you, she said. All that mattered was recognizing those who supported you, and hanging onto them. And even if the journey wasn’t easy, she said, it was worth it to get to do what you loved.
“I loved it. I just loved it. If you have that feeling about something, you’d be surprised by how much that will drive you,” she said. “I really, truly feel like the world should be fair, and it seemed like the dumbest thing in the world to me that sports would have a gender. I felt deep in my bones that the world would pay attention to that if they had to.”
