Becoming the Representation They Lacked in Baseball
WPBL creates pathways for women today and young ballplayers of tomorrow
Summary
- The inaugural WPBL season, which began August 1 and is now in the playoffs, represents the first professional women's baseball played in America since 1954.
- Players like Thaima Maximiliana, Abigail Moore, and Alli Schroder have broken barriers and persevered in a sport that, until now, offered them no path to competing professionally.
- These women now stand as role models for future generations of young girls who want to play baseball or do anything else that women are unfairly locked out of.
The inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) players grew up loving a sport without a future that included them. Now they serve as role models for a whole new generation.
The four-team WPBL plays its games at Robbin Roberts Field in Springfield, Illinois. The first game of the season was played on August 1, 2026, and saw the Los Angeles Queens defeat the New York Heights. However, that day represented more than just opening day for a new league.
That game marked the first women’s professional baseball league contest since 1954, when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) – a league formed during World War II – was dissolved. For these current players, the dream of playing professional baseball existed long before the path to get there did. The athletes who played in the AAGPBL remain an inspiration to many of the current players despite the league having been disbanded long before these players were born.
Abigail Moore, catcher for the New York Heights, paid tribute to that history.
“The women who played before us paved the way, and it’s humbling to continue the legacy they started,” Moore said.
However, because the league dissolved long before these players were born, women's professional baseball seemed like a dream that was out of reach. Without professional players to look up to during their lifetimes, WPBL players may have struggled to see themselves in the baseball they consumed as kids. Boston Hunters’ pitcher, Alli Schroder, discussed this lack of female representation.
“I think every girl in baseball is going to give you a man that they looked up to because it was not much of a thing to have female athletes to look up to,” said Schroder.
WPBL players want young girls to have the role models they lacked. Role models that they can see themselves in – women who look like them, come from similar backgrounds, and share an aspiration to play professional sports.
“Growing up, professional women’s baseball wasn’t really something I imagined could be possible,” Moore said, “so the fact that it’s now my reality is beyond anything I could’ve imagined.”
The hard road here
With so few opportunities available to women and girls in the sport, baseball tends to weed out passionate girls early. Some players, like Los Angeles Queens shortstop Thaima Maximiliana, had to switch from baseball to softball due to a lack of opportunities in the sport.
“I played baseball when I was six years old, and I stopped when I was fourteen because, obviously, I couldn’t play with the boys on a higher level,” said Maximiliana.
For players like Alli Schroder, paving a new way for women in the sport did not begin with the WPBL. She has been creating opportunities that didn’t previously exist in sports for years. In 2021, Schroder started playing baseball at Vancouver Island University, making her the first woman to play collegiate baseball in Canada.
Schroder accomplished her dream of continuing to play baseball despite the odds and, in doing so, showed others it was possible. But for Schroder and other WPBL trailblazers, there were moments when they considered walking away from the sport altogether.
“I was ready to quit about three years ago,” Schroder said. “I was at a turning point in my career. What's next, what are we chasing? For women in baseball, there hasn’t been a next step.”
After college ball, Schroder went to work as a wildland firefighter and may have left the sport altogether without an opportunity like the WPBL.
Moore discussed this large problem in sports that often goes unaddressed.
“Most people see a lot of us where we are now, but they didn’t see the years of uncertainty behind it,” said Moore. “They didn’t see the injuries, doubts, or moments where there wasn’t a clear future for women in baseball.”
Ultimately, their love and passion for the sport is what inspired them to keep pursuing a goal that seemed impossible. It pushed them to fight for a new future.
Role models for the next generation
The women on the four WPBL teams are now living out their childhood dreams playing professional baseball. Abigail Moore remembers her first thought when drafted to the New York Heights was for her younger self who thought this was impossible. It was an ‘I made it moment.’
The WPBL was not just created for the women on the field. It was built to inspire a new generation of women and girls who are watching them play. Whether the girls in the stands want to play baseball or another male-centered sport, work in a male-dominated field, or pursue a career without a clear next step, these athletes are here to show them that their dreams are possible.
“The league represents that young girls and women around the world have something to aspire to be,” Moore said. “They now have a platform where they can compete and grow and prove that they belong in baseball.”
These players understand the importance of this league- not only for themselves, but for the future.
“I’m creating a pathway for little girls,” Schroder said. “Hopefully no one looks at them the way they looked at me, and it will be much more realistic for them to pursue that as a career than it was for me at that age.”
Thaima Maximiliana, Abigail Moore, Alli Schroder and all of their teammates, are giving the girls in the stands the support, hope, opportunities, and representation that they did not have, but yearned for, growing up. They are playing both for the younger version of themselves and future generations.
This league represents a future in women’s sports. All athletes hope to be remembered after their careers end - these women will be. Their legacy won’t just be their skill or success on the field, but the trail they blazed.They no longer have to wonder if there is a place for them in the game. They can now see it and they can now believe it.
“I’m creating a pathway for little girls,” Schroder said. “Hopefully no one looks at them the way they looked at me, and it will be much more realistic for them to pursue [baseball] as a career than it was for me at that age.”
*All photos of athletes provided by Maximilliana, Moore, and Schroder.