By ALEJANDRA PAULINO, age 12
Davis is the first girl to pitch a winning game and shutout in Little League post-season history. PHOTO: Philadelphia Youth Organization
Mo’ne Davis, a Little League superstar, is changing unfair attitudes about girls playing male-dominated sports.
Davis is the first girl to pitch a winning game and shutout in Little League post-season history. “More people are talking about [Davis] than Derek Jeter,” said Mark Hyman. “That’s a lot for a 13-year old kid.”
She was also the first Little Leaguer to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. Usually male athletes are the only ones to make it onto the sports magazine.
Another girl made baseball history 50 years earlier. According to the Visionary Project, an organization committed to recording the history of notable African Americans, after being denied a tryout for All-American Girls league, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson used her determination to become one of the three women to play baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Johnson, who is now 75, pitched for the Indianapolis Clowns from 1953 to 1955. “I was already the only woman to be a major league pitcher,” she said.
Mo’ne Davis is intent on breaking down barriers to girls’ participation in male sports. Davis told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “The attention should not just be on one girl; more girls should join boys’ teams so it is a tradition and it won’t be so special.”
Shutout: A game in which the losing team does not score at all
Negro League: A sports association made up of teams of African-American players; it existed from 1920 to 1951 before baseball was desegregated.
