Women's baseball players could soon have a league of their own again

abcnews.go.com:

Seventy years since the last professional women’s baseball league, another one hopes to give women a chance to shine in baseball

For nearly every highlight of Julie Croteau's trailblazing baseball career — all except her time as a double in “A League of Their Own,” really — she shared the field with men. Frequently as teammates. Always as foes. That's mostly how it's been for generations of female players.

So when she recently heard about plans to give today's players the chance to shine against other women in baseball, Croteau had one thought.

“It’s about time,” she said with a chuckle.

The Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) announced plans last month to launch in 2026 as a six-team circuit for female players. If and when it debuts, it will be the first pro league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — the one immortalized in “A League of Their Own” — dissolved in 1954.

Heightened interest in women's sports in recent years made this an ideal time to launch a women's baseball league, said co-founder Justine Siegal, the first woman to coach for an MLB team with the Oakland Athletics in 2015.

The consulting firm Deloitte estimated that women's sports will generate a billion dollars in global revenue in 2024 for the first time because of skyrocketing popularity and marketing deals. The WNBA had its most watched regular season in 24 years thanks largely to its star rookie class led by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. The inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League brought in record crowds.

“Certainly we’re standing on the shoulders of the success of the other pro leagues,” Siegal said.

Siegal has sought advice from women leading other professional leagues and is studying