The second episode of this season’s Uningrained story just dropped.
In the first episode we introduced an invisible idea (we treat softball as baseball for girls) with consequences (it boxes women out of the National Pastime).
In this latest episode, we introduce what I hope will be an Uningrained staple: taking a trip back in time to figure out how and why things got to be the way they are. In many cases, we assume ingrained elements of our culture are logical because they’re so familiar. But often history shows us a process that’s much more human, full of coincidence and surprising influences. Knowing that history can help us decide whether an ingrained idea is worth reevaluating.
This was a fun episode to report, both because I learned a ton of fascinating, unexpected stuff, and also because it was an absolute delight to interview Victoria Jackson, Carolyn King Lewis, Jennifer Ring and Jan Todd.
I mentioned in the episode that Jan and Victoria are star athletes.
Jan’s USA Powerlifting Hall of Fame page includes details on her legendary career. Here’s a 2025 New York Times profile of Jan, and a video of her receiving a lifetime achievement award from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Here’s a 2006 interview with Victoria, during her elite running days.
Interviews provided much of the material for this episode, but I also drew from several other sources.
Three books informed the discussion of the Little League lawsuits (and Little League, generally):
Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don’t Play Baseball, by Jennifer Ring
Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball, by Lance and Robin Van Auken
Female Gladiators, by Sarah K. Fields
And a Movie. For more about Carolyn King Lewis, check out the 2017 documentary film The Girl In Centerfield, which not only tells Carolyn’s story, but also goes deep into the perspectives and experiences of her Ypsilanti teammates.
Other sources: Here’s a great article on the 1928 Olympic Women’s 800 meter race. I got the tidbit about former Ypsilanti Mayor George Goodman’s grandfather playing in the Negro Leagues from a 2023 oral history interview he did with Eastern Michigan University researchers Lisa Jasnowski and Matt Jones. Fun fact: Goodman remains friends with Carolyn. I pulled stats on the football credentials of mid-20th century high-school PE leaders from a 2010 article that Jack Berryman published in Current Sports Medicine Reports called Exercise is Medicine: A Historical Perspective.
