V21 N3

Everything 20% off. Some clothing items 50% or more!
CLEARANCE
SALE!
Don’t be bitter.
Go shopping!
Kaleidoscope
506 WASHINGTON STREET MALL
609-884-1702 * SCOPECAPEMAY.COM
Just for Laughs
2/11: Galentine’s At
MudHen Brewing Co.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEKSEY MORYAKOV
The Chris Yoder Duo
The Activity Column
Catherine Dugan’s guide to getting out there... this week, learn America’s pastime, and the women who played!
In 1972, a little girl named Maria Pepe
earned a spot on the pitching roster of
a Hoboken, New Jersey Little League
team. She played three games before
Little League Baseball threatened to take
away her team’s charter. She and her family
sued, but by the time the courts required Little
League Baseball to let girls play, Maria was
14 — too old. Because of her, an estimated five
million girls had the chance to play ball.
Trailblazers like Maria Pepe, and Title IX,
have increased girls’ participation in sports
by a factor of 10 — 300,000 high school girls
participated in 1972, and 3 million participated
in 2012. Still, there are old-fashioned
thinkers who assert that girls aren’t really
interested in sports. In reality, the idea that
women shouldn’t compete is recent. Women
in ancient Greece competed in foot races and
equestrian events, and Spartan women wrestled
and threw javelin and discus. Men in
the Victorian era sought to restrict women’s
athleticism with myths about female athletes
damaging their reproductive organs, or —
gasp — making them unattractive to men. The
proper Victorian woman was too delicate for
anything strenuous — unless she was carrying
pails of water up three flights of stairs.
Girls have always loved to play. When
baseball was new, American girls fell in love
with the game just like boys. Vassar College,
a women’s college, had an organized baseball
team in 1866. Vassar’s founder believed that
exercise was essential to academic rigor, and
baseball became a part of the school’s physical
education program, with students competing
against women from other schools. Miss
Porter’s School for Girls, an elite prep school,
had a team, and many towns formed women’s
leagues. Black women were excluded, so they
formed their own teams, and the first woman
inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame was
Effa Manley, a civil rights activist who owned
the Newark Bears of the Negro Leagues.
Learn more about the history of women in
baseball with the exhibit “Throw Like A Girl:
Women in Baseball” at the Carroll Gallery,
located in the Carriage House of the Emlen
Physick Estate, co-presented by MAC, the
Center for Community Arts and the Cape
May Negro League. Learn how women participated
and often excelled, from the story
of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson in 1953 to Little
Leaguer Mo’Ne Davis in 2014.
The exhibit continues through Sunday,
March 26. Admission is free, and the building
is accessible. Hours are generally 12-3 Fri-
Sun — visit www.capemaymac.org for more.
Hats Tees Tanks Sweatshirts Hoodies Zip-Ups Jewelry Art
Your morning coffee need not be
boring ever again.
Wipe the smile off
that cat as you sip
your morning brew.
504 WASHINGTON STREET MALL
609-884-5466 * SCOPECAPEMAY.COM
Page 40 EXIT ZERO February 23, 2023
Watch your civil
liberties disappear as
your coffee cools.
Amanda, Chase, Darlene
Sara, Sandra, Josie, Tami
IT IS TIME TO
GEAR
UP
FOR 2023!!!!
Printing for your
Business or Event!
Tees - Sweatshirts - Bags
Hats - Aprons - More
CONTACT MEGAN AT
MEGAN@THEFLYINGFISHSTIDIO.COM
FOR YOUR FREE SCREENPRINT QUOTE!
130 Park Boulevard • 609-884-2760 • theflyingfishstudio.com
February 23, 2023 EXIT ZERO Page 41