by Shannon Butler
It may be a little cold to think about baseball, but last night the classic film A League of Their Own was on TV, so why not? It reminded us of some photos that we have in our collections of the Riverview Baseball team from the 1890s (see image on right). Of course, it is very common to see organized teams of men in sports in the 19th century, but it is much rarer to see images of women, especially in baseball, from that time. It was even more rare to see a woman so concerned with women’s place in baseball (but we’ve got a few pictures of her too!).
Helen Worthing was born in Boston in 1837, and after studying at the New England Female Medical College, she became a doctor by the age of 25, one of the first female doctors. She ended up serving during the American Civil War, which is when she met and married another doctor, William Webster. Dr. Helen Webster eventually made her way to Poughkeepsie, where she was asked to serve as the Resident Physician and Professor of Physiology and Hygiene at Vassar College in 1874 (check out the images of her on the right, taken at Vail Brothers here in Poughkeepsie). It was during her time at Vassar that she expressed her interest in women playing baseball.
As you might imagine, the idea of girls on the diamond did not sit well with many in the Victorian era. In several publications throughout the 1860s and 1870s, it was made clear that women should assemble at a baseball game only to purify “the moral atmosphere,” as men tended to behave rudely and curse loudly at such events. The hope was that if ladies were present, the gentlemen might contain themselves. It was also believed that excursions from sports like baseball were damaging to the appearance and overall health of the “fairer sex.” Most people felt this way, but not Dr. Helen Webster. Instead, she insisted on the need for women to get out and be active.
The students at Vassar formed a team early in 1866 and eventually they named themselves “The Resolutes.” Sophia Richardson, a Vassar student, described Dr. Webster’s passion for keeping women in the game, even after another student was injured while running between bases:
“Dr. Webster said that the public doubtless would condemn the game as too violent, but that if the student had hurt herself while dancing, the public would not condemn dancing to extinction.”
Dr. Webster was right. After enough complaints from concerned and “disapproving mothers” came in, the college disbanded all baseball teams. They would not reappear again until the early 20th century. As for the baseball-loving doctor, she moved back home to Massachusetts in 1881, where she practiced medicine in New Bedford until her death in 1904.
Check out this image of the baseball team that Dr. Webster supported, the Vassar Resolutes, in 1876: https://digitallibrary.vassar.edu/islandora/object/vassar%3A10439
Resources:
Baseball: An illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns 796.357 War
https://pages.vassar.edu/library/2014/02/play-ball/
https://historicwomensouthcoast.org/helen-worthing-webster/
Images:
01 – Image of the Riverview Baseball club, 1890
02 – Image of Dr. Webster, by Vail Brothers, 1877
03 – Image of Dr. Webster with family, by Vail Brothers, 1877
