On July 30, 1998 the Ladies League Baseball folded. Most baseball fans did not even know the league existed. I was fortunate to see one league game with my wife and two oldest daughters. My wife was pregnant with our third daugghter at the time. We attended tthe san Jose Spitfires at Long Beach Aces game the night before the league folded. I counted 80 fans in the stands as the league had already announced the next night would be their last. I did manage to get a foul ball during the game. The players looked like they were very happy to be playing baseball.
The league had opened the year before with four teams. The teams were the Long Beach Aces, Los Angeles Legends, Phoenix Peppers and the San Jose Spitfires. When I heard the league lineup for the 1998 season I was crushed. The league had moved the Legends to Homestead, FL and given expansion teams to Augusta, NJ and Buffalo, NY. My thought was this league will never make it. I wish I had been wrong. If I can get this next part right it will show that something was wrong with the league in planning their season. The Aces trained at home, opened on the east coast, then traveled to San Jose, then back to the east coast and finally back to California for their home opener a three game set against the Spitfires. That is when the end came. Properlly run this league could have easily been a great success, instead it went into the history books as a failure in its second season. A comeback should be planned soon. The WNBA started about the same time, although that league suffered from some growing pains, it is today a healthy league. Even the Lingere Football League appears to be doing well.
Tomorrow we will end the month looking at one womens league game.
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