In 1972, Hoboken’s Maria Pepe became a historic figure by being the first girl to ever play organized Little League baseball, setting off a firestorm that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
In the end, the door was opened for more than 480,000 young women who play Little League baseball today.
At the time, Pepe was 12 years old and had no idea that she was going to make history. All she wanted to do was play baseball with the rest of her friends – something that officials in Little League baseball didn’t want to happen.
“I just loved to play and just wanted the chance to play,” Pepe told the Hoboken Reporter in a 2004 interview. Pepe would always play in stickball and Wiffleball games in Hoboken with and against the boys. When it came time to register for the Hoboken Little League, she thought she might have to be relegated to the role of a spectator.
However, Jim Farina, the current city clerk who was the coach of the Little League’s Young Democrats team, recognized Pepe’s talents and allowed her to try out. Sure enough, she made the team and became the first girl to ever play Little League, as a pitcher. Pepe was talented enough to pitch three games for the Young Democrats.
Controversy brews
However, Pepe’s inclusion caused a furor within the league – and beyond. A protest was lodged by an opposing coach. Parents forced league officials to decide what to do with young Maria.
Eventually, the international Little League headquarters in Williamsport got involved and ruled that Pepe should be removed from the team or else Hoboken Little League could face losing its Little League charter.
A league official went to Pepe’s home and told her that her days as a player were over.
“I was stripped of my uniform because I was a girl, not because of an inability to play,” Pepe said. “As a 12-year-old, I couldn’t stand up for myself, and that really hurt.”
The incident began to receive national media attention. The National Organization for Women (NOW) filed a civil rights lawsuit on her behalf, claiming sexual discrimination. The case was litigated in courts for more than two years and eventually went to New Jersey Superior Court, which ruled in 1973 that Little League baseball had to allow both girls and boys, ages 8 through 12, to play.
‘Just wanted to play’
While it was a major victory for all young women, Pepe had turned 14 and was too old to continue her Little League dream.
It was believed that there were hard feelings between Little League baseball officials and Pepe because of the lawsuit and the controversy, but her love for the sport remained the same through it all.
“I was just a kid back then,” Pepe said. “I just wanted to play. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I have all these memories of being judged from so many angles. I just wanted to go back out there and play.”
Pepe continued to play competitive sports in recreation leagues and eventually earned a scholarship to play softball at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. But there was always something missing in her life – the closure with the organization that made her famous.
In 2003, Pepe’s achievement was ranked fifth on ESPN’s list of the greatest moments in U.S. women’s sports history.
Pepe’s story came full circle in 2004, when she threw out the first pitch in the Little League World series in Omaha, Neb.
All of the past columns from this year-long series are available online by visiting www.hobokenreporter.com, scrolling down the left-hand side of the page and clicking on “150th Anniversary.”