When Eric Young coaches the Los Angeles Queens, he’s looking into a baseball mirror.
The former Rockies second baseman is the Queens’ manager in the inaugural season of the , which is currently taking place at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. There, Young — a 43rd-round pick in the 1989 draft who went on to play 15 seasons in the majors — sees a familiar determination in his players who want to prove the legitimacy of women’s baseball.
“Written off because of my height (of 5-foot-9), because of where I was drafted — I know how it feels to be the underdog,” Young explained. “And now these ladies right here are giving that same fight. I see it in their eyes. I see it in the way they come and practice. I see it in the way they get ready for the game.
“It’s like déjà vu. They’ve got that same energy, that same spark as I did when I was a young player, because these ladies feel like the odds are against them. That’s what makes this so enjoyable for me. And that’s why I’m trying to give them everything I’ve got to make them better ballplayers and to convince the world that women can play baseball.”
The WPBL is the modern attempt to , and the most notable effort to do so since the — which was eternalized in the movie “A League of Their Own” — folded 72 years ago.
Young’s Queens are one of four teams in the WPBL — along with the Boston Hunters, San Francisco Firebells and New York Heights — amid a seven-week season that runs from Aug. 1 through the playoffs in mid-September. This is Young’s first managerial job, following stints as an assistant with the Astros, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Braves and most recently as an Angels’ base coach the past two seasons.
The 1996 National League All-Star and the man who hit the first home run in MLB history in Denver — a leadoff shot at Mile High Stadium in front of a record crowd of 80,227 on April 9, 1993 — dreams of being a big-league manager. But his immediate goal is to win the WPBL’s inaugural title with the Queens when the playoffs
Young, who was on the Rockies’ first playoff team in 1995, previously won the World Series with the Braves as the team’s first base coach in 2021.
“The first question I asked (the Queens) in the first meeting was, ‘Do you want me to coach you like I coach the Atlanta Braves, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies and all those guys, or you do want me to coach you as young ladies?'” Young recalled. “I told them they didn’t have to answer, because I was going to coach them the same way, because that’s all I know. I told them, ‘I would be fake if I gave you anything other than my real coaching style.’ They said, ‘That’s exactly what we want.'”
The Queens feature several players with significant name recognition in the sport.
That includes center fielder/leadoff hitter (who rose to fame as a star pitcher in the 2014 Little League World Series), (the starter at third base for Team USA), and pitchers (a three-time Women’s Baseball World Cup MVP) and (a Team USA mainstay for two decades).
The league also features an icon in San Francisco ace , who has pitched in men’s independent leagues as well as for the Savannah Bananas, and up-and-comers such as . The 20-year-old pitcher was 16 when she became the first female to compete in men’s baseball at the Canada Summer Games.
Rachelle “Rocky” Henley, the Heights’ manager, believes the WPBL’s inaugural season is laying the groundwork for the league’s long-term success. Henley played for the Colorado Silver Bullets during the barnstorming women’s baseball team’s debut season in 1994, an experience she described as a “novelty” given that the Silver Bullets played against men.
Henley has been a prominent figure in women’s baseball for decades, and the Bay Area native has been critical in the growth of the sport in Northern California. She cofounded the in 2015, which has over 120 girls and has travel teams that compete in the annual
The former Silver Bullet said that the WPBL should stay centered in one city for the next few years, giving it a base to grow its exposure and sponsorships. She sees expanded rosters and a longer schedule on the horizon, too.
“We’re putting a good product on the field right now, and that product (will continue to improve),” Henley said. “Going to cities (with geographically-based teams), that would be the ultimate goal, and having six or eight teams in the league. I could see that down the road, but just not quite yet. For now, I’m really excited about the momentum this league has generated for the sport.”
