#Shortstops: Ladies Day promotions gave women the chance to cheer

Ladies Days existed as early as the 1880s, but gained popularity after World War I. The 19th century Ladies Days promotions required women to bring a male chaperone. But even with a lack of clause requiring a male chaperone in later Ladies Day games, the general idea of the promotion persisted in that women would bring a male significant other; the man’s paying ticket would compensate for the woman’s complimentary one.

But promoters failed to foresee just how successful Ladies Day would become. So successful, in fact, that women would bring their female friends along instead of the intended boyfriends. The 1929 Chicago Cubs season saw more than 200,000 Ladies Day participants. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection contains a Wrigley Field Ladies Day ticket from May 9, 1930.

In one instance, a Ladies Day promotion at Wrigley Field saw a crowd of 33,000, as opposed to 12,000 the day before. Upon realizing the success of Ladies Day, the Cubs’ management at Wrigley Field began to limit the number of tickets given to women for free. This was an effort to, “...Keep feminine guests from taking over the premises en toto to the exclusion of paying patrons.”

Although Ladies Day promotions were extremely successful, they began to garner negative criticism. Newspapers published unflattering cartoons and mirthless jokes of women cheering at the wrong time during games, implying that women could not grasp the intricacies of baseball. Other articles attempted to support the female fans of Ladies Day. However, many of these articles still conveyed condescending messages such as, “...it seems to us that there is currently less cheering at the wrong times than formerly.”

Some male spectators at Ladies Day games complained that women stood during inappropriate times, and demonstrated too much enthusiasm. These arbitrary complaints – many unsubstantiated – were often designed to keep female spectators from feeling like true fans. Other articles described alleged instances of women throwing their shoes at umpires, or getting into scuffles in the stands, as ways of discrediting the female fan experience. If true, these instances were few and far in between, and almost seem quaint by the current standard of fan behavior.