PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As a member of the Los Angeles Queens in the newly formed Women’s Pro Baseball League, rising Brown University junior Maggie Foxx is living out her “dream life” this summer.
Between training sessions, practices and evening games under the lights at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, Foxx is making history in the inaugural seven-week season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League.
Playing alongside women from across the world in varying stages of their careers and education, Foxx is participating in the first U.S. professional women’s league since the former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League ran from 1943 to 1954, which was popularized in the 1990s hit film “A League of Their Own.”
“Fun fact: I actually wrote my college essay on the movie ‘A League of Their Own,’” Foxx said. “The significance of this is absolutely amazing. When I was younger, I never could have expected that there was going to be another women’s professional baseball league, and finally, women’s sports are growing so exponentially. And an area that really hasn’t been tapped into yet is women’s baseball.”
Foxx was drafted to the Los Angeles Queens — one of four teams in the league — and she quickly made her mark during the first game of the inaugural season. Her first-inning liner to center field was the league’s first hit, and the two runs that scored were the league’s first runs batted in (RBIs). She went 3-for-3 from the plate to help lead the Queens to a 10-8 comeback victory over the New York Heights.
“Recording the first hit and the first RBIs in the league on opening day is the thing that stands out the most for me personally — plus I also somehow recorded the first stolen base, which probably surprised my teammates at Brown, who know I’m very not fast,” Foxx said with a laugh. “But I really want to emphasize the whole team, because it was a total team win and a culmination of everybody’s efforts that made it happen.”
A member of the women’s softball team at Brown, where she is dual-concentrating in psychology and science, technology and society, Foxx said the rigorous demands of academics and Division I athletics have positioned her to thrive in her professional experience this summer. A typical day in the professional league includes drills at the practice fields, workout sessions at the gym and practice at a hitting facility, followed either by a game or by evenings with her fellow athletes playing basketball or cornhole outside the hotel and sharing meals.
