A Vibe of Their Own: With dynamic players, the WPBL is establishing its culture in inaugural season
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — One of the perks of playing in a brand new league is that you get to establish the culture.
That’s definitely the case for members of the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) this summer. The players, coaches and every member of the staff of the league are building the foundation to not only make the WPBL sustainable, but also authentic to reflect the diversity, love and joy that are all at the core of women’s baseball.
The game on the field, which consists of seven-inning contests with each team having 15 games over five weeks, is just baseball. They play with aluminum bats, on a mound that’s 60-feet-6-inches away from home plate and bases that are 90 feet apart. A homer has to clear 290 feet to the right and left field lines and 330 feet in center field. Pitchers can clock 80 mph on the radar gun and fielders make diving grabs and flash rocket arms capable of cutting down runners. The race for home run title went back-and-forth between San Francisco Firebells pitcher/center fielder Kelsie Whitmore and New York Heights catcher Denae Benites. After the regular season concluded on Sept. 6, the two sluggers tied with 11 to share the crown.
Just baseball.
But the atmosphere adds an extra element.
While the teams hail from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and New York, the first season is all being played at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Ill. Without their own stadiums and homegrown fans, it’s more of a collective competition. Fans are decked out in merch, and some clearly have a favorite team, but many are cheering for everyone.
From walk-up songs and home run celebrations to creating style and swagger, the vibes that are flowing are just as important as the wins and losses, home runs and strikeouts in the young league. It’s what makes the experience unforgettable and special for players and fans — in the stands or watching around the world — alike.
READ MORE: A brief history of women’s baseball that blazed the trail for the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League
WPBL is a Labor of Love
If you want to understand the joy of the WPBL, just watch Boston Hunter third baseman and emerging pitcher Denver Bryant play. She radiates joy on the field, making her a fan favorite around the county and world. Between connecting for hits and making amazing plays at the hot corner, Bryant is always smiling or dancing. It might be an opposing player’s walk-up song or the music playing for a pitching change, but Bryant will just start dancing on the field. She has the broadcast crew on ESPN Select (and YouTube for international audiences) calling it the "Denver Disposition."
As Los Angeles Queens third baseman Ashton Lansdell said, playing in the WPBL “is the best job to ever have.”
The WPBL has been intentional in making sure the player and fan experience matches the hype of a league people have been awaiting for years. Robin Roberts Stadium is decked out with the league logo. The logos of all four teams are plastered all over walls and fences. Posters of every player are displayed up and down the concourses. With players in snazzy warm-up gear and multiple sets of uniforms, the professionalism is on full display.
For Lansdell, it’s different than her time playing baseball in high school, softball with Ole Miss, baseball with the U.S. Women’s National team or being the first woman to play baseball at the NJCAA level with Georgia Highlands College.
“I think the environment that is created here in the WPBL is all backed by love and support. I think everyone is just so happy to be here and to see this happening — whether it’s a player, an employee for the league, a fan — everyone is just so happy to be here. It’s just such a positive environment," she said.
"Everyone has been waiting for this moment and it’s just a special atmosphere that you don’t really feel anywhere else. Everyone is always smiling no matter how much you lose by or how much you win by, everyone is still saying, ‘Hey, good job’ and picking each other up. And the fans are always there, 'Hey, you played a great game.' Even though we lost by however many runs, they are like, ‘You did great, you did awesome. This was so much fun.' So I think it’s just a very positive and welcoming and just loving environment. Honestly, that’s what this world needs.”
New York Heights manager Rocky Henley, a baseball trailblazer herself, nearly teared up when talking about the WPBL experience. Beyond the historical significance, the camaraderie is just different in women’s baseball. She was inspired to try to not only motivate her team before their 12-4 win over the Queens on Aug. 27, but also to help them really treasure every moment.
“Today before the game, I took a moment, and I shared with everybody that I am blessed. I am blessed, and let's play today being grateful,” she said. “This can be taken away at a moment's notice — an injury, a death in the family. You just never know.”
Having played on teams that started and disappeared and then transitioning to coaching, she’s seen many sides of the game.
“I went and played baseball and then I coach, but it's not the same when you're in the locker room with a bunch of women that you cared for, and the friendships you have,” Henley said. “For so many years when you are removed from it, I'm just so grateful to come back to this setting. Sure, I don't play anymore, but I still can appreciate the setting that we are in, and the gratefulness that I have for this professional baseball league.”
The fans can feel it as the stands are packed with people from around the country who made the trip to Springfield to see the first season. From Little League teams to more mature fans who have waited for this for decades, the spectators are giving the players just as much joy as they are getting from the players.
After Heights DH Kylee Lahners hit a home run on Aug. 27, with her young son watching in the stands, she really made the most of her homer trot.
“I just try to take in every moment, touching all the bases, hearing all the support that the fans are giving this league has been just amazing,” Lahners said.
The Soundtrack of the WPBL
If you want to set a vibe, there’s no better way to do it than through music. And it’s always rocking the speakers at Robin Roberts Stadium, whether during batting practice, between innings or for walk-up songs.
There is a mascot honoring Maybelle Blair, the famous All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player and women’s baseball advocate. The actual icon threw out the first pitch on opening day at age 99. The mascot is a fixture hype machine and has two modes. The mature version, walking crouched over her baseball cane, slowly weaves the crowd. The next moment, as she reverts to her younger self, she’s swinging her hips and leading a dancing line to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” The crowd snaps pictures and sings along.
With the seventh-inning stretch moved to the fifth-inning stretch, Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” replaces “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” as the PA tells people to get up and dance.
It sets a great tone with fitting lyrics.
Callin' out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
But the best is the walk-up songs. With players from 11 different countries and territories and ages spanning 18-38, the variety is as diverse as the rosters. If you want to rock to the WPBL beat, check out this playlist with the motivational tracks from all four teams from the games on Aug. 27-28.
Ashton Lansdell
“My walk-up song, I have been listening to a lot of throwback rap music so I went with ‘Country Grammar’ by Nelly. My girlfriend, one of her artists is Nelly and I just love the song, so that’s why I chose it.”
Michelle Roche
“One time I was pitching and I walked off the mound after a good inning and they started playing this Rihanna song. I was like ‘I feel like the main character right now,’ so just any Rihanna song. I love Rihanna.”
Kylee Lahners
“My walk-up song I had when I played college softball. That was quite a bit ago and I thought this was the perfect time to go back to it. A lot of my friends and family say that I am kind of an old soul, so it’s an old rock song by Creedence Clearwater. It fits me pretty well and I enjoy it.”
Emi Saiki
“My walk-up song is Japanese — One Piece. My coach in Japan chose it for me. Because I am Japanese, he said I should choose Japanese Anime. And One Piece is famous all over the world.”
Kate Blunt
“Honestly, just a song from my playlist. I like the vibe. I don’t want anything too crazy, just something that makes me feel good.”
Beth Greenwood
“I probably spent like 10 hours listening to every single song that’s on my phone. I was looking for something with a good vibe and needed a change from some old ones I used to have. Also, ‘Outer Banks’ just released a new season and it’s the theme song.”
Kelsie Whitmore
“San Francisco, I played in the Bay for two different pro ball teams and it’s a vibe out there, so we are just trying to bring our own vibe, our own culture. I don’t know. It’s tough when you are not playing in San Francisco as well, so we’re trying our best. I did want to bring that P-Lo song too. He’s Filipino too, so you gotta rep.”
Ela Day-Bédard
“I had ‘Berzerk’ at the beginning of the season and I wasn’t hitting the way I wanted to. We had a batting practice and it went really well. I felt good, my swing felt good and I looked at [manager] Matt [Williams] at the end and was like, ‘I’m back.’ And he was like, ‘She’s back.’ And so the girls found the Eminem song where it says, ‘She’s back.’ So that’s kinda where it comes from. I love it. It makes me smile.”
Home run celebrations in the WPBL
One of the greatest traditions in modern baseball is each team’s unique home run celebration. Some pay homage to the city or region they play in and others have a fun prop, but there is always massive amounts of jumping and dancing.
In the first WPBL season, 23 different players combined to hit 57 homers.
Earning the first team title in homers is San Francisco, who combined for 19 bombs. The team also won the regular season championship with a 10-5 record for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Firebells have an MVP chain that is placed around the home run hitter’s neck after they touch home plate and go through the gauntlet of high-fives. The chain is gold with the purple and orange Firebells logo that is both a bell and a phoenix rising from the ashes.
The Firebells name has an origin story that honors a famous San Francisco woman, Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who was putting out fires and brushing aside societal expectations for women, starting in the 1850s.
“Forged in fire, inspired by the rebellious spirit of Firebelle Lil. San Francisco has burned and rebuilt more than any other American city, but like a phoenix, each time we’re knocked down we come back stronger,” the WPBL website explains. “As a teenager, Lillie ‘Firebelle Lil’ Hitchcock Coit famously leapt into action to help San Francisco volunteer firefighters battle a blaze on Telegraph Hill. She became an icon for the firefighters, known for a rebellious attitude and open defiance of the gender norms of the time.”
Going a step further, the members of the Firebells wanted to find a way to have a prop to not only hype themselves up, but also the crowd.
“We want to create a culture on our team. … On top of that, you need fans too. We need to see how we can pour back into them and for them to feel like they are engaged with us,” Whitmore said. “This game is big on momentum and energy. If we can get the fans to be in on that, that’s huge.”
They wanted to find something interactive, so the team met for coffee and discussed it. The answer was obvious: bells. Whitmore said the team jumped on Amazon to find bells, watched videos to make sure they captured the right sound, and avoided cowbells, which are already taken in many parts of pop culture. They used their own money, finding unused gift cards, to buy the trinkets. In some games, the bells are out in full force. In others, it might just be Hinano Beppu ringing it from the dugout and carrying it out to the field with her when she takes practice swings to stay loose between innings.
“We have had a few games where we actually didn’t use it because we needed to find energy in other ways and then we brought it back a bit,” Whitmore said. “It’s been a cool thing to have. We have some stickers on it. It’s decorated up.”
Ela Day-Bédard agrees.
“I love the bells. It’s good momentum,” the San Francisco infielder said. “Having them right there makes us unique. It makes our celebrations unique.”
Bob Laurent is one of the founding partners of the Hitting Center, a batting facility in Springfield where many of the WPBL teams are training this summer. On Aug. 31, when the Firebells faced off against the Heights, Laurent helped coordinate an effort to bring 500 little red bells and 400 fans to the game in support of San Francisco. The bell-ringing atmosphere seemed to work as Firebell first baseman Andréanne Leblanc hit a walk-off grand slam to beat New York 11-9.
The Hunters celebration prop is a bright orange chain with a baseball medallion that looks like it’s being gripped by the talons of the osprey with the word “Hunters” going across it. Boston homer hitters have to go through a line of their teammates before getting the chain on their way into the dugout.
The name “Hunters” comes from trailblazing physician Harriot Hunt. She became one of the first women to open her own medical practice in the United States in 1835, despite being denied admission to Harvard. When the WPBL announced the why behind each team’s name, it linked the bird of prey and Hunt together beautifully.
“New England’s coastal hunter, the osprey doesn’t circle and wait. It picks its target, folds its wings, and hits the water talons first,” the league explained. “We move fast and we move first, striking out the competition without hesitation. The Hunters are inspired by Harriot Hunt who, like the osprey, set her mind on a goal and made it happen.”
The Heights honor New York in their own way after clearing the fences with long shots. Much like Little Leaguers, they create a tunnel for the bomber to run through, but only after they have been awarded a wheat-colored pair of Timberland boots around their necks. It’s a special shoutout to New York City rap icons like Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z that forever tied the boots to the city.
“It’s evolved into the Timbs that you all see at the games and the big thing we always do is the tunnel we run through, but we just added the Timbs to add a little piece of New York to have a little fun with it,” New York's Kylee Lahners said.
Throughout the game, fans in the stadium and at home, and for sure opposing players on the field, may hear New York players barking from the dugout. The barks bring energy, making sure everyone knows the Heights got that dog in them, referring to their never-ending fight.
New York’s namesake is Dorothy Height, the legendary civil and women’s rights activist who fought to make the world a better place throughout her 98-year life before passing away in 2010.
“Here to take the game to new heights. Built around the ambition, intensity and relentless standards associated with New York, the Heights demand excellence,” the WPBL website says. “One of the most influential leaders of the civil and women’s rights movements, Dorothy Height dedicated her life to advancing equality for all. As we take the field, we‘re inspired by her confidence, leadership, and unwavering commitment to her goals.”
Like the Firebells, the Los Angeles Queens have a name that makes their celebration a no-brainer. Reflecting the four gold diamonds on their jerseys that not only represent a baseball diamond, but also come together to look like a crown, Queens are crowned after they hit a homer. On some occasions, they are also robed with a Queens flag.
The only team to be christened after a baseball player, the Queens name is a tribute to Lizzie “Queen of the Diamond” Murphy. In 1922, Murphy became the first woman to play against Major League Baseball players. She forged a 17-year baseball career as a talented first baseman.
“Representing the jewel of the West Coast, we’re ready to wear the crown. Inspired by our namesake, Lizzie Murphy – nicknamed the ‘Queen of the diamond’- the LA Queens are built on the confidence, presence and influence she carried throughout her trailblazing career, qualities that also define Los Angeles,” the WPBL website says. “Lizzie Murphy broke barriers at a time when opportunities for women in pro sports were extremely limited, showing the world how true talent rises to the top.”
The style of the WPBL
One of the first things fans might notice about many of the WPBL players is their eccentric eye black. Some players have traditional lines under their eyes, while others have stripes, crosses and more. The lines and shapes might be black, but also range into red and pink. Every day brings a new artistic range.
For Los Angeles Queen Ashton Lansdell, her designs differ depending on the creativity that hits her that day.
“For my eye black, I look at myself in the mirror and go, ‘Hmmm … what do I want to do today?’ And then I just kind of think of it,” she said after a game when she displayed pink crosses with the right cheek having a pink background with a cross that looked like it had been taken out and put on the left cheek. “It’s a last-minute thing, but it’s always something different.”
Sitting next to Lansdell, Michelle Roche’s face featured the traditional thick black line under each eye, but then a curve down to her jawline. Her presentation depends on if she’s starting the game on the mound or in the outfield.
“I only do the face paint when I am in the field because you aren’t really supposed to wear it on the mound. So I just take every opportunity I can to wear it,” Roche said. “Sometimes I try to do little designs. I tried to do diamonds today, but I figured that they would just get rubbed off and turn into spots. I was like, ‘Nobody is going to know what they are,’ so I just covered them up.”
Like many athletes, several players also wear necklaces to add individual flair. Lansdell has become famous for her pearl necklace. She first wore it in 2021 based on Atlanta Brave Joc Pederson's desire to have a unique look in the postseason. Lansdell’s pearls have a familial origin story as her godmother restrung Lansdell’s nana’s 200-year-old pearls.
WPBL embraces cultures from around the world
The WPBL hosted a heritage weekend on Aug. 28-30. On the 28th, the league honored players from the USA and Canada. Several of the Canadian players painted red Canadian maple leaves on their cheeks.
One of those players is San Francisco’s Ela Day-Bédard. While she was excited to join the league, she didn’t fully understand what a big deal it was until she got to the United States.
“We in Canada didn’t see the big impact of it,” she said. “And then when we came here and I saw everything unfold, I was like ‘Oh my God. This is crazy.’ And that’s when it hit me for real.”
On Aug. 29, the WPBL honored Australia, Japan and South Korea. Hailing from Japan, pitcher and infielder Emi Saiki had her season cut short because visa issues delayed her ability to get to the United States. Arriving in mid-August, Saiki went on a tear, hitting .667/.765/.667 with a 1.431 OPS, five walks, five RBIs, four runs scored and one stolen base in 17 plate appearances over six games.
She doesn’t need an interpreter like some of the other international players and expressed how she is really grateful to feel accepted and play for manager Rocky Henley.
“I am really honored to be playing under her,” she said. “We have three Japanese [players], but she always makes sure that we understand despite the language barrier and makes sure our performance is good. I am so grateful to be part of the team.”
Heritage weekend closed out on Aug. 30, recognizing international players from Curaçao, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Flags from 11 countries and territories line Robin Roberts Stadium and at least three languages are spoken on each team.
For Bryant, the diversity is a huge part of what makes the WPBL such an amazing experience.
“My favorite part is the fact that all of us are from different places of the world. So I am learning a lot of different things from them in terms of their language and how they speak, but I think that’s the coolest part about it to me,” Bryant said on an episode of the WPBL Podcast. “I love to learn new things every day, so just them being able to educate me and teach me how to communicate with them — whether it’s baseball or off the field — it’s been cool.”
In an inaugural season filled with firsts, the WPBL is writing its record book on a daily basis. Individual stats and team accomplishments may be laying the concrete in the foundation of the league. But the joy, love, gratitude and camaraderie that every player, staff member, and fan brings to the diamond is what provides the structural support. The culture is the rebar, the pillar of strength that prevents cracking and keeps the foundation together long into the future.
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