Yesterday I received the ‘long-treatment’ of a script that is being developed based off of my essay "Pride” of the Yankees, which tells the story of Jackie Mitchell. Last year, I optioned the piece to a very talented and ambitious producer named Gretl Kruse.

Gretl is an up-and-coming filmmaker who has high ambitions to create educational television shows for young people. She earned her bachelors degree at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN where she majored in Theater and Education. During her stay in St. Paul Gretl wrote, directed and produced three children's plays, all of which dealt with issues of acceptance including, sexism, racism, and understanding. She won two awards for her creative ambitions including, the Hamline/Hancock Collaborative Service Award and the Raygor Award, both for outstanding community service and creative input into the field of education. She recently graduated with at M.F.A. in Film and Television Producing from Chapman University in Orange, California. 

The draft version of the script that she sent was extraordinary and my wife and a couple female associates here even got teary-eyed when reading it. (Leave it to me to end up inspiring a “chick flick.”) Seriously though, this movie project is an important one as the plight of Jackie is truly an inspirational tale for girls and young women who deal with the issues of equality in sports every day. Unlike my study, the storyline of this piece is taking a positive approach to the story of Jackie and is still being tweaked. My approach was a little more tragic, but the perspective of this plot will encourage those who see it.

I am very impressed with Gretl and proud to be a part of this project. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as things progress. It is exciting to be branching out into other forms of media like radio and film – especially when the projects serve a higher purpose than my own. For those of you unfamiliar with Jackie Mitchell’s place in baseball history, here is a brief overview:

In 1931, the owner of the Southern Association's AA Chattanooga Lookouts signed a talented, 17-year-old pitcher named Jackie Mitchell. Desperate for an "edge" to increase ticket sales Joe Engel opted to bill his team as the ONLY club to feature a female on the mound and the demure Mitchell fit that bill. As was customary back in the day, major league teams often traveled the country playing against members of their minor league's farm system. This gave the locals an opportunity to see big league players in towns that did not boast big league franchises. It also kept the players in off-season shape - both in body and mind. In April of '31, the New York Yankees stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game, on their way home from spring training down south. Billed as a huge event due to the appearance of "Murderers Row", over 4,000 fans turned out along with scores of newspaper reporters and photographers.

Mitchell's pitching arsenal consisted of only 1 pitch - a dropping curve ball known as a "sinker" and she used it like no other ace had before (or after). A grinning Bambino took ball one, and then swung at (and missed) the next two. Jackie's fourth pitch caught the corner of the plate for a called-strike infuriating an embarrassed Ruth who promptly threw his bat and stomped back into the Yankees' dugout. Next up was non-other than "The Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig who followed the Babe's lead and swung at three in a row for "K" number two. In just seven pitches, Mitchell had sat down two of the greatest sluggers ever to don the pinstripes. A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman. It was a gross injustice and an obvious ploy to curb the embarrassment of their bruised male egos.

For my complete essay, visit Baseball-Almanac.