The WPBL marks the first time America has had a women's professional baseball league since the World War II era — and this time, the players get their own trading cards. WPBL Commissioner Justine Siegal and The Realest co-founder Venika Streeter talk about their new partnership authenticating milestones and collectibles for the league's inaugural season, why representation in the collecting space matters as much as it does on the field, and what it's like to be there at the very beginning of something historic.

 

TOGETHXR: How did this partnership between The Realest and the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) come to be, and what can fans expect from it?
Venika Streeter: This partnership came to be because The Realest has been really driven to do things with women's sports leagues. When I co-founded the company with DJ Skee, also known as Scott Keeney, one of the things that I said to him was, ‘We need to make sure that we don't forget about women's sports. We should actually try to lean in that direction because, when people think about collectors, they always lean toward men's sports, and no one has ever really done anything [in the collecting space] for women's sports.’

Right now, there's kind of a world where there are all these new women's leagues popping up, and people are really focused on them. Everyone watches women's sports — we'd be remiss not to help make these women stars, just like people are doing on the men's side of things. I believe Justine and Skee met at a couple of conferences.

Justine Siegal: Yes, he and I met at a conference, and I knew I wanted to work with [Skee]. Everyone loves him. He gave me the deck, and I was like, ‘Oh, this authentication process is amazing. This is definitely what we should be doing.’ So I passed it on to my co-founder, Keith Stein. 

Streeter: Then Skee came to me and was like, "Hey, I just met Justine Siegal. Is this something we should do?" And funny enough, I had actually met Justine in passing when she gave a speech at Target Field. So I had heard her story and knew everything. And obviously, having worked in baseball for a long time, I already knew a lot about the things she had done as well, like throwing BP and being the first female coach hired by a professional baseball team.

So I knew who she was. I was like, "Absolutely. Let's do this. Let's get on a call. Let's figure out a way to make this work." Once we got on a call together and chatted a little bit, we realized this would be a good thing to do, and it made a lot of sense to work together.

 

TOGETHXR: Justine, on the player's side, what do you think this means for their experience — having these collectibles, cards, and items that they can sign for fans, as well as having their milestones authenticated for their own memorabilia?
Siegal: Well, to have a trading card with their face on it is a dream come true. All of these women dreamt as girls of being professional baseball players and having their own cards, so they're super stoked about that.

The Realest came to our spring training in Florida and explained to the players who were there what the authentication process looked like, and they got it immediately. They even got some of their own stuff authenticated, even though it's not being sold. They wanted it to be authenticated so it could one day be sold.

And that's actually one of the things I really like about this relationship—it's a very genuine relationship. Venika really cares. Skee really cares. So it's not just, "Where can I make a profit?" Yeah, it's good business, but also, "How can I treat these athletes well? How can I honor this history and push it forward?"

TOGETHXR: I love that you mentioned that it's something that a lot of these players have dreamed about since being kids. I'd love to know more from each of you about your entry point to baseball.
Streeter: I started playing softball when I was 11, and my dad was in the military. He just happened to be stationed at the Pentagon, so we were living in Northern Virginia, and softball is huge there. Every girl plays softball up there. I was on three teams at one point. I was really deep into it.

At that time, Cal Ripken was chasing 2131, and I was obsessed. Everybody in Virginia was an Orioles fan. I wore number 8 because of Cal Ripken; I played shortstop because of Cal Ripken — I was just obsessed with it, and that was what kind of led me to be a diehard baseball fan. 

So I just kind of started following baseball then and have been obsessed with it ever since I was about 11 years old. I knew I couldn't play professionally because there wasn't anything back then. So I needed to figure out a way to be a part of it still. That's when I ended up going to school for sports management because I wanted to work in baseball. I knew I wouldn't be on the field catching pop flies, but I could still impact the game in some other way, and I figured out how to do that.

Siegal: I started with T-ball, and I played baseball, often as the only girl. It was never an issue for me because all my friends were boys. It didn't matter what I did—I was the only girl. But when I was 13, my new coach told me he didn't want me on his baseball team because softball is for girls and baseball is for boys. I didn't quit, but it became an uphill battle being the only one.

Honestly, soccer was my favorite. I went to soccer camp endlessly, and I loved playing soccer. But when I was told I should quit [baseball], that's when I was like, ‘No. I can't leave. I can never leave this scene.’ The more people tried to take the game away from me, the more I loved it.

I have wonderful memories of going to watch the Guardians with my grandfather and my brother, eating everything we could, collecting bobbleheads, and just making wonderful memories. So, for me, it was kind of a family thing in the sense that every meal had to do with sports.

TOGETHXR: What is it like for both of you to think back about those experiences that you had and see how much the landscape has changed for women in baseball?
Streeter: For me, it's extremely exciting. I would have loved to have had something like this when I was a kid because the only option for me at that time was softball. There wasn't an option to play baseball in the area where I lived.

If there had been something like this league, they would have been like, ‘Okay, maybe there is a place for you. It does make sense for you to be in that space. It does make sense for you to play baseball on the all-boys team.’

As I got older, because my dad was in the military and I traveled a bit, the only option was baseball. When I first started, all we had was softball. As we moved around a little bit, the only options were baseball, and at the time, I don't think I was strong enough to be the only girl on the team. So, to see something like this and to collect a trading card from a girl like Mo'ne Davis, who's a professional baseball player, would have been extremely impactful for me as a little girl growing up.

It's really exciting now to know that I get to help push these women out there and help make them stars in my own small way. One of the other big things about this is creating new collectors. That world is very male-dominated at this point, and to be able to have something where little girls are going to be like, ‘I want to get this card. I want to collect that,’ is really exciting. That's just so exciting for me—to be able to be a part of that and to know that we're going to be changing how people view women's sports, and women's baseball specifically.

Siegal: I'm a big part of the girls' and women's baseball movement and leading it. I mean, I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I led this movement.

A lot of the programming that exists is because of the pain that I experienced and the growth that came from it. I wanted the next generation to have an easier path.

Like Venika, it would have never occurred to me that there was another girl playing baseball. The first program I ran was actually a girls' team that played in Cooperstown at Dreams Park. I was just like, ‘What would I have wanted as a kid?’ Other girls like me. Where would I have wanted to play? Cooperstown. 

So I found other girls who were playing in boys' leagues. I was an adult by then, but they were still in those leagues, and I brought them together. Then I realized that I could teach you how to start a girls' team in your community and that we could have our own girls' baseball tournaments. We could have a whole community so that, even though you have to play with the boys, you now have friends who have similar experiences to you.

When they play together, it just renews their soul. They love it, and they have this whole community behind them. They don't feel that same loneliness that I grew up with, or that I even felt as an adult while coaching and pursuing this work.

The league represents a systemic change that allows us to say that girls now have a pathway in baseball — that they can dream as big as their brothers do.

TOGETHXR: Venika, you mentioned that the collectibles space is very male-dominated. Why do you think it's important for us to grow this side of the sport as well?
Streeter: When I was doing authentication for the Twins for Major League Baseball, obviously there were 30 teams. At the time, there were maybe three or four women running the authentication programs for their teams. It was a very small group of us, and we leaned on one another because we had different experiences when it came to collecting items.

We had to go into locker rooms that are typically all male, and we were going in there not when the media was there — because when the media is there, anybody can go into the locker room. I was in that locker room every single day, often the only woman there outside of, like, the doctors — it was a different world working authentication and collecting items than what my male counterparts had to deal with.

As I started doing the job, I noticed that once you collect something like a jersey, a lot of men who buy those jerseys throw them on and wear them because they're wearing their favorite baseball player's jersey. But as a woman, I can't just throw on a size 48 or 50 jersey, even though I love the team. I'm not going to do that. But I still want to have a piece of the game that I love.

I could get a baseball, but I'm not going to walk around carrying a baseball or a bat all day. So, by having women in these spaces, we started asking, ‘Why can't we take this jersey and maybe turn it into a reusable tote bag that I can carry every single day? Why can't we turn it into a patchwork hoodie made from a couple of different jerseys?’ Now I can wear that and still be part of the collector world, but with things that actually work for me.

It's really important because a lot of the stuff that's out there is designed for men. Now there's an opportunity where I can get a jersey straight off the field and not have to cut it up. I can actually wear it because that player is my size. It's somebody who's impactful to me, and it's going to be impactful for my nieces, nephews, daughters, or whoever. Things like that are really important.

So I think, first, having women in spaces like authentication who are thinking differently than our male counterparts is important because they don't have to think about these things in the same way. Then, having these opportunities to collect items from women—and not having to alter them to make them work for me—is important. I can actually get them straight off the field and still be part of the collector world without having to change them to fit me.

TOGETHXR: What are you both most excited for for the inaugural season?
Streeter: I'm excited to actually be there at the beginning of a league because we haven't been able to be there for some of the other women's leagues that we work with. We usually come in a year or two later. But to be there at the very beginning is really exciting.

I've gotten to be a part of a lot of really cool moments in Major League Baseball for people's careers. So to be there at the beginning of these girls' professional careers is really, really exciting for me because you just know it's going to be a monumental moment in their lives. The small part that I can play—authenticating a ball for them, or a jersey, or a locker tag, or something they can remember for the rest of their lives—that's what's exciting for me. It's just being able to be there for them and help them commemorate this really big milestone that they've been working toward their entire lives.

I'll be on the ground doing as much as I possibly can to make this feel as important and as big as it should, because it should feel just like Opening Day for Major League Baseball. It should feel just as important as it does in all of the other leagues. It shouldn't feel any different. If anything, it should feel even more important.

Siegal: I think, for me, it's the whole idea of getting everyone to see how great women play baseball.

I would say that we have lots of boys who ask for autographs, as well as girls. And it's also a little bit personal in the sense that about 30% of those who were drafted to the WPBL have participated in Baseball For All. So there are a lot of players that I've known since they were 12 or 13 years old who are now going to get a chance to play professional baseball, which is what they were dreaming of when I met them.

So I am very proud of them, and it's an honor to be able to see that dream come true. I remember these kids—I call them kids because that's how I think of them.

But from the bigger point of view, as Commissioner—rather than just as Justine—I'm really thrilled that fans are going to get to experience women's baseball and see how good it is, how passionately the players compete, and just how much fun it is to watch us.

TOGETHXR: Justine, what's your message for folks who may have never watched baseball before, or have been interested in other women's sports that are thinking about tuning in for the inaugural season?
Siegal: We were grateful and expecting women's sports fans to turn out and show up for us. We have found that the older male demographic is really coming out and saying, ‘I can't wait to see this,’ because they're baseball fans, and they just want to see the game grow and see women participate. So that's been really lovely.

So my message is: Come out to a game on a summer night, grab a hot dog and your favorite drink, be with your friends, and have a great time at the ballpark. If you can't be there, then follow us on any of our social channels. Supporting those metrics is really important too, so you can support us either way. 

Streeter: Baseball really is for everybody.