{{Short description|American baseball player}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{good article}} {{Infobox baseball biography | name = Julie Croteau | image = | image_size = | number = 9 | position = First basewoman | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|12|4}} | bats = Left | throws = Left | birth_place = Prince William County, Virginia, U.S. | teams = * Colorado Silver Bullets (1994) * Maui Stingrays (1994) | highlights = * First woman to play men's NCAA baseball | update = }} '''Julie Croteau''' (born December 4, 1970) is an American former college and professional baseball player. She is recognized as the first woman to regularly play men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball, as well as the first woman to coach men's NCAA Division I baseball and one of the first women to play in a Major League Baseball-sanctioned league.
Croteau attended Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, Virginia, where she and her parents filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the school to play baseball on the men's team, which she lost. In college, Croteau, a first basewoman, had a .222 batting average her freshman year as the St. Mary's College of Maryland Seahawks finished with a 1–20–1 win–loss–tie record. In 1994, she played for the all-women Colorado Silver Bullets in their inaugural season, where she batted .078 against semi-professional male competition; after the year, she played for the Maui Stingrays of the Hawaii Winter Baseball league. Her baseball glove and photo are on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. {{as of|2024}}, Croteau was on the staff of Stanford University.
==Playing and coaching career== Julie Croteau was born in Prince William County, Virginia,{{efn|According to the Colorado Silver Bullets, Croteau was born in Berkeley, California.<ref name="CSB">{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradosilverbullets.org/Players/Croteau.html|title=Julie Croteau|publisher=Colorado Silver Bullets|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}</ref>}} on December 4, 1970, to Nancy and Ray Croteau, both lawyers.<ref name="Early_life">{{cite book|title=A to Z of American Women in Sports|last=Edelson|first=Paula|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2014|pages=51–52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7v7qX-cooooC|isbn=978-1-4381-0789-9}}</ref> Growing up, Croteau played tee-ball and Little League Baseball, and as she got older she played in the Babe Ruth League and in Major League baseball (a youth league).<ref name="Early_life2">{{cite book |title=Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball |last=Gregorich |first=Barbara |publisher=Harcourt |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-15-698297-9 |pages=214 }}</ref> Croteau watched her first baseball game at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.<ref name="Fenway">{{cite news|title=Julie Croteau: Baseball Player|last=Holtzclaw|first=Mike|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93411570/julie-croteau-baseball-player/|newspaper=Daily Press|pages=D1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93411658/croteau/ D3]|date=July 25, 1994|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She attended Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, Virginia, where she tried out for the junior varsity and varsity baseball teams; she made the junior varsity team as a bench player during her ninth-grade year, but never made the varsity team.<ref name="Early_life" /><ref name="Early_life2" /> In 1988, Croteau and her parents filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the high school for the ability to play on the boys' team, but lost.<ref name="SI">{{cite web |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1997/womenmag/npcroteau.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306194641/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1997/womenmag/npcroteau.html |archive-date=March 6, 2009 |title=The New Pioneers – Julie Croteau |publisher=Sports Illustrated Women/Sport |date=Spring 1997 |accessdate=April 26, 2009}}</ref> The court ruled that she had "received a fair tryout and that the decision to cut her was made in good faith and for reasons unrelated to gender".<ref>[https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1362640/croteau-v-fair Croteau v. Fair], 686 F. Supp. 552, 554 n.3. (1988); ''see also'' ''id.'' at n.4 ("Although there was no persuasive evidence here of discrimination, there was abundant evidence, accepted by the Court, that plaintiff is a fine athlete and a dedicated baseball player. But the competition for a place on the Osbourn Park varsity team was keen. For reasons wholly unrelated to gender, plaintiff did not succeed. The Court notes, however, that plaintiff's ability, industry and determination promise that in the future she will succeed more often that not in whatever endeavors she undertakes.").</ref>
Mike Zitz, manager of the semi-professional Fredericksburg Giants baseball team of the Virginia Baseball League, invited her to try out for the team.<ref name="Early_life2" /> She made the team and played several seasons of semi-professional baseball for them.<ref name="Early_life" /> In her first season with the Giants, she was hit frequently with pitches.<ref name="Quote">{{cite news|title=Finally, a Team of Their Own|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93411947/finally-a-team-of-their-own/|newspaper=Times-Advocate|date=April 15, 1994|last=Bailey|first=Kate|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93412001/bullets-baseball-team-for-women/ C2]|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> At St. Mary's College of Maryland, she made the men's baseball team as a freshman walk on.<ref name="Early_life2" /> In her debut for the Seahawks, Croteau, who played first base, went 0 for 3 with two groundouts against the Spring Garden College Bobcats as the Seahawks lost 4–1. Defensively, she committed no errors<ref name="Debut">{{cite news|title=A Woman Swings into Baseball Record Book|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93407212/a-woman-swings-into-baseball-record-book/|last=Digilio|first=Alice|newspaper=The Berkshire Eagle|date=March 19, 1989|page=B-7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> on six attempts.<ref name="Early_life2" /> In making her debut, she is credited as becoming the second <ref>{{cite web | url=https://baseballforall.com/women-in-college-baseball-history/ | title=Women in College Baseball History - Baseball for All | date=14 April 2021 }}</ref> woman to play in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college baseball game.{{efn|Though an article in ''Society for American Baseball Research 50 at 50'' credits Susan Perabo with playing for Webster University (Division III) in 1985, the article still cites Croteau as being "the first woman to play [NCAA] baseball".<ref>{{cite book|title=SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research's Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game|page=227|isbn=978-1-4962-2268-8|year=2020|chapter=The Colorado Silver Bullets: Can Promotion Based on the 'Battle of the Sexes' Be Successful?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cortDwAAQBAJ|last=Berlage|first=Gai Ingham|publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}</ref>}}{{efn|According to an NCAA spokesperson, women might have played college baseball during World War II.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-04-sp-1186-story.html|title=SCC Baseball Signs a Woman, Makes History|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|last1=Beck|first1=Martin|last2=Hamilton|first2=Tom|date=February 4, 1993|accessdate=February 2, 2022}}</ref>}} Cameras from NBC and Cable News Network attended the game.<ref name="Debut" /> Croteau finished the season with a .222 batting average as the team finished with a 1–20–1 win–loss–tie record.<ref name="Early_life" /> She would later quit the team her junior year due to sexual harassment<ref name="Early_life2" /><ref name="WNEU">{{cite news|title=Croteau's Love of Baseball Exceeds Pain of Past Slights|last=Parks|first=Brad|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/06/21/croteaus-love-of-baseball-exceeds-pain-of-past-slights/c8d19219-7ebf-4af1-9ba0-8a5a80190dbf/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 21, 1997|accessdate=February 2, 2022}}</ref> and sexism from teammates and the athletic department.<ref name="WSP">{{cite news|title='Boys will be Boys' Sad Excuse for Fouling Her Out, She Says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1991/06/25/boys-will-be-boys-sad-excuse-for-fouling-her-out-she-says/d6865a98-89d0-4fe2-a790-c0e0ae78897f/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 25, 1991|accessdate=February 2, 2022}}</ref> She finished her collegiate career batting .171 over 76 at bats.<ref name="WSP" /> After playing as an undergraduate, Croteau attended graduate school at Smith College<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/04/05/finally-a-team-to-call-her-own/31dbf451-2bfa-462d-9ab2-d694986b0d61/|title=Finally, a Team to Call Her Own|date=April 5, 1994|last=Hall|first=Charles W.|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=February 2, 2022}}</ref> and continued her career by coaching men's NCAA baseball at Western New England University (Division III) as an assistant in 1993<ref name="WNEU" /> and then at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Umass; Division I), also as an assistant,<ref name="BH">{{cite news|title='A League of Their Own' Inspired Baseball Pioneer Croteau|url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/26/a-league-of-their-own-inspired-baseball-pioneer-croteau/|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Boston Herald|date=April 26, 2020}}</ref> from 1995 to 1996.<ref name="SI" /> Her tenure at Umass made her the first woman to coach an NCAA Division I school for baseball.<ref name="SI" />
===Professional baseball=== {{Quote box |quote = "I remember when I left the courthouse and I was really upset, because I didn't feel like justice had been served. Now I feel like it's poetic justice: I'm playing professional baseball, and I don't think any of those other guys are." |source = — Croteau on playing with the Silver Bullets<ref name="Quote" /> |align = right |width = 25% }} In 1994, Croteau played with the Colorado Silver Bullets, a women's professional baseball team that played against semi-professional men, in its inaugural season.<ref name=Miller>{{cite book |title=Making Her Mark: Firsts and Milestones in Women's Sports |last=Miller |first=Ernestine G. |year=2002 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Professional |isbn=978-0-07-139053-8 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1nPKuOF5KUC&q=Julie+Croteau&pg=PA1981}}</ref> There, she batted .078, with four hits and two runs batted in over 51 at bats. On defense, Croteau had a fielding percentage of .989 with two errors and a team-high 174 putouts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradosilverbullets.org/94stats.html|title=1994 Statistics|publisher=Colorado Silver Bullets|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}</ref> She had thirteen walks compared to nine strikeouts, one of only two players on the team with more walks than strikeouts,<ref name="CSB" /> as the Silver Bullets finished with a 6–38 record.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradosilverbullets.org/94season.html|title=1994 Game Results|publisher=Colorado Silver Bullets|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}</ref> When she played for Colorado, Croteau stood at {{convert|5|ft|8|in|cm}} and weighed {{convert|130|lb|kg}}.<ref name="CSB" /> After one season, she and teammate Lee Anne Ketcham joined the Maui Stingrays of the Hawaii Winter Baseball league for their 1994 season,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/sbbw0520.htm |title=Female pitcher eyes pros |last=Lawes |first=Rick |newspaper=USA Today |date=June 6, 1996 |accessdate=April 26, 2009}}</ref> becoming the first women to play in a Major League Baseball-sanctioned league.<ref name=Miller/>
===USA Baseball=== In 2004, Croteau was selected to be the third base coach for the United States women's national baseball team, which captured the gold medal at the 2004 Women's Baseball World Cup in Edmonton. In 2006, Croteau was promoted to become the manager of the women's national team which won the Women's World Cup in Taiwan. She became the first woman to manage a women's baseball team to the gold medal in any international baseball competition.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Game of Their Own: Voices of Contemporary Women in Baseball|page=229|last=Ring|first=Jennifer|year=2015|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-4480-1}}</ref>
==Personal life== Julie Croteau graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree.<ref name="StM">{{cite web|url=https://www.smcm.edu/news/2017/04/first-female-ncaa-mens-baseball-player-croteau-93-receives-trailblazer-award/|title=First Female NCAA Men's Baseball Player Croteau '93 Receives Trailblazer Award|publisher=St. Mary's College of Maryland|date=April 12, 2017|accessdate=January 25, 2022|archive-date=June 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610190947/https://www.smcm.edu/news/2017/04/first-female-ncaa-mens-baseball-player-croteau-93-receives-trailblazer-award/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her collegiate baseball glove and photo are on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.<ref name="SI" />
In the 1992 Columbia Pictures film ''A League of Their Own'', Croteau served as a baseball double for actress Anne Ramsay,<ref name="BH" /> who portrayed first basewoman Helen Haley.<ref>{{cite book|title=Screen World 1993: Screen World 1993 Comprehensive Pictorial and Statistical Record of the 1992 Movie Season|year=2000|last=Willis|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZQ-amN0wTkC|page=74|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-1-55783-175-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/madonna-mlb-baseball-sports-general-sports-ea3462213c68d73563458e0af0e468e9|title='A League of Their Own' Inspired Baseball Pioneer Croteau|work=Associated Press|date=April 17, 2020|last=Graham|first=Pat|accessdate=February 6, 2022}}</ref>
In 1997, she broadcast Pacific-10 conference baseball games, and "became the first woman hired to broadcast a National Basketball Association" game, according to author Paula Edelson.<ref name="Early_life" /> In 2017, she received the President's Trailblazer award from St. Mary's College of Maryland. {{as of|2017}}, Croteau was married, had two children and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.<ref name="StM" /> {{as of|2022}}, she works as director of communications in the human relations department at Stanford University.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://profiles.stanford.edu/julie-croteau|title=Julie Croteau|publisher=Stanford University|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}</ref>
==See also== * Women in baseball
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croteau, Julie}} Category:American women baseball players Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:St. Mary's Seahawks baseball players Category:Western New England Golden Bears baseball coaches Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Category:Osbourn Park High School alumni Category:NBA broadcasters Category:Baseball coaches from Virginia Category:Baseball players from Prince William County, Virginia Category:Stanford University staff Category:Women players in men's baseball Category:Women baseball coaches