MO’NE DAVIS
Remember Mo’ne Davis?
I do.
I certainly do.
Because she was a serious ballplayer.
A baseball player.
She.
Mo’ne Davis shattered national consciousness and achieved well-deserved notoriety, even before the 2014 Little League World Series (LLWS).
That was when she was the first girl to earn a win and pitch a shutout in LLWS history.
She was one of two females who played in that edition of the Little League World Series — the fourth American girl, and only the 18th girl ever to play — and just the sixth to get a hit.
And she was the first Little Leaguer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Covers plenty of ground.
Unlike a pal of mine, who once told our baseball coach that he, in fact, could cover plenty of ground.
Our coach replied inimitably, “So does dog shit.”
Mo’ne was and is the real deal.
And her accomplishments reflect that with conviction.
In 1972, Maria Pepe was one of the first girls to play Little League baseball, following Little League’s 1951 official ban of girls from participation.
When opposing teams demanded her removal, and Little League “threatened to revoke Hoboken’s (NJ) charter,” the attention of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was piqued.
A court case — strongly supported by NOW — was initiated on Pepe’s behalf.
Ultimately, the New Jersey Superior Court ruled that Little League must allow girls to try out.
As a result, Little League — deciding prudently against resisting further — not only allowed girls to participate in its baseball programs, but also created a softball program for girls only.
The year was 1974.
Nearly 30,000 girls signed up for the softball program.
One in 57 Little Leaguers that year was a girl.
Thirty years later, one in 7 Little Leaguers was a girl.
In 2004, roughly 360,000 girls played in the various divisions of Little League Softball (ages 5–18) and there were four World Series Tournaments in LL Softball, two of which were nationally televised.
By 2004, the number of girls estimated to have participated in Little League Baseball programs was around 100,000.
Today, millions of “girls with game” from around the world, have gotten their start on the Little League diamond.
Maria Pepe’s experience, in fact, ranked fifth on ESPN’s list of the greatest moments in U.S. women’s sports history.
Which augured well for Mo’ne Davis and others.
Davis was a superstar from the jump.
In 2008, a fellow named Steve Bandura, the program director for Marian Anderson Recreation Center in South Philly, was watching Davis play playground football with her cousins and older brother.
“She was throwing this football in perfect spirals, effortless and running these tough kids down and tackling them,” he observed.
Bandura asked her if she’d like to come to one of his basketball practices to watch.
Davis replied that she would — but she wanted to play.
In an interview with The Philadelphia Tribune, Bandura recalled that experience.
“Her eyes were just glued on the drill and, when it came time for her turn, she went through it like she has been doing it a thousand times.
I just knew right then.”
What Bandura knew was that Davis had game; she became his best player.
And she was the only girl on the team.
As late as August 2014, Mo’ne Davis considered basketball her primary sport.
She aspired to play in the WNBA and her more immediate goal was to play college basketball for the UConn Huskies.
She loved Maya Moore.
In the meantime, at age 13, Davis could throw a fastball 70 mph (110 km/h).
Pretty impressive, although she considered that, “throwing like a girl.”
The average velocity in her age class was 63 mph (101 km/h) to 73 mph (117 km/h).
According to Will Femia of MSNBC, a 71 mph (114 km/h) pitch (which was clocked during her August 15, 2014 LLWS game) is the equivalent — with respect to a batter’s reaction time at the plate — to a 93 mph (150 km/h) pitch, on a full-sized diamond.
She was known to snap off a nasty curveball too — an ‘Uncle Charley’ nonpareil — which gave “opposing hitters fits.”
Davis relied more on precise pitching mechanics than pure arm strength.
ESPN’s John Brenkus contends that she had a wind up and release point that never varied by more than 3 degrees.
Her pitching motion was compared to that of Jonathan Papelbon — all with an arm about 15% shorter than a major league pitcher’s arm.
At the end of her delivery, Davis’ arm was moving forward at a peak angular velocity of 2500 degrees/second — more than 80% of the 3000 degrees/second peak angular velocity of a typical major league pitcher.
She was 13.
And weighed about 90 lbs.
Maybe she could have made the majors.
The big leagues.
The Show.
Regardless, she was a celebrity, albeit, surely an unwitting one.
After becoming the first female to twirl a shutout in postseason Little League history, Twitter blew up with congratulatory messages for Davis from the likes of Mike Trout, Marcus Stroman and Kevin Durant.
Jimmy Fallon, among others, requested an interview.
Rachel Maddow called her “the best new thing in the world.”
Ellen DeGeneres, Billie Jean King and Michelle Obama sung her praises.
Davis told ESPN, “I never thought at the age of 13 I’d be a role model.
I always wanted to be a role model, but being a baseball role model is really cool.”
In 2014, Paul Graziano, who had been the LLWS press box announcer for the past 34 years, remarked that he had never been privy to the level of excitement as early in the tournament, until Davis showed up.
The crowds cheered every time she pitched or was at bat, and she received standing ovations as she was pitching her shutout win on August 15, 2014.
On August 19, 2014, Mark Hyman, assistant professor of sports management at George Washington University, opined in the New York Times that, “She’s the most talked-about baseball player on earth right now.”
And by August 19th, Davis had been on the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer for 5 straight days.
Wait.
It gets better.
In September 2014, Davis donated her jersey to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
In attendance, along with her teammates and coaches from the Anderson Monarchs, was Mamie Johnson, one of the three women to ever play in the Negro Leagues.
Time Magazine.
Spike Lee — “Throw Like A Girl.”
Throwing out the first pitch at a 2014 World Series game at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Sports Illustrated Kids’ Sportskid of the Year for 2014.
One of ESPNW’s 2014 Impact 25.
In July 2015, Davis won The Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award.
Today, Mo’ne Davis plays 2B for the Hampton University Lady Pirates Softball team.
She’s happy, and does well academically and between the white lines.
I think she could have been playing in the upcoming ALCS, for the Red Sox, of course.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in October 2021.]
