Events & Classes

Brian Engelhardt from Berks History Center will present a program on a game played on July 5, 1898 in which Elizabeth “Lizzie” Stride (under a "stage" name of “Lizzie Arlington”) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Reading Coal Heavers in a regulation Atlantic League game in Reading against the visiting Allentown Peanuts. The event was historic and notable in that it was the first time that a woman pitched in an official game in “Organized Baseball.”

The presentation will not only review the festive atmosphere surrounding the game and the events leading up to it, but also the life and athletic career of baseball pioneer "Lizzie Arlington.” Lizzie Stride/Arlington was also an accomplished equestrienne, polo player, skater, skeet shootist and... was the first woman in Mahoney City to ride a bicycle.

Brian will also discuss the early efforts of women in baseball at the time of the Arlington Game, as well as those occasions since then where women have appeared in official games in men’s professional leagues, including two women who were pitchers on teams in independent leagues.