“Soccer is another sport where you would think a few girls could compete.”
Really? I sort of have the opposite impression, although I suppose it has a better chance of happening in soccer at the highest level than football or basketball.
I always thought best chance for a female in a big sport is a knuckleball relief pitcher. Fielding the position/covering first could be the biggest hurdle, besides the inherent difficulty of throwing a knuckleball to major leaguers for strikes. There are pitchers who are no great shakes defensively now but if she is ridiculously slow in comparison to everyone else it might be a problem. On the other hand it’s pretty hard to bunt the flutterball, even if it is only mid-60mph.
Freegards
I think of soccer because first, it isn’t too much of a contact sport, second, some parts of it are more about finesse than pure power, and third, as a minor sport in this country, you are not likely to find all of the best male athletes on the field, so I am convinced that the top few female athletes at that level could be better than the last few males who want to try out for the sport.
Except again, with soccer having a female league in college, and a sometime professional league, and because I see no way for any female to make it on the professional male teams, there would be little reason for a girl to try out for the men’s team, better to be a star on the women’s team.
But i agree with you about baseball, and not just at pitcher, a particularly gifted female might well be able to play outfield, the hitting would be more problematic I think. Pitching though, that’s interesting, I wonder if any of the best female softball pitchers have ever entertained the notion of being an underhand baseball pitcher in a minor league team?