Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408100040
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She never had a choice.
"Baseball is boys," she explained. "Softball is girls."
But Henry, 25, always preferred the boys' game.
That's why in 1977, the year after Tatum O'Neal played ball for the Bad News Bears, when Henry was 8 and living in Dayton, Ohio, and her hero was Johnny Bench, she was the only girl in the local little league.
And that's why again, in 1994, with dreams of playing professionally for the traveling women's baseball team, The Silver Bullets, Henry is the only woman now playing in Roanoke's adult baseball league.
"Softball is boring," she said.
In Ohio, Henry did eventually turn to softball, but only after playing six years of baseball and enduring the ridicule and teasing that comes along with being a girl in the private club of 8-year-old boys.
She was a catcher, and the boys would take big leads when they got on base, confident that they could steal against her weaker, she-throws-like-a-girl female arm. More often than not, she proved them wrong.
Then when she batted, same story. The boys would move way way in, thinking she couldn't hit, only to find out - as the ball sailed over their heads - that she could.
"I got a lot of ribbing," she said, "but that all stopped when I became an all-star."
Her baseball career ended, however, when she was 14. By then, although she wanted to play high school baseball, she realized that she would have spent most of her time on the bench. Most of the boys by then had grown bigger and stronger. They could hit the ball farther, throw harder. She grew afraid of getting hit (and hurt) by their faster and faster pitching.
So, she begrudgingly retreated to softball.
After high school, she moved to the Roanoke Valley. She worked as an assistant manager for Hot Dogs & More at Tanglewood Mall before the stand closed. Last year, Hot Dogs & More moved her to Atlanta.
In February, she read in "Baseball Weekly" about tryouts for a new women's professional baseball team, The Silver Bullets. Some of the tryouts were being held in Atlanta.
About 120 women came out. Henry made it through the first cut, but didn't win a spot on the final Silver Bullets roster. She was told she needed some fresh baseball experience. It had been 10 years since little league. But she was encouraged to try again next year.
Meanwhile, she moved back to the Roanoke Valley, to Troutville, where she works now at Connex Pipe Systems as a pipe cutter. She read in the newspaper about Larry Beheler and the adult baseball league.
Perfect.
She called league president Randall Holley, who put her in touch with the team manager for the Roanoke Stars, who needed a backup catcher. As it turned out, she ended up starting her debut game after joining the team because the Stars' regular catcher missed the game.
Again, she was met by a certain skepticism that goes with being the only woman in the male domain of the dugout. When she stepped up to hit, just like before, the outfield moved in. The infield moved closer. She heard the heckling.
"No bat!" "No bat!"
Even a few of her own teammates questioned whether she could handle herself. A pitcher asked whether he should slow down his pitching for her. Others were harsh whenever she made a mistake.
"I told them I was sweating, too. That meant I was trying," she said.
Again, her play on the field won them over. In subsequent games, she played third base and first base and was a designated hitter for one game. She hit well, moving up from the bottom of the batting order to the top. Tim Hesson, the Stars' manager, said Henry has been one of the more consistent hitters on the team.
Then, a 250-pound pipe fell on her leg at work.
She suffered a deep knee bruise that could keep her from finishing the season. Or maybe she can make the playoffs. Either way, when The Silver Bullets hold tryouts again, she said she will be better prepared. If they still don't want her then, well, fine. It won't stop her now from playing baseball.
With the boys.
by CNB