1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game, where we're rereading this Mirror and 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Fader deep dive on Paige Becker's for a second time. 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 2: Miron's one of the best, and she's done it again. 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 2: On today's show, we're going to talk. 5 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: To award winning journalist Melissa Ludkey about her new book, 6 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: Locker Room Talk, A Woman Struggled to get inside, and 7 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: how she won her lawsuit against Major League Baseball to 8 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: earn the right to locker room access. Plus WNBA Playoffs, 9 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: close Talkers, and more. It's all coming up right after 10 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: this welcome back slices. Meche has your need to note today, 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: Take it away, Mesh. 12 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 3: The Connecticut Sun in Minnesota Lynks meet tonight in a winner, 13 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 3: go home Game five to determine who will face off 14 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 3: against the New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals. The 15 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 3: Connecticut son are looking to make it back to the 16 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 3: finals for the second time in three years, while the 17 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 3: Links are looking for their first finals appearance since winning 18 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 3: it All in twenty seventeen. In other basketball news, sisters 19 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 3: Isabelle and Dory Harrison are both gonna hoop in the 20 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 3: upcoming season of Athletes Unlimited Basketball in Nashville Tennessee. And 21 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,039 Speaker 3: it's even cooler because that's where they grew up. Talk 22 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 3: about a full circle moment with your pal. I don't 23 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 3: actually know if they like each other as siblings. I 24 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 3: don't know nothing about that. I'm an only child. That 25 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 3: ain't my business. But Izzy plays in the WNBA for 26 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 3: the Chicago Sky and has been a part of AU 27 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 3: since the league's inaugural twenty twenty two season, while Dorry made. 28 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 2: Her AU debut last year. 29 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 3: The twenty four game AU season will run from February 30 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 3: fifth through March second at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. In 31 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 3: hockey news, GG Marvin is retiring after a long career 32 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 3: that included three Olympics, seven World Championship appearances in one 33 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 3: Walter Cup Finals run. The thirty seven year old was 34 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 3: a member of the US Olympic team that won gold 35 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 3: in twenty eighteen, ending a nearly two decade gold medal 36 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 3: drought during which Canada topped the podium four straight times. 37 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 3: Marvin initially retired from the national team in twenty twenty one, 38 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 3: but she returned to competitive hockey last year in order 39 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 3: to play for Boston in the inaugural PWHL season. 40 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 2: P WHL. 41 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 3: Boston went on to make the Walter Cup Finals, losing 42 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 3: to Minnesota in a decisive game five. Thanks so much 43 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 3: for everything, Gigi. We're gonna Misha. And in tennis, the 44 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 3: tournaments keep on coming. The Wuhan Open got started yesterday 45 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 3: at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center. The tournament features 46 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 3: a stacked field including Coco Golf, who just won the 47 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 3: China Open, and Arena Sabalanka, the number one seed in 48 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 3: the tournament and the number two rink player in the world. 49 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 3: World number one IGOs Viantik withdrew from the tournament after 50 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 3: splitting with her coach of three seasons at the end 51 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 3: of last week. Arena Sabalanka took home the trophy at 52 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 3: the last iteration of the contest way back in twenty nineteen, 53 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,239 Speaker 3: beating American Alison Risk in three sets. Sabalanka was also 54 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 3: the champion twenty eighteen. And we'll look to three pte. 55 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 2: Thanks Mesh, we got to take another break. Well we 56 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 2: come back. Melissa Ludkey. 57 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: She's an award winning journalist who in nineteen seventy eight 58 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: won a law suit for the right to be allowed 59 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball locker rooms. She's worked for ABC Sports, Sports, Illustrated, 60 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: Time Magazine, CBS News, and spent thirteen years as a 61 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: writer and editor for The Niemen Reports, magazine of Harvard 62 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism. This year, she released a 63 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: new book, Locker Room Talk, A woman Struggle to get inside. 64 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: She's a Wellesley alum, like producer Alex. Will have to 65 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: let them chat about that later. It's Melissa Lutkey. What's up, Melissa. 66 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. 67 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 4: Hey, that's the best news I've heard recently. Alex. I'll 68 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 4: just ask you at some point if we do our 69 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 4: reunion together. 70 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: There we go, Melissa, This conversation in your book is 71 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: actually especially relevant now. The WNBA doesn't currently allow media 72 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: access in the locker room. That was the change made 73 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: a few years ago, and just last week the NFLP 74 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: announced publicly that they've been working to follow suit, spending 75 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: the last three years and discussions to try to move 76 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: media interviews out of locker rooms. Now, before we get 77 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: into the modern conversations about that space and access, I 78 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: want to go back to your particular fight and how 79 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: it all fits in. So let's start with how you 80 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: got into sports reboarding and why you felt confident and 81 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: comfortable pursuing the job despite so few women and what 82 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: was often a really toxic environment at that time. 83 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 4: Sarah, I don't think I understood the toxicity the environment. 84 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 4: What drove me to get into it was absolute love 85 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 4: of sports and a knowledge and a love of baseball 86 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 4: that had been passed down to me from my mom. 87 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 4: When I did graduate from Wellesley College in nineteen seventy three, 88 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 4: I really had no plan. I'd majored in art history, 89 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 4: which I loved studying, but I'd worked in an art 90 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 4: gallery and that had maybe decided that that was not 91 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 4: the venue for me to be happy in a job, 92 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 4: and so I began to think about the other passions 93 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,919 Speaker 4: that drove me. One of them was teaching, but the 94 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 4: other really was sports. I didn't know it at the time, 95 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 4: but I had an exceptional girlhood in the sense that 96 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 4: I had the opportunity to play team sports. In the 97 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 4: nineteen fifty and sixties, when you're growing up, you think 98 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 4: everyone is doing what you're doing. You just don't have 99 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 4: a wider perspective. But I've come to learn over the 100 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 4: years and appreciate even more the opportunities I had. So 101 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 4: not only could I talk sports, my mother teaching me baseball, 102 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 4: my dad taking me along at football games. Basketball was 103 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 4: something we watched in our house. I played basketball. I 104 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 4: really had a grounding in it that I was once 105 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 4: told And this is really the spur to me moving 106 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 4: into sports media. After having the opportunity to sit at 107 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 4: a dinner table with Frank Gifford, who was then at 108 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 4: ABC Sports, he'd just become one of the opening trio 109 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 4: on Monday Night Football with Dandy, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell. 110 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 4: So he was a very well known sports broadcaster. And 111 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 4: after we had talked across a dining room table for 112 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 4: I don't know, maybe an hour and a half with 113 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 4: just sports, sports, sports, he told me, you know that 114 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 4: for a girl, I knew a lot about sports, and 115 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 4: I thought, wow, I mean, you know, that was a 116 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 4: huge compliment, I thought, coming from him, And he followed 117 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 4: it up with an invitation that if I was in 118 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 4: New York, he would be happy to show me around 119 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 4: ABC Sports and introduce me to the people who worked there. 120 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 4: So when I went to dinner that night, I had 121 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 4: no intention of going to New York City, But as 122 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 4: I walked home from that dinner, I was already planning 123 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 4: a trip, it would take a couple of weeks to 124 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 4: pull it together, and in those intervening weeks, Sarah, you 125 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 4: can't make this up. Billy Jean King played Bobby Riggs 126 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 4: at the Houston Astrodome in that Battle of the Sexes, which, 127 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 4: in many ways, coming on the heels of the passage 128 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 4: of Title nine, really began to change everything. And it 129 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 4: was at that time that I did take my father's 130 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 4: car drive down to New York, have a chance for 131 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 4: Frank to show me around. And the last thing I'll 132 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 4: say is that Frank left me that afternoon in the 133 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 4: office of the only woman sports producer at ABC Sports. 134 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 4: She then invited me to stay an extra couple days. 135 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,239 Speaker 4: They were going to be doing a special on women 136 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 4: in sports and evening special. And when I said yes 137 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 4: and hung out for three more days with them, Billy 138 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 4: Jean King walked up the stairs into that studio and Sarah, 139 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 4: I had no idea how, but I knew at that 140 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 4: moment that I was going to figure out a way 141 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 4: to get into sports media. 142 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: Gosh, it sounds like truly the stars aligned to bring 143 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: you into the space. It also helps me confirm my 144 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: pre existing theory that Billy Jing King is the forrest 145 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: Gump of women in sports that at any time, in 146 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: any place, someone will tell a story, and Billy jan 147 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: King was always there. 148 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 2: I love that she played role in your story too. 149 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: So it's the mid seventies, you're reporting for Sports Illustrated. 150 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: You're the only woman assigned full time to Major League Baseball. 151 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: The Yankees give you a credential for the final games 152 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: of the regular season in nineteen seventy seven. What were 153 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: those first few games, like, how were you received by 154 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: players and managers and other media. 155 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 4: Well, the reason that they gave me those two credentials, 156 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 4: and you're right, the very last two games of the 157 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,080 Speaker 4: nineteen seventy seven season, Mickey Morribido, the very young PR, 158 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 4: first year PR person for the Yankees, gave me the 159 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 4: clubhouse passes. Now, let's be sure that we understand that 160 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 4: that was after two years of me gradually gradually earning 161 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 4: the trust both of Mickey but also the players being 162 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 4: up at that ballg park game after game after game, 163 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 4: having no access whatsoever, and Mickey coming to understand by 164 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 4: watching the frustrations that I would have with my reporting, 165 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 4: first opening up the manager's office for me after the games, 166 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 4: and then those last two games, deciding, for whatever reason, 167 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,719 Speaker 4: leaving those two passes for me. And when I went 168 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 4: out on the field, I said, Mickey, you left these passes. 169 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 4: Did you really mean to He said yes, He says, 170 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 4: you certainly earned the right to do this, use them 171 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 4: how you want. And I think you said that knowing 172 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 4: me very well. By that point, I was really understanding 173 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 4: that to make this work I had to be a gradualist. 174 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 4: This wasn't banging down a door, It wasn't demanding. It 175 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,439 Speaker 4: was being the only woman up there, and that meant 176 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 4: trying to get along with the men, trying not to 177 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:49,080 Speaker 4: upset them in the process of making forward progress for me. 178 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 4: So the fact that Micky recognized that and gave me 179 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 4: the two passes, Sarah, I only used them before the game, which, 180 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 4: for some mysterious reason, i'd alway been kept out of 181 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 4: the clubhouse. Then too, the commissioner contended that the reason 182 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,719 Speaker 4: for me being out of the clubhouse was to protect 183 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 4: the sexual privacy of players. Well before the game started, 184 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 4: between batting practice and the game, not one player changed 185 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 4: out of his uniform. So I went into the clubhouse 186 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 4: during that period. For those two games, I didn't need 187 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 4: to be there like a daily reporter might for the 188 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 4: game coverage afterwards. And so again, as a gradualist, you know, 189 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 4: I have to frankly say it worked fine. The players 190 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 4: knew me, they were prepared by Mickey that I had 191 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 4: the pass, and things worked out well well enough. I 192 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 4: might add that not one baseball reporter wrote about me 193 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 4: being in the locker room during those two games, or 194 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 4: during the American League Championship series, in which I was 195 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 4: also in the locker room, which gave me a sense 196 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 4: that maybe my gradualist kind of mother may I approach 197 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 4: had actually worked. So when we come to that nineteen 198 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 4: seventy seven World Series, I have a sense, why wouldn't 199 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 4: I have a sense at that point that maybe we're 200 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 4: going to make this work. 201 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: Throughout those games, you only went in before the game, 202 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:21,240 Speaker 1: Yes you didn't. 203 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 4: No, that is not the case. I'm sorry I did that. 204 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 4: Just those two games. And then during the American League 205 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 4: Championship I was in the locker room both before games 206 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 4: as well as. 207 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 2: After, and no incidents, no one complaining. 208 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 4: No incidents. I wasn't thrown out. I wouldn't say that 209 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 4: there were no incidents. I mean there were players who 210 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 4: very much voiced their disapproval of my presence among them. 211 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 4: But I came. I understood from the very beginning that 212 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,679 Speaker 4: this was their clubhouse, this was their locker room, and 213 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 4: if something egregious happened, I had a sense that I 214 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 4: would understand a redline and if a player lost, then 215 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 4: I would either say or do something or leave. And 216 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 4: you know, share with Mickey my experience. But none of 217 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 4: that happened. Yes, were their jokes made. Yes, were there 218 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 4: are things that were probably said of me at the 219 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 4: time that were uncomfortable to year, Yes, but you know 220 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,839 Speaker 4: that was part of what I knew would happen. I mean, 221 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 4: I just knew it. So your roll with it. 222 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: So it ends up happening that the first game of 223 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy seven World Series arrives, the Los Angeles 224 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: Dodgers actually had a vote during which the players approved 225 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: your presence in the locker room and agreed with the 226 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: Yankees that it was fine that you were in there, 227 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: but the Commissioner of Baseball, Booie Kune, banned you from 228 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: the locker room because of your gender. Take us to 229 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: that day, Like you said, at this point, you've arrived 230 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: at the World Series, believing that the barrier has been broken, 231 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: and now you're a part of the crew that goes 232 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: in the locker room. How do you find out that 233 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: this is a problem and that Booie has stepped in? 234 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the Dodgers were in town. I recognized 235 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 4: right away that they had never had a woman and 236 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 4: covering them. So it was actually by me going to 237 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 4: them what I thought of as playing a sort of 238 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 4: courtesy call, explaining to them that I had a pass 239 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 4: that said I had entrance to the clubhouse, telling them 240 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:18,319 Speaker 4: about my experiences with the Yankees. I hoped that that 241 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 4: would ease the way for them to understand that I 242 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 4: might be coming into their clubhouse as well. It was 243 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 4: because of the conversation that I'm kind of relaying to 244 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 4: you at this point, with those elements in it that 245 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 4: I had with their player Rep. Tommy John, that that 246 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 4: vote was taken. And right before the first game, Tommy 247 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 4: John came out to meet me, as he said he would, 248 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 4: told me that it was a majority of players that 249 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:49,079 Speaker 4: they understood and that it was fine with them for 250 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 4: me to be in there, And so that was how 251 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 4: I walked away from him. He then called me back however, 252 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 4: and asked me another favor, and that was to let 253 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 4: their PR people know that this might happen. And it 254 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:11,600 Speaker 4: was that going my willingness to convey that message to 255 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 4: the PR people on behalf of Tommy and the team 256 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 4: that sort of sealed my fate, which I was informed 257 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 4: of five innings later. 258 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: So their PR person went to the commissioner, presumably and 259 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: maybe decided that that would be the person that they 260 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: would have to do their dirty work. Perhaps the PR 261 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: person for the Dodgers was the one who wanted it. 262 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: Who knows, At the very least they managed to take 263 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: it to a commissioner who for sure wanted to prevent you. 264 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: So your five innings into the game, and who approaches 265 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: you and how soon after that game did you decide 266 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: that you were going to take up a fight. 267 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 4: During the fifth inning, I was sitting in the overflow 268 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 4: press box that was in the grand stands. Sports Illustrated 269 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 4: had four people assigned to the game. Only one of 270 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 4: them was in the main press box. So I called 271 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 4: over a very small loud speaker in our press box 272 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 4: to report to the main press box, and through a 273 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 4: series of conversations I had none of them directly with 274 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 4: the commissioner, even though I asked to speak with him directly, 275 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 4: since it was his edict, but I refused permission to 276 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 4: do that. The bottom line was that I was told 277 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 4: that it didn't matter if the Yankees gave permission. It 278 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 4: didn't matter that the Dodgers gave permission. It did not 279 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 4: matter that the Baseball Writers had given me permission by 280 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 4: issuing me that press credential. The only person in Baseball 281 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 4: who could give me permission was the commissioner, and he 282 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 4: would not He would take that permission away for the 283 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 4: entire series. And then added to that, I was told 284 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 4: permission would be not granted forever. 285 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 2: He was very young, My goodness, a lifetime ban of sorts. 286 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 4: Well, he was young, and it rose. Yeah, I guess so. 287 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 4: But I guess the difference is that if you live 288 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 4: long enough as I have my passes, that clubhouse pass 289 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 4: and my pass for the series is in the Hall 290 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 4: of Fame. 291 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. You've got one up on it 292 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 2: so far. 293 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: Okay, So in this moment, this feels very extreme. Not 294 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: only are we rejecting you right now, but don't bother 295 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 1: coming back later to ask again. You decide to file 296 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: a lawsuit, and I wonder what the response to the 297 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: lawsuit was. Let's start with from colleagues, your editor, or 298 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: your bosses. What kind of support or criticism did you get? 299 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 4: Well, it was actually my bosses. It was actually Time 300 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 4: Incorporated who came to me and asked if I would 301 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 4: be in a plaintiff in a lawsuit they would file 302 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 4: at the Southern District Court of Manhattan. This only came 303 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 4: about after several weeks. It might have even been two 304 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 4: months of negotiations that had gone on between the baseball 305 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 4: editor and the lawyer at Sports Illustrated and the commissioner 306 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 4: and his lawyer, And it was only toward the beginning 307 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 4: of December, I believe, when they realized that there was 308 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 4: no progress being made. Baseball believe that quote unquote, separate 309 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 4: accommodations would for me would be equal to what the 310 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 4: men had by interviewing the players in the clubhouse. We 311 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 4: disagreed fundamentally, separate would not be equal, and we demanded 312 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 4: equal access. There was no meeting of the minds to 313 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 4: be had. And it was at that point that Time 314 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 4: Ink made the decision Time Incorporated to file this lawsuit, 315 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 4: and they came to me and asked if I would 316 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 4: be the named plaintiff in the lawsuit. 317 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,360 Speaker 1: As owners of Sports Illustrated, Time Inc. Which is where 318 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: we were. 319 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 4: Owners of Sports Illustrated. They had been sued a Time 320 00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 4: Incorporated by their own women for gender discrimination and this 321 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 4: is across the company in the early nineteen seventies, and 322 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 4: had signed a conciliation agreement to end that legal action 323 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 4: by agreeing that from then that point out there would 324 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 4: be gender equality in assignments, etc. Now that wasn't instantly 325 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 4: something that happened, but I always believed that it was 326 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 4: because that conciliation agreement existed, that there was the pressure 327 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 4: through the legal department and the rest to make this happen. 328 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 4: They came to me, asked me, And you know, Sarah, 329 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 4: I was twenty six at the time. I started covering 330 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 4: baseball when I was twenty four, I was very naive 331 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,880 Speaker 4: when I said yes, because I saw it through one 332 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,199 Speaker 4: lens and one lens only. I wanted to do a 333 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 4: job I absolutely loved. I felt I was just really 334 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,640 Speaker 4: getting to the point of learning how to do it. 335 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 4: Two years of really putting in my time at the ballparks, 336 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 4: I'd already written a few baseball stories by then I 337 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 4: just wanted to keep doing this. I loved it, and 338 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 4: I felt there was no reason for me not to 339 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 4: be able to do it. So I looked at it 340 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 4: totally as almost an employment lawsuit, But little did I 341 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 4: understand its cultural touchstones. 342 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's nice, whether they're hand forced or not, that 343 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,360 Speaker 1: you then felt the support legally and es of your 344 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: bosses and your company. Can you sum up the personal 345 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: price that you paid by being the face of the 346 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 1: of the change of that lawsuit. 347 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 4: I can try to sum it up. I certainly talk 348 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 4: about it in my in writing this book, and I 349 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,400 Speaker 4: felt in writing the book that I had to be 350 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 4: incredibly well. I had to just be honest. I had 351 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 4: to be honest about the toll that being the target 352 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,879 Speaker 4: of a lot of criticism of a person that I 353 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 4: didn't even see in myself. I was challenged, My morality 354 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 4: was challenged for wanting to do this. I was sexually 355 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 4: objectified in many ways, certainly not the loud misogyny that 356 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 4: you see on social media, because you had the civilizing 357 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,679 Speaker 4: impact of the men had to have their bylines and 358 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 4: often their pictures on the top of the columns. But 359 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 4: to me it still felt harsh. It felt crude, it 360 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 4: felt demeaning. I didn't handle it well. So I guess 361 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 4: to add to the summation, I would say I made 362 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 4: some terrible decisions in my life in some ways as 363 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 4: a response to feeling very alone and targeted, perhaps to 364 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 4: some extent for being a single woman, you know, with 365 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,640 Speaker 4: blonde hair, I was somewhat slim, so I think people 366 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 4: made a lot of assumptions about me, and the implications 367 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 4: were that I was there really to wanting to date 368 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 4: the ballplayers and to see them naked in their locker room. 369 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 4: So those were essentially the implications. So what I did 370 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 4: is I somewhat ran for cover. There was a sports 371 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 4: journalist I met a week after my lawsuit was filed, 372 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 4: and within three weeks he had asked me to marry him, 373 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 4: and I just lost my mind at that point and 374 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 4: I said I would. And it was a very bad 375 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 4: decision in my life that of course ended up with 376 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 4: a divorce several years later. But it was a very 377 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,919 Speaker 4: very unhappy marriage and a very very wrong decision for 378 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,959 Speaker 4: me to have made in the midst of what was 379 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 4: happening to me as part of this lawsuit. 380 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: Feels like protection though, or safety protection against rumors that 381 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 1: you're after something else, safety against accusations, and yeah, so it. 382 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 4: Was a safe harbor. You're right, there's a notion that 383 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 4: it would be a safe harbor. 384 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:08,640 Speaker 3: Right. 385 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 2: What were your feelings after you won the lawsuit? 386 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 4: Relief? Relief that I felt like a year of coverage 387 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 4: about it might finally end. That was wrong. In fact, 388 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 4: it went into the next season, and certainly we've seen 389 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 4: indications of this same issues of women just in covering baseball, 390 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 4: incidents in locker room, sexual harassment, etc. Play out even 391 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 4: up till now. So you know, the victory in court 392 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,880 Speaker 4: felt very good. I think I felt at the time, 393 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 4: again naively, that victory and court would lead to a 394 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 4: change in attitudes. I came to understand as I moved 395 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 4: through those decades, and certainly by the time I started 396 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 4: writing this book maybe in the last five, six, seven years, 397 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 4: that that change in attitude took takes a lot longer, 398 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 4: And in fact, I'd argue that we haven't quite gotten 399 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 4: to where I might have wished we'd gotten, even nearly 400 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 4: fifty years later. 401 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, was there retaliation? 402 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: Were there other reporters or players or managers who knew 403 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: who you were when you came in after the loss. 404 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: It was one and after you were allowed and okay 405 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: to be in there, that you felt took it out 406 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: on you that you had changed things. 407 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 4: No, I don't feel like I was retaliated against. I 408 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 4: really don't. But I will say that a very dear 409 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 4: friend of mine, in fact, the only woman reporter who's 410 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 4: in the Hall of Fame in the Writer's Wing, Claire Smith, 411 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 4: was still dealing with sort of the residue of my 412 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 4: lawsuit and the action I'd taken, and it had been resolved, 413 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 4: we thought in seventy eight. She's still in nineteen eighty four, 414 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 4: was basically lifted up by two players Padres, lifted out 415 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 4: of the locker room, put in the hallway with manager, 416 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 4: the manager saying we don't want you in here, we 417 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 4: don't like you in here. And so you know, that 418 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 4: was still happening, and you know, in some ways buoy 419 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 4: Kyun was a man of his word, because it took 420 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 4: that incident in Chicago during the National League playoffs for 421 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,880 Speaker 4: the brand new commissioner Peter Uberroth to issue finally a 422 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 4: statement that said we're no longer saying it would be 423 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,600 Speaker 4: nice if you would treat all reporters the same while 424 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 4: they're there, we're saying that you will treat It's a mandate. 425 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 4: So it took Qune leaving. It might have taken that 426 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 4: incident that Claire had to go through that evening for 427 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 4: Peter Ruberroth and Baseball to make the official change in 428 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 4: its policy. But again we see through the decades indications 429 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 4: that attitudes still we're lagging. 430 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 2: Sort of like Title nine. 431 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: The law can exist, but the enforcement of it is 432 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,399 Speaker 1: the thing that matters most. 433 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:07,959 Speaker 2: So women can be allowed. 434 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: But over the decades, what you see so often is 435 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: that there are so many women repeating the stories about 436 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,160 Speaker 1: not feeling fully welcome, being treated poorly, being treated differently, 437 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: even if technically they are allowed. 438 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 4: But I think you're absolutely right, Sarah. I sometimes think 439 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 4: back to the history of the Brown versus Board of Education, 440 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 4: in which was a nine nothing decision in the Supreme 441 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 4: Court in nineteen fifty four, and yet in the early 442 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 4: sixties you still found school systems throughout the South and 443 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 4: in other places who refuse to adhere to it, and 444 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,719 Speaker 4: they set up separate academies so they didn't have to 445 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,640 Speaker 4: adhere to it. So these things, despite an order, despite 446 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 4: a landmark ruling, take a lot more than that. They 447 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 4: take the pressure of influential people, moving people out of 448 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 4: habits into a different place in their thinking, and. 449 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:05,440 Speaker 2: The fight sort of continues. 450 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: Every time we rest believing that something has been settled, 451 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: we run the risk of finding out later it hasn't, 452 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,479 Speaker 1: as obviously Dobbs showed us, and as an effort to 453 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: turn back the time on some other things as as well. 454 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that women still have to go in 455 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,959 Speaker 1: and sometimes fight these fights on a smaller scale than 456 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: an actual lawsuit, which was your battle, you do recognize 457 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: the impact that you had on other women in the 458 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: space and other women joining the space in the years 459 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: that followed as a result of what you did. When 460 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: you're writing this book now and you look back, how 461 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: much pride do you feel in understanding the impact that 462 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: you had and putting your name on that lawsuit and 463 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 1: being the first. 464 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 4: Well, you're not seeing me right now, but I am smiling. 465 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 4: There was a lot of reflection that went into writing 466 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 4: this book on my part, and I think it's fair 467 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:52,640 Speaker 4: to say that one of the things that I might 468 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 4: have felt even more as I set out to write 469 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,360 Speaker 4: this story and till it was a sense of accomplishment 470 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 4: and Joy. I write in the book that I thought back, 471 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 4: as I was going through my early years to the 472 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 4: words that Shirley Chisholm, who had been the first black 473 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 4: woman to have a seat in Congress. She was my 474 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 4: commencement speaker in nineteen seventy three, and at our commencement 475 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 4: she made a point of talking about her own activism. 476 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 4: She had run for president the year before, so she 477 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,479 Speaker 4: was very well known as an activist for civil rights 478 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 4: and also women's rights. She urged us, as highly educated 479 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 4: women to find our place in what she called the 480 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 4: social movements of our time. I had not done that. 481 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 4: I had gone into sports media. They were eighteen nineteen 482 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 4: hour days for me because of my time at the 483 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 4: ballpark every night. I hadn't carved out a space to 484 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 4: really become the participatory, act activist in either of those movements, 485 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 4: although my heart was certainly with them. But I looked 486 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 4: back and I realized that by moving into this space, 487 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 4: into this visible space, and winning this lawsuit, which is 488 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 4: memorable and did have a lasting impact, that somehow I 489 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 4: did finally manage to sort of live up to what 490 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 4: she had asked me to do as a sort of 491 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 4: soldier in her campaign and I so admire her that 492 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 4: there did come a point in writing this book, and 493 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 4: I think I actually say it in the book that 494 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 4: I did feel as though I lived up to Shirley's 495 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 4: words and I love that good. 496 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's wonderful. 497 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: Run out of time here, but I want to ask you, 498 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: you know, understanding the fight that you put up for 499 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: access in locker rooms, how do you feel about the 500 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: potential change in the way pro sports operate taking interviews 501 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: outside of that space like they do in that WNBA, 502 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: like the NFLPA working toward most professional women's sports now 503 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: don't offer up access in the PWHL, in the NWSL, 504 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: the interviews are done outside the locker room. Do you 505 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: feel like that's something that can be done in other 506 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: professional spaces, assuming that there is still control over deadlines 507 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: and time and whether athletes have to participate, as long 508 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 1: as it's done in a different space. 509 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 4: The short answer is yes, And in terms of my 510 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 4: own situation and how it relates to what's happening today, 511 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 4: we were always fighting not for access to the locker room, 512 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 4: but for equal access to the athletes. Had Baseball decided 513 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 4: at that time to move the interviews outside of the 514 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 4: clubhouse and provide the same access to men and women. 515 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 4: The order that my judge ruled in my case, that 516 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 4: would have solved their problem. But at the time, and 517 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 4: we found this out in our discovery process, the men 518 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 4: who were covering baseball were communicating with the commissioner's office 519 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 4: and sort of warning him, however, you take care of 520 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 4: this lucky situation. Do not take away our access, do not. 521 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 4: And so, in fact, I think that baseball and other 522 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 4: sports in the seventies were almost singularly relying on newspaper 523 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 4: coverage to drive people to those stadiums. That is very 524 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 4: different now, as we know, and so we're in a 525 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 4: very different media environment. We're in a very different ecosystem. 526 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 4: The players are on Instagram, they send out their stories, 527 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 4: they're even players channels that they can send out their 528 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:59,959 Speaker 4: information on. They are no longer dependent on newspapers in particular, 529 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 4: who needed that kind of access to write the kind 530 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 4: of in depth stories that they wanted to write, carrying 531 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 4: the emotion and the rest that we now might get 532 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:16,479 Speaker 4: mainly through TV into people's living rooms the next morning. 533 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 4: It was sort of a direct way to convey what 534 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 4: TV largely conveys. Do I feel that there's still a 535 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 4: reason for players, I mean for people to want to 536 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 4: be in a clubhouse. I do because with a team 537 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 4: sport as large as a team is in baseball or football, 538 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 4: unlike basketball, by the way, you have, I believe a 539 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 4: need for that communicator to be able to see and 540 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 4: hear the dynamics that are going on between the team members. 541 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 4: There is nothing that can be conveyed on a conference 542 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 4: table with three microphones in a conference room that will 543 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 4: give you the kind of paragraphs that Roger Kahn wrote 544 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 4: at the end of the nineteen fifty five World Series, 545 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 4: when the Brooklyn Dodgers came into that locker room and 546 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 4: sat there, I would urge people to go back and 547 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 4: read the Voice of Summer. It's a fabulous It takes 548 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 4: you in there, you understand the feelings you see in 549 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 4: their actions. That's what a writer can do. If you're 550 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,239 Speaker 4: doing mainly radio TV and you're putting it out on 551 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 4: social media as a press conference, of course you can 552 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 4: do that the way they're doing it now. But I 553 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 4: think I've given you a sense of where I come 554 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 4: down on this. But as it relates to my case, 555 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 4: we never pretended it was never an issue of us 556 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 4: saying we're going to federal court so that I can 557 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 4: be in the locker room. That was never it. That's 558 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 4: how the stories conveyed it because the male writers did 559 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 4: not want to treat it as an equal rights case. 560 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 4: They wanted to treat it as a woman invading a 561 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 4: man's space, etc. So that's why people have a misinterpretation 562 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 4: in many ways that I was fighting to get inside 563 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 4: of locker room so as fighting for equal access. So 564 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 4: you know, who am I to say that elite can't 565 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 4: provide equal access in the way they want to their athletes. 566 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 4: You know, it's a tough question. 567 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: You bring up some interesting points, though, and we're going 568 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 1: to keep having this conversation on the show, because there 569 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: are elements of immediacy. There are elements of elusiveness from 570 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: athletes if they know that they can evade the media 571 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: by just waiting long enough before coming out, and then 572 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: they'll skip deadlines and other things. And then the personal 573 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: connection and the relationships that you can create in a 574 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: locker room that aren't done with simple scrums. There's so 575 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: many elements to this. But your perspective is fascinating and 576 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,840 Speaker 1: the book is fascinating. Locker room talk a woman struggle 577 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: to get inside. There is so much to be learned 578 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: by hearing stories from people like Melissa Ludkey and how 579 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: things were decades ago. A specially when we see how 580 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: things have not changed, it reminds us that the fight 581 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,200 Speaker 1: remains in so many ways, but also how far we've 582 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: come in some ways. So Melissa, thank you so much 583 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: for the time, and thank you for writing the book, 584 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: and thank you for being part of the reason that 585 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: I've been able to be in locker rooms and do 586 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 1: the job that I do. 587 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:17,920 Speaker 4: Sarah, what a pleasure it is to be with you. 588 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,520 Speaker 4: Thanks so much for thinking of me. 589 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: Thanks again to Melissa for joining us. We have to 590 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,399 Speaker 1: take another break when we come back, step back, bro, 591 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,760 Speaker 1: Welcome back, my little slices. We love that you're listening, 592 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 1: but we always want you to get in the game 593 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:41,640 Speaker 1: every day too. So here's our good gameplay of the day. 594 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: Duh winner take all Game five tonight, Baby, who's going 595 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: to meet the Liberty in the finals? 596 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 2: The Sun or the Links? 597 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: You got to watch eight pm Eastern ESPN two and 598 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: we always love to hear from you, so hit us 599 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: up on email. Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com. Or 600 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:58,399 Speaker 1: leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh 601 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:02,400 Speaker 1: four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe, Rate and review. 602 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: It's so easy. Watch people who step closer to you 603 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,400 Speaker 1: when you step away from them. Rating zero out of 604 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: five review How are you not even remotely self aware? 605 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 1: I took a step back because you're talking too close. 606 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: I can literally smell what you had for lunch, and 607 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: I can see the leftovers in your teeth. Get the hint, bro, 608 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,280 Speaker 1: And if I keep stepping back and you keep stepping 609 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,360 Speaker 1: toward me, we're literally going to fight spatial awareness. 610 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:29,920 Speaker 2: Motherfucker. 611 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,439 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, See you tomorrow. Good Game, Melissa, Good Game, 612 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: Billy Jean King again and forever few people who think 613 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:40,360 Speaker 1: women are trying to pick up a man in the 614 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: locker room. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart 615 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. 616 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,320 Speaker 1: You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 617 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, 618 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive 619 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett Jesse Katz. It's Jenny Kaplan and 620 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace 621 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:06,120 Speaker 1: Lynch and Lindsay Cradwell. 622 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 2: Production assistant from Lucy 623 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 1: Jones and I'm Your Host Santa Spain,