ABSTRACT
Baseball is integrally linked to the cultural identity of the United States. The battle over baseball, symbolic of American culture more broadly, was contested fiercely in the courts and the courtroom of public opinion. Baseball is as American as mom and apple pie, and both mom and the pie have been sent to the back burner during a pennant race. Baseball’s cultural significance arises in part because it reflects aspects of America’s image. Little League Baseball claimed that coed baseball would threaten the bodily privacy of the girls; for example, if a girl were injured, her presumably male coach would have to give first aid and hence perhaps touch her. The struggle to get girls into baseball was hotly contested in numerous jurisdictions because Americans felt passionately about their national pastime. Baseball spawned more lawsuits in America about whether or not girls could play the game than any other sport.
