June 16 is Ladies’ Day
It’s a good thing they changed the logo.
Today is Ladies’ Day, originally devised to attract women to baseball games and convert them into fans. In actuality, it was designed to sell more tickets by getting men to bring their wives and, by extension, their children to games. (While women wouldn’t win the right to cast a ballot for nearly 40 years, we hope they got a vote in this case.)
The New York Gothams’ management held the first Ladies’ Day on Tuesday, June 16, 1883, at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. All women, both escorted and unescorted, were admitted free of charge. This was quite progressive for the time, since unescorted women were considered “loose” or “of ill repute.” The Gothams beat the Cleveland Spiders 5-2 that day. (The team later changed its name to the New York Giants.)
Ladies’ Day proved so popular that it became a weekly tradition for many ball clubs. As more women began to fill the grandstands, baseball games gradually evolved into a more family-oriented affair. Never underestimate the power of marketing to change the world.
Happy Ladies’ Day to one and all!