Month: March 2019

 

“Shutout! The Battle America Women Wage to Play Baseball” has been selected for screening at the 5th annual Women’s Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA, and the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival in Los Angeles.

The film screened at the WFF on March 16 and will play in Santa Monica at the AFF on Sunday, April 28, at 10:40am at the Laemelle Film Center at 1332 2nd St. Jon will appear with two baseball pioneers in the Q&A: journalist Lisa Nehus Saxon (formerly of the Los Angeles Daily News) and coach Justine Siegal, who is also the executive director of Baseball for All, an organization that provides opportunities for girls to coach, play, and umpire baseball.

Purchase “Shutout” at AFF tickets here:

 

Jon traveled his “Diamond Dames” experience to southern California for a packed house at the Whittwood library in Whittier, CA, on March 21, 2019.

Pioneering umpire Perry Barber reprised her role as special guest, and was joined by another, Dodgers superfan Emma Amaya. Perry and Jon performed “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” again and introduced a special guest, Steve Nagy from Rep. Linda Sanchez’ field office. Rep. Sanchez plays on the congressional baseball team and Steve shared her advocacy for women in baseball.

Jon screened films featuring Perry, Emma, and Maybelle Blair and Shirley Burkovich of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954).

A spirited Q&A session followed the screening, which led to a book signing of Jon’s book “Baseball Pioneers,” as well as a special baseball card signing by Perry and Emma.

 

Jon and special guest Perry Barber celebrated women in the national pastime in style on March 10, 2019, at the San Francisco Public Library. Perry Barber has been umpiring for nearly 40 years and is a true baseball pioneer.

She’s umpired around the world and is a tireless advocate for women to participate in our national pastime. Before strapping on the umpire’s mask, Perry had a successful career as a singer-songwriter in NYC, opening for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Hall & Oates.

Jon called on Perry’s musical background, and the two of them donned acoustic guitars to perform Perry’s stellar arrangement of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for voice and guitar. You can watch their performance here: Jon & Perry perform “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

Jon screened three films from “The Sweet Spot,” featuring stories of fandom and impacting the landscape of baseball in spite of crippling gender discrimination. The post-screening Q&A session with Jon and Perry got lively when Tom O’Doul, Lefty O’Doul’s cousin, asked her to demonstrate how she rings up called third strikes. In an instant, Tom, Perry, and attendee Charles Fracchia, Jr. assumed the position of batter, catcher, and umpire. As the third strike whizzed past Tom, Perry rang him up with a flourish!

Other baseball pioneers in attendance included Rachelle “Rocky” Henley, a member of the inaugural Colorado Silver Bullets Baseball Team (1994) and author/political scientist Jennifer Ring. Rocky (L) is pictured with Jon and Perry in the photo above.

The post-event party was held at the marvelous new baseball-themed restaurant, The Pine Tar Grill, which is festooned in San Francisco Giants artifacts, memorabilia, and equipment.

 

Jon presented a trio of films from “The Sweet Spot” catalog to honor Black History Month on February 10, 2019.

The local audience was treated to a PowerPoint presentation prior to the screening, which provided historical context for the event. It also honored the recent passing of former Bay Area resident Frank Robinson, one of the greatest to play the game, and the first African-American to manage a Major League baseball team.

The films covered stories about one of the last interviews Jackie Robinson gave before his passing in 1972 and a profile in courage of Jim “Mudcat” Grant, the first African-American to win 20 games in the American League.