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Book excerpt: Dodgers’ support once prompted MLB to ban female reporters in clubhouse

Oct. 22, 2024 7:38 AM PT

Former Sports Illustrated journalist Melissa Ludtke shares behind-the-scenes stories of her fight for gender equity in her new memoir “Locker Room Talk.” The Dodgers’ support in 1977 triggered a backlash from the MLB commissioner and paved the way for her ground-breaking lawsuit to secure equal clubhouse access for male and female reporters. The following is an excerpt from her book.

In the fifth inning of the first game of the 1977 World Series, Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn deputized his second-in-command to tell me the press pass giving me access to the teams’ locker rooms was useless.