At the Margins of the Minors
71
I came out here to meet a nice guy, a player, to date. I don’t
want anybody to think I’m a tramp or anything cause there’s
plenty of them out there . . . They’re not nice girls who want to
go out and have a relationship . . . no, they just try to get the
guys in bed. They don’t care if he’s even married . . . all they
want to do is score with a player. It’s pretty sick, I think.
Conversely, bad girls often openly disdain good girls, as well as the wives and
girlfriends of baseball players. According to bad girl Lisa:
I don’t expect nothing from these guys than sex. I have to be
realistic and I think hanging out with them and fucking is
great, but I, uh, really think that any girl who thinks these guys
can be faithful are just fooling themselves. Some are nice guys
and all, but they all just take whatever they can get and I, uh, I
really don’t think loyalty to any one woman is possible for
them.
Katie typifies good girls, who seek socially accepted relationships with
baseball players, aiming to enter their exclusive lifestyles and gain status
vicariously. Bad girls like Lisa, however, enter into less socially acceptable
relationships, aiming to exploit baseball players sexually, aiming for personal
gratification that comes from the sex act itself, as well as the feelings of power
that accompany the seduction of those with social power.
Home Field Advantage: Baseball9s “Good Girls99
Good girls are typically home team supporters; the players are “their”
guys and they form a strong association to the Coyotes and often the Portland
Sailors, as well. This is not surprising because if a player is “called up,” the
groupie already possesses a ready understanding of what’s happening in the
organization her potential lover/husband would be joining. For example, Audrey
always wears one of her Coyotes shirts to games, but says that she would never
consider wearing a shirt with the Portland Sailors name on it to a game at
Coyote Stadium:
That would be way too presumptuous. I think that would send
a message to the guys that you’re anticipating a move to the
majors. That’s not a good way to get close to these
guys . . . You have to support them and the team right here and
right now. [Emphasis in the original]
All good girls described such loyalty. Roxanne emphasizes its importance to her
experiences:
I was raised to be loyal to a cause or to people that you care
about. My dad always taught us to see things through ’til the
end. If your team’s losing, you don’t give up . . . you stand by