Ila Borders

Just out of college, Borders reached her goal of playing professional baseball. In 1997 the St. Paul Saints invited the 22-year-old player to try out. Her 80-mile-per-hour fastball fell short of the league's average by five or six miles-per-hour, but the Saints took a chance, making Borders the first woman pitcher to sign with a men's minor league team. In her rookie year she participated in only seven games for the Saints, and was brought in mainly as a relief pitcher. As a lefty, she was occasionally called in as a foil for left-handed batters. She ended her first season with a 7.5 earned-run average (ERA) and a 0-0 record. "If I'm out to prove anything to the world, it's not that a female can do it, but that I can do it—me," she told Oakes. "I'm not out her to educate anybody; I'm out here because I love the game and want to get ahead."

On June 25, 1997, the Saints traded Borders to the Duluth-Superior Dukes. In her first year, the Dukes called her in for only 13 games. Her ERA rose to 8.53, and many sports critics thought the Dukes would not keep her. "There were pitchers with worse statistics," Borders told Neal Karlen of the New York Times. "I wasn't embarrassed."

During the 1998 season Borders would make some strides. On July 9 she was brought in for the first time as the starting pitcher. On July 24 she became the first female pitcher to win a men's minor league game. While she had drawn fans all along, the size of these crowds began to increase, as did the media parade that followed her. Among those running stories on Borders were the New York Times and Newsweek magazine, while television's 60 Minutes and the Tonight show clamored for interviews. The buzz about Borders was mostly positive, but there were exceptions. Some baseball managers questioned whether the female player had been chosen for her pitching ability or as a crowd-drawing novelty. Yet Borders used such critiques as provocation to improve. By August of 1998 she had lowered her ERA to 4.88.

After starting the 1999 season with Duluth, Borders was traded to the Madison Black Wolf on June 10. On June 17 she pitched her second winning game in the minor leagues. She would finish the year with her best professional performance yet, with a season record of 1-0 and an ERA of 3.64. Yet the following season was not as successful for Borders. Traded to the Western League's Zion Pioneerzz, she appeared in only five games, and her ERA climbed to 9.35. In her final game, against the Feather River Mudcats, she gave up five hits and three runs. After the game, she told Mike Little-wood, the Pioneerzz's manager, that she would call it quits. "She said she thought she had her best stuff and still got hit hard," Littlewood told the Associated Press as reported on the Baseball Glory Web site. "She said she wanted to go in another direction."

On June 30, 2000, 26-year-old Borders announced her retirement from professional baseball. After she retired in the summer of 2000, Borders returned to her native California. She told the press that she would pursue a career in broadcasting, teaching, or coaching. After widespread media coverage of her retirement at age 26, Borders disappeared from the press spotlight. Her jersey, mitt, and baseball from her first minor league baseball game remain on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Although she had dreamed of pitching in the major leagues, she was able to appreciate how far she had come. "I'll look back and say I did something nobody ever did," she told the Seattle Times. "I'm proud of that. I wasn't out to prove women's rights or anything. I love baseball."