Washington Nationals baseball game

My husband and I attended a Washington Nationals baseball game a few weeks ago. We had never been to a Nationals game before. We decided to go because it was Nurse’s week and we had received discounted tickets in a premiere seating section. As I waited for my husband to use the rest room, a lady service worker and I started to talk.   When she found out we had never been there before she asked me to wait for her as she ran off excitedly.  She returned with two certificates where she inscribed our names.  The certificate declared that date as a significant, because we came to our first Nationals ballgame. The service workers help patrons find their seats. They also carry a little hand broom and rag to clean them before you sit down. Both men and women hold these positions and most of them are probably over forty years old.

I identified three distinct groups within the baseball stadium.  Firstly, the members of each team and members of their entourages. Secondly, the stadium staff and other support staff.  Thirdly, the fans in the stands. Among the teams I think that gender plays a major role in the Nationals baseball stadium.  All the players are male.  All the “bat-boys” are male.  It also appeared that all the coaches and mascots were male.  I was not surprised by this structure because major league baseball is a male dominated sport. The players wore uniforms and other members of the team, such as coaches and management wore similar colors to identify themselves to a particular group.  The formal rules followed by this group seemed to be in line with the official rules of major league baseball and sportsmanship. I can’t be sure about any unwritten rules among this group because I could not hear them talking amongst themselves.  I only observed them as a fan in the stands.  I did not note any gender differences among the teams’ actions.  This is probably due to the lack of female players. I think that the players are perceived differently due to their status as major league baseball players, which is only possible because they are male. I am sure that behind the scenes there are many women involved with putting on, broadcasting, and providing a variety of services to ensure a successful game.  There didn’t seem to be any explicit rules about male and female roles.

The stadium staff seemed to be made up a mix men and women.  Men and women appeared to be performing similar frontline jobs; such as, food vendors, ticket-takers, and ushers.  However, I noticed one particular job that was being performed only by men. These were the “ambulatory food vendors.” Which would be better described as “peanuts, popcorn and cracker-jack” vendors.  These men had a more physically strenuous job than those who vended from stationary food stands. I don’t think that the “ambulatory food vendors” jobs are required to be filled by men. The men I observed tended to be older black men.  However, it seems that the physical requirements have “weeded-out” many female job seekers.  Lorber states that one way to choose people for different tasks is on the basis of motivations and talents along with their competence and achievements demonstrated.

The fans in the stands were a diverse group of males and females from a variety of racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.  We were sitting in a special section that had been reserved for nurses.  Our section was heavily dominated by women.  There didn’t seem to be any formal rules regarding male and female behavior.  However, it seemed that men tended to be paying more attention to the game and cheering at appropriate times.  Whereas, the women seemed to be visiting amongst each other and transporting food to others in their groups and/or children.  Like any public space there were designated restrooms for men, women or families.  Men, women and children wore team baseball shirts and baseball caps.  It seemed that when a foul ball was hit into the stands that it was caught by a male fan.  Another interesting observation was that there were several gay women sitting directly in front of us.  Baumgardner states that women feel more freedom in same sex relationships now because second wave feminism.  They were dressed more masculine than the other women in our section. They had short hair, tattoos, and had their wallets in their back pockets.  They did not carry purses like many of the women around them. They seemed to be friends with one another, not coupled.  They were not behaving in any overtly sexual way or “advertising” their sexual orientation.  They seemed to be enjoying themselves and visiting with co-workers.  They were probably nurses as well.

Overall, the game was enjoyable and the Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs.

References:

Baumgardner, Jennifer. What is Bisexuality? Ed. Susan M Shaw and Janet Lee . 5th. Vols. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. New York: McGraw Hill, 1994. Book.

 Lorber, Judith. The Social Construction of Gender. Ed. Susan M Shaw and Janet Lee . 5th. Vols. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. New York: McGraw Hill, 1994. Book.