Maria Pepe

Maria Pepe (born 1960) was one of the first girls to play Little League Baseball after Little League officially banned girls from participating in 1951.

In 1972, at age 12, she pitched three Little League games for the Young Democrats team in Hoboken, New Jersey. This was the same team which her friends from the neighborhood had joined, so she joined as well, after having been invited to play by Little League coach Jim Farina. Pepe was asked to leave the team after the Little League "threatened to revoke Hoboken's charter."

A court case began on Pepe's behalf, which was supported by NOW. Ultimately, in 1974, the New Jersey Superior Court decided that Little League Baseball must allow girls to play.

Recognition

The New York Yankees made Pepe an honorary "Yankee for a day".

In October 2018, Pepe's hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey, included her in a mural also honoring Dorothea Lange and Dorothy McNeil, who were also born there.

In 2024, she was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence.

The Maria Pepe Little League Baseball Legacy Series was played for the first time in 2024.