Women's pro baseball league unveils team nicknames and logos ahead of inaugural season

Kelsie Whitmore, the star pitcher who was the first overall pick in the WPBL's inaugural draft, will play for the San Francisco Firebells. Mo'ne Davis, the history-making former Little League sensation, will play center field for the Los Angeles Queens, along with veteran Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.

There's also the New York Heights and the Boston Hunters.

The WPBL's debut season begins on Aug. 1 in Springfield, Illinois — games will be played at Robin Roberts Stadium — and will run through the second half of September, including a regular season and playoffs.

“This is just every little girl’s dream to play professional baseball,” Whitmore told The Associated Press at a scrimmage in March, “and now for us to actually be with each other — there’s so much freedom and peace within it.”

Now, the league that has been years in the making is set, hoping to create a space for women's baseball players similar to the one the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League did 70 years ago.

That starts with the team identities and names, each of which holds a unique meaning.

— The New York Heights were inspired by Dorothy Irene Height, a pioneering civil rights and women’s rights leader from New York. Their logo includes graphic lines surrounding a baseball, mimicking the speed of a fastball and resembling the New York skyline.

— The San Francisco Firebells were inspired by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, known as “Firebelle,” who was a champion of San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters. Their logo fuses a bell with a phoenix.

— The Los Angeles Queens were created after Lizzie Murphy, as baseball pioneer known as the “Queen of the Diamond." The logo is a capital Q topped with four baseball diamonds.

—The Boston Hunters are inspired by Harriot K. Hunt, a pioneering Boston physician and women’s rights activist. Their logo is an osprey, clasping a baseball bat in its talons.

AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports