Billie Jean King wants to help carve 'pathway' for MLB's first female player

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misspelled Ayami Sato's name.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King, a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers who helped launch the Professional Women’s Hockey League, is now joining Grassroots Baseball.

Grassroots Baseball is announcing Monday that King is an executive producer for “See Her Be Her," a documentary on women’s baseball around the globe.

King, who played catch with her dad and baseball with her brother, Randy Moffitt – who pitched 12 years in the major leagues – gave up her dream of being a professional baseball player when she attended a Pacific Coast League game between the Los Angeles Angels and Hollywood Stars.

“The thrill of being at the ballpark quickly wore off when it dawned on me that all the players down on the field were men," King said in a foreword to the book, “See Her Be Her,’’ that will be released in early October. “There I was, a girl who was good at sports, realizing that because I was female, I could not grow up to be a baseball player.

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“It crushed me."

Baseball’s loss was tennis’ gain, with King winning 39 Grand Slam titles – 12 in singles and 27 in doubles. She was the first female athlete to be awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Now, joining sports photojournalist Jean Fruth and former National Baseball Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson as producers for the film, she is hoping to increase the visibility of girls and women playing baseball around the world, creating opportunities to breaking through another barrier one day.

“Any time you can be 'the first' is a major accomplishment, you just never want to be the last," King said in an e-mail to USA TODAY Sports. "If we can create a role for one woman, we can create a place for more women. It’s so important we provide an opportunity and a pathway for every young girl to have the dream they can be a professional baseball player, or have a professional career in Major League Baseball."

The film, which will premiere on the MLB Network during the World Series – with the book scheduled to be released a few weeks earlier – will provide some hope for females who want to play professional baseball. It will feature the stories of seven different women including Lillian Nayiga, a catcher and shortstop in Uganda, along with Ayami Sato, regarded in Japan as the world’s best female pitcher.

“Baseball was my first true love," said King, “but I never got the chance to play because I was a girl. It is my hope that “See Her Be Her’’ will encourage girls and women to pursue their dreams no matter what others say is possible, and that one day soon women once again have a league of their own."

Besides, with women having success in other sports, including the physical game of hockey, why not baseball?

“The success of the PWHL, the strengthening of the NWSL and the reemergence of the WNBA are good indicators that with the right approach,’’ King told USA TODAY Sports, “we could see a sustainable women’s professional baseball league someday. Women’s sports is finally being seen as a quality investment, and not a charitable cause.

“We are moving in the right direction, but we are not done yet.”

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