DANDI DALEY MACKALL - The Inside Scoop

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

I'm so excited that I had to email you guys right away! Better start at the beginning, way back when I was a 10-year-old tomboy playing baseball with the boys in Hamilton, Missouri. Then came the dreaded day when I met them on the field and was told I couldn't play because from then on it was going to be "boys only." So not fair! About the same time, I read in the Kansas City Star about an essay contest put on by the Kansas City A's (now the Kansas City Royals). All you had to do was to write in 50 words or less why you wanted to be batboy for the K.C. A's, and the winner got to be batboy! I wrote my essay, only to discover that the fine print on the entry form said: "For Boys Only." Again, unfair! But since my name used to be "Dandi Daley," and since my dad often called me "Dan" for short, especially when we played catch, I signed my form "Dan Daley" and mailed it in. I won. But when the contest officials discovered I was a girl, they wouldn't let me be batboy.

There's a lot more to the story, a story I've told in over 100 school visits across the U.S. And now there's a new ending to this story. While on a book tour with Sleeping Bear Press, I told my batgirl story. My publisher suggested I write up that tale, and A GIRL NAMED DAN comes out the end of this month. I've included information about Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a 37-word law that changed the playing field and gave girls like me a fair chance.

But there's still more to the story. Sleeping Bear Press sent an early stage of the book to the Kansas City Royals, and the team has invited me to Kansas City to be honorary batboy! On April 23, I'll be on the Royals' field when the Royals play the Cleveland Indians in Kansas City. We're not sure how much I'll actually get to do there yet, but look for me and for daughter Katy in the Buck O'Neill Legacy seats behind home plate, and on the field before the game. (I'll be the slightly older batboy.) Talk about waiting to see a dream come true!

Blessings, Dandi
Dandi Daley Mackall

Knowing me, I doubt I'll get this little newsletter out more than a few times a year. But if you'd like to be removed from this list, please reply with "remove" in the subject line. After I finish crying, I'll take you off the list.