Catching A Lot Of Attention Girl Ballplayer Gets Cups And Spotlight

Melissa Raglin’s cup runneth over.

With cups. And attention.

The 12-year-old ballplayer, benched by the Boca Youth Baseball League for refusing to wear a boy’s protective cup, started Wednesday planning to back down for the sake of her team’s playoff run.

She ended the day a national celebrity, with television trucks parked on her front lawn and a supply of protective cups designed for girls sent by nationally syndicated talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.

“I don’t know how the celebrities stand it,” Melissa said Wednesday afternoon as she tossed a ball with some of her teammates from the league’s Dodgers team. “I really do want to get this rule changed and all, but I didn’t expect all this.”

The rule, enforced by an umpire last week for the first time since Melissa became the starting catcher for the Dodgers two years ago, requires all catchers to wear a cup.

When Melissa refused, she got benched and banished to the outfield. When she donned a cup on her right ankle as a protest for Tuesday night’s game, she caught one inning before getting pulled.

The national Little League does not require protective cups for female catchers, but the Boca program is sanctioned by the national Babe Ruth League, which makes no exception based on gender.

Melissa and her parents, Patricia and Michael Raglin, said they didn’t want her wearing a cup made for a boy and couldn’t find one designed for a girl. They called a lawyer and the National Organization for Women.

Then people started calling them. “And the phone hasn’t stopped ringing for hours,” Patricia Raglin said Wednesday afternoon.

“CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC - you name it. People want to talk to her or send her cups. It’s a little overwhelming.”

A sports supply store in Deerfield Beach, Play it Again Sports, stayed open late on Wednesday so the Raglins could look over their supply of protective cups for girls and gave the family one.

Rush Limbaugh took up Melissa’s cause during the first hour of his radio show Wednesday, producing a fit perhaps more uncomfortable than a protective cup: the conservative talk-show host siding with the National Organization for Women.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m sure this will be the only issue we ever agree with Rush on,” said Linda Bliden, president of the South Palm Beach County NOW chapter.

Limbaugh was flooded with calls, including one from Century Martial Arts Supply in Oklahoma, which carries protective cups for girls. Limbaugh ordered four (NU)147 cups - two small, two medium - and told the company to make a rush delivery in time for Melissa’s playoff game tonight.

The company made a special request to United Parcel Service to ensure the package arrives before game time.

“These things are obviously not widely available if you’ve got to go to Oklahoma to track them down,” Limbaugh said during his broadcast, adding that if the league doesn’t let Melissa play wearing the martial arts cup “they’ll look silly. They look a little silly now.”

League officials don’t think so.

“I was driving back to the office and I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio talking about ‘the girl in Florida’, and I thought, ‘That can’t be us.’ But it was,” O’Connell said. “Some people are trying to make a big deal out of this, but it really isn’t.”

Nonetheless, league officials tracked down a sports supplier in Dallas that carries protective cups for girls and ordered some.

“We’re all trying to do the best thing for the kids. We want to make sure we comply with the rules, which are there to keep kids safe,” O’Connell said. “Now maybe we can move on and worry about strikes and balls.”