In the News: Press Release

San Francisco, CA (August 28, 2024) – Grassroots Baseball, the organization behind the making of See Her Be Her, a documentary on women’s baseball around the globe, today announced that the legendary Billie Jean King has joined the team as an Executive Producer.

King, widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all-time with an astonishing 39 Grand Slam titles and three World Team Tennis championships, is a longtime champion for women’s sports, social justice and equality.  She is the founder of the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Billie Jean King Foundation and the Women’s Tennis Association and is a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group.  She was the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The film’s director and producer, acclaimed sports photojournalist Jean Fruth, and co-producer and former National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President Jeff Idelson, recently met with King. The goals of the film — to increase visibility and create more opportunities for girls and women to play — immediately resonated with her.

“Jean and Jeff share a longtime commitment and passion for See Her Be Her and the important message it sends,” said King. “Baseball was my first true love, 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 our own.”

See Her Be Her is set to premiere on MLB Network between Games 2 and 3 of the 2024 World Series. In addition, Grassroots Baseball is exploring streaming options to ensure that millions of girls around the world have the chance to see the film and be inspired by its stories.

Fruth added, “We are thrilled that Billie Jean has joined us to promote the story of girls and women in baseball around the world, their fight for inclusion and the opportunity to play the sport they love. Her support, as an advocate for equality in sports, means the world to us. We could not be more grateful and excited to have her serve as executive producer.”

The story follows the lives of seven women baseball stars who are at the pinnacle of their game and represent the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Cuba, and Uganda. In the intense battle for the World Cup Championship, they want victory — for themselves, for their team, for their countries, and for the sheer love of the game — but their greatest triumph is the path they are blazing for future generations of female players.

See Her Be Her shatters a variety of stereotypes, as the seven players — through perseverance and resilience — push the boundaries of what’s possible both on and off the field. The film highlights their resolve to fight for gender equality for all female athletes.

See Her Be Her will have a companion book of the same name that will be available in October and will be the third book in the Grassroots Baseball series, following the success of 2019’s Grassroots Baseball: Where Legends Begin and Grassroots Baseball: Route 66, which came out in 2022. Grassroots Baseball has also developed a dedicated landing page to support the film: www.seeherbeher.com.

About Grassroots Baseball: Grassroots Baseball’s non-profit mission is to promote and celebrate the amateur game around the globe. The overarching goal of Grassroots Baseball is to give back to historically underserved communities through the power of sports.