{"id":80622,"date":"2019-06-13T11:04:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=80622"},"modified":"2019-06-13T11:04:40","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:04:40","slug":"for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"For pro softball players, it&#8217;s not about the paycheck: it&#8217;s the competition, camaraderie and love for the game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Karleigh Stone<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Professional softball players make only a fraction of what major league baseball players do. The highest paid National Pro Fastpitch players cap out at around $20,000 per year, a mere four percent of the lowest-paid MLB player&#8217;s salary.<\/p>\n<p>Though it&#8217;s a professional sport, the women playing can&#8217;t make a living from their paychecks. To pay their bills, many take on additional jobs \u2014 still in the softball sphere \u2014 like running camps and private lessons or as graduate assistants in college programs.<\/p>\n<p>The instinct to compete, the camaraderie among teammates and a lifelong love for softball keep these women coming back season after season, despite the discrepancies in opportunity and pay.<\/p>\n<p>In this video, we hear what the game means to some its top players.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"For pro softball players, it&#039;s not about the paycheck: it&#039;s the competition, camaraderie and love for the game\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/341935381?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u200b<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Short-stop DJ Sanders brings in two with a base hit to center. (Karleigh Stone\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Karleigh Stone Medill Reports Professional softball players make only a fraction of what major league baseball players do. The highest paid National Pro Fastpitch players cap out at around $20,000 per year, a mere four percent of the lowest-paid MLB player&#8217;s salary. Though it&#8217;s a professional sport, the women playing can&#8217;t make a living [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":583,"featured_media":80624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4741],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>For pro softball players, it&#039;s not about the paycheck: it&#039;s the competition, camaraderie and love for the game - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For pro softball players, it&#039;s not about the paycheck: it&#039;s the competition, camaraderie and love for the game - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Karleigh Stone Medill Reports Professional softball players make only a fraction of what major league baseball players do. The highest paid National Pro Fastpitch players cap out at around $20,000 per year, a mere four percent of the lowest-paid MLB player&#8217;s salary. Though it&#8217;s a professional sport, the women playing can&#8217;t make a living [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-13T16:04:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/DJ-Sanders-Bandits.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"karleighstone2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"karleighstone2019\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/for-pro-softball-players-its-not-about-the-paycheck-its-the-competition-camaraderie-and-love-for-the-game\/\",\"name\":\"For pro softball players, it's not about the paycheck: it's the competition, camaraderie and love for the game - 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