Feb 9, 2008 1:58 pm US/Central
Ballgirl A Star On Cubs Teams Of 1980s
Marla Collins Was The Major League's First Ballgirl
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The Cubs' Marla Collins was the first ballgirl in Major League Baseball history.
CBS
With spring training coming in less than three weeks, here is the story of one of the most popular women in Major League Baseball.
In 1984, the Cubs were red hot, seeing postseason action for the first time in 39 years and coming within a game of making the World Series.
But it was not just the players themselves who were getting fans' attention. It was Marla Collins, the Major Leagues' first ballgirl.
In this report from Sept. 14, 1984, Susan Anderson introduced us to her.
Collins signed on with the Cubs for the 1982 season, and attracted quite a few fans right away. Late Cubs announcer Harry Caray was foremost among them.
"I think she is absolutely sensational," Caray said. "It adds a little spice to the enjoyment of the baseball game, and you can tell from the reaction of the fans how much they love it."
So what exactly did Collins do?
"It sounds funny, but I chase foul balls whenever they're hit behind home plate, and I bring the umpire balls whenever he signals, or anything else he wants, he'll just signal me for," Collins said. "Depending on how many balls are hit, how many fouls, sometimes I can get up and down 10 times with one player."
The Cubs success in the 1984 season became Collins' success. A well-known talent agency sought her out and signed her up.
"At the present time, we are working on licensing and merchandising agreements for Marla, and we just ended up getting into two agreements before the end of this season, which is a shoe endorsement contract and also a button program," said Mark Childers of Talent Network Inc.
CBS 2 asked Caray, who believed baseball was a form of showbiz, if Collins was just window dressing for the Cubs.
"Well, I don't know that she is just window dressing," Caray said. "Of course, it's a job that a man might do, but a man wouldn't do it as well and wouldn't look as good."
As Collins saw it herself: "What I do is very useful to the team, and it's not just for show. I'm not like a cheerleader or a Honeybear or anything like that; I'm the only girl out here, so it's different. So I enjoy it anyway. It's a lot of fun."
When the Cubs were on the road, Collins would switch teams and run a concession stand for the White Sox. Off-season, she studied at Columbia College, earning a living by working conventions and making TV commercials.
Collins' run with the Cubs lasted until July 1986, when the team dismissed her for posing nude in Playboy Magazine. The photos were accompanied by shots of Collins in her Cubs uniform, and with Caray pointing to a tattoo on her thigh, according to published reports.
But in the time since, women have made strides in Major League Baseball far beyond the position of ballgirl.
There are now two women serving as vice presidents of MLB teams – club counsel Elaine Steward of the Boston Red Sox and assistant general manager Kim Ng of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ng also became the first woman to be interviewed for a general manager's position – with the Dodgers in 2005 – and she has been named as a candidate for MLB general manager numerous times.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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