Award-winning sports journalist, Melissa Ludtke, discussed her groundbreaking career and new book “Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside” with students on Sept. 25 in the Bright Family Screening Room.
Ludtke grew up with a mom who loved baseball, sparking her interest in reporting on the major leagues. She attended Wellesley College as an art history major and had no previous experience as a journalist, let alone reporting on sports, but found opportunities for herself at Sports Illustrated and ABC Sports.
“It was sort of in my DNA at birth, and I just loved it,” Ludtke said. “So I did all the grunt work that you could do to show the editors that if a chance opened up for someone to possibly go in to do the baseball beat, I just wanted them to think of me.”
In 1978, Ludtke made headlines after winning a lawsuit for the right to be allowed in Major League Baseball locker rooms after the game. Ludtke fought for the right to conduct interviews with the players and coaching staff, just like male journalists were allowed to do.
Because of the specifics of the case and the wording of the decision, the ruling only applied to Ludtke and Yankee Stadium. However, a few other women also pursued court cases and got laws overturned as well.
“You had Title IX coming into play, this occurred … six years after Roe v. Wade was allowed,” Ludtke said. “There was change in the air for women, and so this became yet another hallmark of that period.”
This did not stop the MLB commissioner at the time, Bowie Kuhn, from prohibiting Ludtke and the other few female sports journalists from entering the locker rooms.
“He [Kuhn] made virtually no effort to encourage the teams to do so,” Ludtke said. “He wrote a very mealy-mouthed memo saying it would be a good idea based on this court suit if you did do it.”
It wasn’t until a new commissioner, Peter Ueberroth, came in and put out a mandate guaranteeing female journalists equal access to locker rooms. Ludtke explained how slow and gradual these changes were, but also how revolutionary they were for the sports journalism industry.
Ludtke recounts the discrimination she faced being in the minority demographic of the sports journalism industry. She recalls feeling “absolutely naive” because she had no idea her presence in the locker room would be sexually objectifying to her character, according to the male journalists around her.
“I didn’t see it through the sexual lens, the moral lens, the ethical lens, whatever these other ones that suddenly were just poured on top of this as it became a cultural touchstone,” Ludtke said.
Friends of Ludtke, assistant professor of sports communication Lauren Anderson and journalism affiliate faculty member Diane Mermigas, moderated the discussion.
“I just want to say that as somebody who’s read the book, it is one of the most well-researched books I have read,” Mermigas said. “I would highly recommend it for those of you looking for a road map to how to live your professional life and personal life once you get out of here.”
Ludtke gave advice to the journalism and sports communication students in the audience. Her biggest ones were the importance of networking, taking advantage of every opportunity, and having a strong support system.
“My objective was to make possible every opportunity that I thought I should have to have a fair shake at doing a job I love,” Ludtke said. “What they should do is find people who they can talk to, that they can recruit as allies for them, people who they know have their back, people who they can depend on to be there for them.”
Ludtke’s book was published this August and is available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
