Baseball: Borders retires after three pro seasons

Tony Altobelli

Ila Borders, the only female player in men’s professional baseball,

has added another to her long list of firsts.

The left-handed pitcher who first made national headlines at Southern

California College (now Vanguard University), became the only female

player ever to retire from professional baseball, calling it quits

Thursday after three-plus professional seasons.

Borders, 26, last played for Utah’s Zion Pioneerzz of the independent

Western Baseball League. In her last outing, Wednesday night, she allowed

five hits and three runs in one-third of an inning against the Feather

River Mudcats.

In five games this season, she allowed 17 hits in 8 2/3 innings, with no

decisions and a 9.35 ERA.

Borders, recruited by then-SCC Coach Charlie Phillips out of Whittier

Christian High, played three years in Costa Mesa, before finishing her

collegiate career at Whittier College.

Phillips said he was sad to hear of Borders’ decision.

“She is one of those types of players where you would have to rip the

uniform off of her to keep her from playing,” Phillips said. “She must

have seen the writing on the wall that it was her time to move on. She

did, however, retire on her own terms and I have nothing but respect for

that.”

Borders, in a 1997 Daily Pilot interview after her first pro season, was

asked about how long she would play.

“As long as I can go,” she said. “There will be a time when I’ll look and

see that I’m not helping my team out anymore. Then it’ll be time to get

out and coach. I just hope that nobody makes that decision for me.”

It was May 29, 1997, when Borders signed her first professional contract

with the St. Paul Saints. Two days later, she pitched against the Sioux

Falls Canaries.

Borders, who could not be reached for comment Friday, became the first

woman to start a men’s professional game July 9, 1998, as a member of the

Duluth-Superior Dukes. Two weeks later, she became the first woman to win

a men’s regular-season professional game, defeating Sioux Falls, 3-1.

Borders’ glove and uniform, as well as a ball from that game, have been

on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Her best season came in 1999 for the Madison Black Wolf of the Northern

League. There, she started 12 games, pitched 31 1/3 innings and posted a

1.67 ERA.

Borders told the Salt Lake Tribune, “I’ll look back and say I did

something nobody ever did. I’m proud of that.”

The trek to professional baseball was helped by Phillips, who gave his

5-foot-5 hurler some valuable lessons.

“Obviously, we saw the potential when we brought her to SCC,” Phillips

said. “We taught her how to pitch inside and to hit her spots. She didn’t

want to throw in at first and was hit pretty hard because of it. But she

learned and got better because of it.”