Women's Baseball Team Named for Trailblazing Doctor

Four new teams have been created for the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL), each named after a notable woman in American history. The New York Heights are named after civil rights leader Dorothy Irene Height, while the Los Angeles Queens honor Lizzie Queen of the Diamond, a pioneer in professional baseball. San Francisco's Firebells are a nod to Lillie Hitchcock Coit, known as the Firebelle for her support of volunteer firefighters.

Boston's team, the Hunters, is named after Harriot Kezia Hunt, a trailblazing physician. Hunt was the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School over 179 years ago, despite facing significant opposition. Born in 1805, Hunt was inspired to become a doctor by her sick sister. She began shadowing other clinicians and eventually opened her own practice, becoming one of many women practicing medicine without proper licensing in the 1800s.

Hunt applied to Massachusetts Medical College multiple times, ultimately being provisionally accepted to attend lectures but not receive a degree. Harvard's all-male student body protested her presence, arguing that women's presence in medical lectures would unsex them and compromise their modesty. Despite this, Hunt continued her practice and was later awarded an honorary medical degree from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1853.

Hunt's legacy includes her advocacy for women in medicine, her support for abolitionism, and her belief in treating patients as whole individuals. Her resilience and determination serve as an inspiration for the WPBL team, the Hunters.