[The Bronx, September 9. Image via Getty]

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 09: A fan holds a sign during the New York Yankees game against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 9, 2009 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. Derek Jeter got his 2,721st base hit, tying Lou Gehrig's all-time club record. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

[Paris, June 10. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[Queens, May 27. Image via AP]

According to the LA Daily News, the game broadcasts are designed to involve women in baseball. Part of the team's Women's Initiatives Network, they involve a play-by-play by Fox Sports pre-game host Jeanne Zelasko, who, says the team's EO, "as a mother (will) be able to bring a unique perspective to our WIN broadcasts and help spread her love of baseball to fans around the world."

And how does a mother's broadcast differ, from, say, a father's? Well, (longtime Fox pre-game commentator and respected analyst, but more importantly, MOM!) Zelasko explains, it will be "more instructive" than the typical broadcast, which assumes a level of understanding. Says she, "I like to look at our broadcast as we're not afraid to explain something most people might take for granted," adding, "we're not going to talk down to people." She and her co-host, Dodger assistant coach Mark Sweeney, will also take email questions and keep a Twitter of the game (although one hopes there's some underling to help out with that level of multitask.)

We are very glad to see anything happening that gets more people into the awesome that is baseball. We are glad to see women announcers. We are glad to see competent announcers, period. We are happy to know that some broadcasts will help include those who might find the (sorry) inside-baseball nature of commenting impenetrable. And it's nice that the Dodgers want to reach out to women.

And: thank you.

We're really glad the Dodgers understand that, as women, we feel uncomfortable learning anything that's not coming from a Mom's perspective. In college, whenever a professor tried to teach us Heidegger or Calculus, we found it necessary to ascertain her Mom credentials before we could comprehend anything. Last time I was in traffic court, I know I stared blankly at the judge and said, "excuse me, I'm really going to need a mom to explain that to me." I mean, if a mom's not available, I guess we'll settle for any woman - as long as they explain things really slowly. And, obviously, Twitter. Says Zelasko, "Sometimes as broadcasters we almost lose touch with the people that are actually out there watching and listening to the game...I'll have an ear to the ground, just being a mom and being out there."

*(This would not have happened in Brooklyn!)

Dodgers To Begin Female Broadcasts Tonight [LA Daily News]

[Los Angeles, May 4. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[New York, May 3. Image via Flynet]

[Flushing, New York. Image via AP]

A fan watches as a cat runs on the field during the New York Mets home opener baseball game against the San Diego Padres at the team's new stadium, Citi Field, in New York, Monday, April 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

[New York, September 15. Image via Flynet]

[New York, September 9. Image via INF]

"I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex...I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball."

1. It's About Family I know of no other professional sport that brings people together quite like baseball. At the stadium, strangers become friends, the seats are filled with families, and, unlike, say, a football, basketball or hockey game, conversation is not only possible but encouraged. The same is true for the men on the field; it is rare to hear trash-talking, grunting, or yelling; in baseball we meet men who are asked to keep their mouths shut in the service of the greater good — those who don't comply are often thrown out of the game — but smiles and playful slaps abound. The game's demands of loyalty and teamwork creates (or, perhaps, attracts) men who appreciate the beauty of routine and the rewards of commitment, qualities many a woman can appreciate. (Certainly, the rise of free agency has changed the nature of loyalty in the game, but let's forget the Johnny Damons for a second and concentrate on the Cal Ripken Jrs. instead.) As a onetime single girl with many like-minded friends, I can confidently say that baseball players have kept us warm on many a lonely, unaccompanied spring and summer evening.

2. There's Method Behind The "Monotony" Many women tell me they don't understand the appeal of baseball because it's "slow", or "boring", that "nothing happens", that it "takes too long". They "get" how the game is played — understand that three strikes equal an out, that the way to home is via the basepaths — but they don't appreciate that that the devil is the details, that entire athletic operas are being performed through glances exchanged and glances avoided, seemingly neurotic adjustments in gear, in balls dropped and misthrown. What a woman will see upon careful examination of the game is that what at first seemed arbitrary is in fact, well-orchestrated: a foul ball is not an insignificant annoyance, but an expression of the battle raging between a pitcher and his prey; the left-fielder who once looked to be pacing in boredom in the outfield is not only keeping his blood pumping in the chilly October air but positioning himself to discourage the base-runner on third who is angling for home. For longtime baseball fans, this may sound naive — of course the little dramas are what the game is about — but for someone coming to the game as a virgin, such secondary plots are far from obvious. "Getting" the game of baseball requires the same sort of diligence and patience demanded of the players themselves, and, if a girl's lucky, a particularly poetic baseball announcer or fellow fan will help her to "get" it. (Even though I consider myself a longtime fan, I still prefer watch games on television, or at least take my radio and headphones along with me to the ballpark so that I can hear the announcers describe the action.) The game of baseball is not unlike a lifelong, well-worn, comfortable love affair: After a time, you know what to expect, but you can never predict what will happen. You also learn how to forgive. (In case anyone's wondering, I'm a Mets woman.)

3. It's Full Of Sex Appeal I know I'll get excoriated for this — particularly my use of the image of a Derek Jeter fan at left — but the fact of the matter is, for many women, the sex appeal of baseball players is what brings them to the majors. (Bull Durham's Annie Savoy may have said that what's great about baseball is that "If you know where home plate is, then you know where everything else in the universe is", but she was certainly no stranger to the more carnal qualities of the game.) There are few other sports — professionally played and regularly broadcast over the televisions in America, that is — in which the male physique is so plainly on display. The lack of padding and face-obscuring helmets means that female fans get a clear view of players' faces, forearms, and yes, form-fitting pants. But the erotic appeal of baseball goes far beyond ripe rear ends, phallus-shaped sports equipment and grammar-school metaphors in which basepaths double as sexual signposts: Through close attention to the game, women begin to appreciate a masculinity defined not by muscles or money but by hard work and humility. Baseball players are men, after all, who sublimate the more primitive characteristics encouraged in other sports — aggression, rage, dominance — in favor of something approaching grace, whether that be the lift of a soaring, well-hit, left-field single or the determination of a batter who fouls off one nasty slider after another. Certainly, there will always be guys — both in the game and at the corner bar — who behave badly, disappoint, and, for lack of a better phrase, drop the ball. But I do believe that in a cultural and political climate currently awash in exhibitionism, arrogance and chest-thumping, there's nothing sexier than a guy who keeps his head down, shuts up, and plays well with others.

[Images via Getty]

[LAX, September 25. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[London, June 18. Image via FilmMagic]