In this activity, student groups role-play as sports marketing firms seeking to pair female baseball players with lucrative product endorsement deals. To “sell” their client to secure an endorsement deal, groups will create multimedia presentations highlighting the accomplishments of their client, and proposing how the athlete might be marketed on baseball cards, cereal boxes, and other products for a mass audience.

Lesson Objectives (Students will…):

• Recognize the achievements of women in baseball during the first half of the 20th century;
• Create marketing campaigns to make the public aware of female baseball players of the 1940s;
• Synthesize information to create an effective persuasive multimedia campaign presentation;
• Develop collaborative strategies and skills by working in groups;

About the Author: 

Michael Hutchison teaches social studies at Lincoln High School in Vincennes, Indiana, and at Vincennes University. Michael has written curriculum for several PBS programs, including The Civil War and Empire of the Air.