Design Observer Editor Draws Inclusion Lessons From Ban Johnson's American League and Wesleyan Fraternities

In her newsletter The Observatory, Ellen McGirt, editor-in-chief of Design Observer, posits that inclusion serves as a design limitation, drawing parallels with baseball's past and a recent policy shift at Wesleyan University. By 1900, baseball was grappling with violence and dwindling attendance. In response, Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson established the American League in 1901, instituting a ban on alcohol, expelling violent players, and enhancing umpiring and player conditions, which attracted new sponsors like Coca-Cola. By the early 1940s, Helen Dettweiler became the first woman to broadcast a major league game, hired by General Mills. Historian James Walker mentions that Ford acquired World Series rights for $100,000 after a period without sponsors. McGirt connects this to Jackie Robinson's 1947 debut and Wesleyan's policy mandating the inclusion of women in all-male fraternities, leading to a decrease in sexual assaults. She concludes, "life is better when everyone is included, considered, and safe."