by SARAH J. NACHIN

Tina A. Nichols, a former baseball player, recently published her debut book, Diamond Girls: Women’s Baseball – 550 Trivia Questions, Stories, Bios, Photos, and More. Nichols knows the sport intimately – from her days as a young girl playing Little League in Key West to her time as a member of the 1998 Ladies Professional Baseball League (LPBL) team, the Legends; and the 2000 USA Women’s National Baseball Team. She was ahead of her time as the first female to play and pitch in the South Florida Men’s Amateur Baseball League (MABL).

There’s something sacred about the sound of a baseball hitting the sweet spot of a bat. It’s a sound that belongs to everyone. But for far too long, it echoed mostly through stories of men. Diamond Girls changes that. With every question, name, and page, this book shouts what so many women have spent generations whispering: We’ve always been here, and we’ve always belonged.

As a ballplayer, trailblazer, and survivor, Nichols has given the reader more than a book. She’s created a time capsule, a tribute, and a challenge. Diamond Girls isn’t just a trivia book. It’s a map tracing the evolution of women in baseball, from the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and girls from small-town sandlots to the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL). These women didn’t just play the game. They redefined it. Diamond Girls is a love letter to those women, who dared to believe they belonged in baseball before the world ever did.

This book is about “America’s favorite pastime,” but from the female point of view. Every question is a breadcrumb that leads back to courage. Every answer is a name that refuses to be forgotten. These are not just players. They are pioneers, powerhouses, and quiet revolutionaries who bent the arc of the sport with every swing, slide, and sacrifice.

Nichols knows this better than most because she lived it. She bled for the game, broke barriers on the field, and then faced down a storm of her own off the field. In a moving essay in Chapter Eight, she describes her struggle with the effects of multiple concussions as a result of playing the game she loved. Nichols relates her journey to rebuild her physical, intellectual, and emotional health one small step at a time. She spent years secluded from life, fighting her way back from the consequences of this “invisible injury.”

During that recovery, Diamond Girls was born out of a single trivia question and evolved into something much more. It became part of her healing, her purpose, and her return to baseball through the remarkable stories of the women who helped shape the game.

Diamond Girls is history with heart. It’s proof that girls didn’t just dream of playing baseball—they did it in leagues that came and went. They played in shadows. Their names and pictures never appeared on baseball trading cards. Now this book brings them into the light.

To every little girl who picked up a bat and was told to put it down—this is your proof.

To every woman who gave up the game because the world gave her no choice—this is your redemption. of this legacy.

Let the questions challenge you and the stories stir you. When you read this book, you’ll feel the heartbeat of a movement: one swing, one pitch, one story at a time.

Tina’s journey does not stop with this book. She has also published a coloring book, suitable for all ages, entitled Diamond Girls: Her Turn at Bat. Her next steps on her writing career include a sequel to Diamond Girls focusing on more international players and the stars of the newly formed Women’s Professional Baseball League. She is also working on her memoir, Concussion Girl, in which she will describe in detail her struggle overcoming the devastating effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and honoring the doctors who literally saved her life. She will educate the reader on preventing and recognizing TBI and the latest techniques in treating this injury.

Tina’s book can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=diamond+girls+by+tina+nichols

Follow her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567504765159 and https://www.facebook.com/tina.nichols.9615