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When MLB The Show 24 launches next month, it will include a female baseball player who made history in 1953. That inclusion will break new ground for the game series, too, as it’s never featured a playable woman character before.
On February 14, the official MLB The Show 24 X (formerly Twitter)account announced that as part of the “Storylines: Negro Leagues Season 2” mode, players will get to play as Toni Stone, the first woman to join a professional, major league baseball team. In 1953, Stone joined the Indianapolis Clowns in what was up to that point the all-male Negro leagues. She was 32 at the time but had been playing baseball in various places since she was 16.
Stone isn’t the only historical player coming to MLB The Show 24. Alongside her, players will get to play as Hank Aaron—famous for breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in 1974—and home run king Josh Gibson.
Funnily enough, as explained by MLB.com, Stone actually replaced Aaron at second base in Indianapolis when she joined the league in 1953 after Aaron had been grabbed up by the Milwaukee Braves. That’s some big shoes to fill. After one season playing for the Clowns in Indy, she played for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1954. As documented by MLB.com, Hank Aaron reportedly called Stone “a very good baseball player.”
It’s also reported that during an exhibition game in 1953, she hit a single off a speedy fastball delivered by legendary pitcher Satchel Paige, a fellow Negro leagues player who had a five-decade career in baseball and who threw so hard and fast that famous player Joe DiMaggio said he was the “best he ever faced.” The claim is dubious, even if MLB.com lists it as a possible fact, but I like to believe she did it.
MLB The Show 24 arrives March 19 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. For folks who have Game Pass, it will be available on day one on Xbox. This is still weird to me considering the baseball sim series is developed by a PlayStation-owned studio. Such is the wacky world of video games in 2024.
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