Uningrained Podcast

A collage of tinted photo vignettes for the Uningrained podcast, featuring a misty forest, a smiling woman hiking, and an investigator looking through a magnifying glass.
Uningrained podcast logo: the word "UN" inside an orange polygon badge next to the word "INGRAINED" in slate gray.
A collage of tinted photo vignettes for Uningrained Season 1, featuring the Chicago city skyline, wood grain texture, and a girl in a softball helmet looking through a chain-link fence.
A collage of tinted photo vignettes for Uningrained Season 1, featuring the Chicago city skyline, wood grain texture, and a girl in a softball helmet looking through a chain-link fence.

The thing about blind spots is we don’t notice them. They’re so familiar—so ingrained—that it’s hard to imagine life any other way. Uningrained is a deep-dive, narrative podcast that pulls those invisible ideas out of the woodwork and asks whether it’s worth making a change.

The thing about blind spots is we don’t notice them. They’re so familiar—so ingrained—that it’s hard to imagine life any other way. Uningrained is a deep-dive, narrative podcast that pulls those invisible ideas out of the woodwork and asks whether it’s worth making a change.

A stylized smartphone graphic for Uningrained Season 1. A single action shot of a young female softball player preparing to swing a bat is deconstructed and displayed across several floating, translucent geometric blocks of orange, blue, green, and red. This fragmented composition represents the season’s investigative approach—examining different perspectives of the core story: "Should Softball be Baseball for Girls?" The Uningrained logo and a large, translucent "S1" (Season One) text overlay the scene.
A stylized smartphone graphic for Uningrained Season 1. A single action shot of a young female softball player preparing to swing a bat is deconstructed and displayed across several floating, translucent geometric blocks of orange, blue, green, and red. This fragmented composition represents the season’s investigative approach—examining different perspectives of the core story: "Should Softball be Baseball for Girls?" The Uningrained logo and a large, translucent "S1" (Season One) text overlay the scene.

This Spring and Summer

Season One of Uningrained

Season One of Uningrained

Uningrained’s first season looks at whether it makes sense to treat softball as baseball for girls. Available on your favorite podcast platform with bonus content on Substack.

Subscribe to Uningrained on your favorite podcast player and on Substack

Should Softball be Baseball for Girls?

Should Softball be Baseball for Girls?

Should Softball be Baseball for Girls?

An Introduction

An Introduction

Competitive youth sports used to be practically off-limits for girls, but now opportunities are everywhere. A record 3.5 million girls played high-school sports last year. Track, volleyball and basketball led the way, and even wrestling and flag football each had more than 65,000 girls participate.

Yet something’s missing from this renaissance: Baseball. The National Pastime. The Great American Game.

How can baseball continue to leave girls in the grandstands? The answer, of course, is softball. But … why do we steer boys toward baseball and girls to softball? Does the separation make sense? If not, is it worth fixing?

That’s the focus of the first season of Uningrained. It’s a narrative, documentary-style podcast that traces the rich and surprising histories of both women’s baseball and fastpitch softball, and features interviews with dozens of top players from across eras.

Competitive youth sports used to be practically off-limits for girls, but now opportunities are everywhere. A record 3.5 million girls played high-school sports last year. Track, volleyball and basketball led the way, and even wrestling and flag football each had more than 65,000 girls participate.

Yet something’s missing from this renaissance: Baseball. The National Pastime. The Great American Game.

How can baseball continue to leave girls in the grandstands? The answer, of course, is softball. But … why do we steer boys toward baseball and girls to softball? Does the separation make sense? If not, is it worth fixing?

That’s the focus of the first season of Uningrained. It’s a narrative, documentary-style podcast that traces the rich and surprising histories of both women’s baseball and fastpitch softball, and features interviews with dozens of top players from across eras.

The Episodes

The Episodes

Season 1: Episode 1

You Mean Softball?

What happens when a girl decides she loves baseball instead of softball? What happens if she turns out to be great? The stories of MLB draft pick Carey Schueler and former pro pitcher Ila Borders illustrate the challenges women face when they pursue America’s National Pastime.

Season 1: Episode 2

When No One Went to Bat for Girls In Baseball

In the early ‘70s, girls sued Little League for the right to play baseball. And won. So why didn’t girls’ baseball take off when it should have? The answer lies in the curious histories of two rival movements that defined youth sports in America.

Season 1: Episode 3

A Team Sport Says Yes to Women

While baseball boxed out women in the early 1900s, another fast-growing sport—softball—welcomed them into a world of elite competition, big crowds and long careers. Featuring Hall of Famer Lorene Ramsey, as well as midcentury AAGPBL baseball players.

Season 1: Episode 4

Pairing Off

How did men’s baseball and women’s fastpitch softball get paired up? Here’s the story of the breakup of men’s and women’s softball, and how high schools, universities and the Olympics brought two disparate diamond sports together.

Season 1: Episode 5

Going Pro

The new women’s pro leagues in baseball and fastpitch softball are both fun, both promising—but also very different. The WPBL is a bat signal to prospective players that women’s baseball exists, while the AUSL aims to propel softball to the big time.

Featuring Amira Hondras, Meggie Meidlinger, Sabrina Robinson and Justine Siegal from the Women's Pro Baseball League, and Cheri Kempf and Morgan Zerkle from the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.

Adventure-mode journalism

Adventure-mode journalism

No painting by numbers. We explore and investigate, then see where the story takes us.

No painting by numbers.
We explore and investigate, then see where the story takes us.

Uningrained zags where modern journalism zigs. Instead of clickbait and hot takes, this show is about obsessing over every aspect of a story, from research and reporting to storytelling and production. The first season is proving that the process pays off. 


I’m grateful for your support here at the beginning, and excited to have you along. We’re going to have fun, you’ll learn stuff, and I believe you’ll be inspired.

Uningrained zags where
modern journalism zigs. Instead of clickbait and hot takes, this show is about obsessing over every aspect of a story, from research and reporting to storytelling and production. The first season is proving that the process pays off. 


I’m grateful for your support here at the beginning, and excited to have you along. We’re going to have fun, you’ll learn stuff, and I believe you’ll be inspired.

Steve Hendershot

Founder/Host

Headshot of Steve Hendershot.
Headshot of Steve Hendershot.
More about Steve

More about Steve Hendershot

  • The book cover of "Undisputed Street Fighter: The Art and Innovation Behind the Game-Changing Series" by Steve Hendershot.

    Bestselling Author

    Nintendo Life called Steve’s bestselling book Undisputed Street Fighter one of the top gaming books of all time.

  • A collage of news articles and reporting by Steve Hendershot, including a headline from WBEZ Chicago regarding Rivian superfans.

    Award-Winning Reporter

    Steve’s received dozens of journalism awards in Chicago and nationally for his reporting on business, public policy and social issues.

  • A smartphone mockup showing Steve Hendershot in a recording session with the title “How to Lead Teams Through Change” from the “Projectified” podcast.

    Veteran Podcaster

    Steve is the longtime host of the Project Management Institute’s “Projectified” podcast, with three million downloads and many industry awards.

Headshot of Rachel Gansner.

Rachel Gansner

Rachel Gansner

Rachel Gansner founded the youth girls’ baseball league in Chicago that inspired Season One, and served as a partner and advisor throughout Uningrained’s development.

Headshot of Nathan McDonald.

Nathan McDonald

Nathan McDonald

Nathan McDonald is responsible for Uningrained’s visuals. He’s a business strategist and designer based in Rockford, Illinois, where he runs Paxcurio Studio.

Substack Avatar

What’s on Uningrained’s Substack?

What’s on Uningrained’s Substack?

A bunch of awesome extras, including:

A bunch of awesome extras, including:

  • A tinted photo vignette of Steve Hendershot walking and conducting an interview with a guest in a misty, wooded area.

    Extended interviews with all-star guests

    Extended interviews
    with all-star guests

    Each episode of Uningrained tells a story, often supported by comments from people at the center of the topic we’re covering. Uningrained Extended Play is a second podcast, hosted on Substack for Uningrained subscribers, featuring more expansive versions of those conversations.

  • Turn blind spots into bonanzas

    Turn blind spots into bonanzas

    Uningrained is a show about recognizing and addressing blind spots, invisible ideas and hidden assumptions. On Substack we get practical, as Uningrained guests and our team share their own blind-spot experiences, strategies and takeaways.

    A tinted photo vignette of an explorer with a backpack looking out over a vast, foggy forest landscape, representing the search for hidden ideas.
  • A conceptual composite featuring a person with headphones using a smartphone, with a tinted photo vignette of a street art mural floating behind them like a thought bubble to represent the bonus Substack content they are engaging with.

    Go beyond the episode

    If you liked a particular episode and want to go deeper, Substack is the place. Head there for behind-the-scenes extras, research notes and opportunities to interact with the Uningrained team and its guests.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to Uningrained on Substack
for exclusive updates and stories.

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Stay Connected

Subscribe to Uningrained on Substack
for exclusive updates and stories.

Subscribe

Stay Connected

Subscribe to Uningrained on Substack
for exclusive updates and stories.

Subscribe