Melissa Ludtke Melissa Ludtke was a reporter for Sports Illustrated from 1974 to 1979. During that time, she became the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Major League Baseball (Ludtke v. Kuhn) that led to women reporters gaining equal access to interview athletes in the locker rooms. She went on to become a correspondent at Time and editor of Nieman Reports. Now, she works independently, co-producer a transmedia project called “Touching Home in China: in search of missing girlhoods.”