Women in Baseball week, July 25th through August 1st is a Worldwide celebration. Women can bring a lot to the plate, (pun 100% intended). According to womeninbaseballweek.org, this year's theme is Breaking Barriers: Women in Baseball Around the World. One of the ways they suggest to celebrate is by sharing your local history of women in baseball. Well, we certainly have the history.
If you check out Women in sports: 50 fearless athletes who played to win by Ignotofsky, Rachel, (and I highly suggest you do, the illustrations alone are worth the look!), you can find a blurb on "Bloomer Girls". The Bloomer Girls formed teams all across the country and challenging various other teams, local to minor, from 1890 to 1934. (https://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/features/girls-of-the-summer.html) Thus paving the way for the creation of the All-American-Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943.In 1942, Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, was not content with the idea that WWII could mean the cancellation of the 1943 major-league baseball season. Wrigley figured if women were able to fill in men's shoes in various workplaces due to the war, then there was no reason for them not to step up to bat, (again, not sorry about the pun). So, with Wrigley's financial backing, the All-American Girls Baseball League was born. Tryouts for the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, South Bend Blue Sox, and the Rockford Peaches, were held at Wrigley Field, with over 200 women in attendance and only 60 slots. The All-American Girls Baseball League played 12 seasons and was disbanded in 1954, in that time the league grew to 15 teams with over 600 women playing ball. In the end, the Rockford Peaches held to most league championships, winning in 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950. (https://baseballforall.com/)
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Baseball game between the Racine Belles of Wisconsin and the South Bend Blue Sox of Indiana, September 14, 1947.
"This fully illustrated history tells the story of women's first "league of their own," the All-American Girl's Professional Baseball League (1943-1954), as told through the engaging voices of the people who knew it best: the players! Author Anika Orrock has collected a range of funny, charming, wince-worthy, and heart-warming vignettes as told by the players themselves from their various experiences playing in the AAGBPL, from the very first tryouts to barnstorming around the country and sliding into home base in League-mandated skirts and lipstick. Beginning with a brief history of the founding of the league, the players' stories are woven together with press coverage of the league, player statistics, and historical beats to form a single narrative of their experiences, struggles, and impressions of a time when being a woman in a professional sports league was revolutionary. With an introduction by New York Yankees assistant general manager Jean Afterman, THE INCREDIBLE WOMEN OF THE AAGBPL is an inspirational story for anyone looking to carve out their own place in the world"-- Provided by publisher.
"The interviews range from 1995 to 2012 and reveal details of games, highlights of careers, the camaraderie of teammates, opponents, and fans, and the impact the League made. Several players recall how the 1992 movie A League of Their Own brought the historic All-American League back to life almost 40 years after the final game"--Provided by publisher.
Shirley Burkovich - Sports Stories Baseball
The years between 1943 and 1954 marked the magical era of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - which proved beyond doubt that women can play hardball. With skill and style, more than 500 women took to the baseball diamonds of the Midwest dazzling fans and becoming a visible and supported part of our national pastime. In the words of "Tiby" Eisen, leadoff batter for the Fort Wayne Daisies: "We played ball just like the big boys, we broke up double plays with spikes held high and we stole bases in our skirts. We did whatever it took to win." Among those cheering was ten-year-old Susan Johnson, a loyal fan of the Rockford Peaches. Four decades later she has gone back to meet her girlhood heroines and remember a sensational baseball series: the 1950 championship between the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches and the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daisies - two of the League's most winning and dynamic teams. Filled with colorful stories and anecdotes by the women who played in that spectacular series, When Women Played Hardball offers an entertaining look at the culture the league created - and the society it reflected. This is a story about memories, about dreams, fulfilled and dreams denied. It is a celebration of a brief yet remarkable period when women truly had "A League of Their Own."
"The true story of Effa Manley, the first and only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and her ownership role in the Negro Leagues leading up to the integration of Major League Baseball"-- Provided by publisher
"Dorothy Mary Kamenshek was born to immigrant parents in Norwood, Ohio. As a young girl, she played pickup games of sandlot baseball with neighborhood children; no one, however, would have suspected that at the age of seventeen she would become a star athlete at the national level. The outbreak of World War II and the ensuing draft of able-bodied young men severely depleted the ranks of professional baseball players. In 1943, Phillip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, led the initiative to establish a new league--a women's league--to fill the ballparks while the war ground on in Europe and the Pacific. Kamenshek was selected and assigned to the Rockford Peaches in their inaugural season and played first base for a total of ten years, becoming a seven-time All-Star and holder of two league batting titles. When injuries finally put an end to her playing days, she went on to a successful and much quieter career in physical therapy. Fame came again in 1992 when Geena Davis portrayed a player loosely based on Kamenshek in the hit movie A League of Their Own"-- Provided by publisher.
Biography of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, one of only three women (so far) to play professional baseball. Johnson was a pitcher with the Negro League's Indianapolis Clowns from 1953 to 1955.
AAGPBL Rockford Peaches vs. Peoria Redwings in 1949
In 1931, seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell pitches against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game, becoming the first professional female pitcher in baseball history.
Rockford Peaches visit Midway Village WW2 Reenactment 2016
LINKS:
https://www.today.com/news/last-surviving-member-rockford-peaches-league-their-own-fame-dies-t181225
#WomeninBaseballWeek
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