Source: All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
In times of crisis, call a woman. This maxim has been lived throughout history, but is certainly evident during World War Two. When American women weren’t building airplanes, ships and munitions to aid in the war effort, others were entering the baseball field.
As the draft plucked many minor league players from the field in 1942, American baseball industry bigwigs feared that the war might also snatch away major league players and bring an end to America’s favorite (and financially lucrative) pastime.
In a pinch, industry execs like Philip Wrigley decided to craft a women’s league to fill the gap that they feared the war would create. Scouts scoured the country in search of top female talent, and 60 women made the initial professional cut.
Philip Wrigley was instrumental in forming the women’s professional baseball league, which he would ultimately sell years later when it became clear that the war would not break up the men’s major league.
Outside the glamour of Hollywood lights and set against the backdrop of World War II was the real life A League of Their Own. The women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League were every bit as gritty, determined, and competitive as their male counterparts.
While some important doors did indeed open for these women, prevailing gender norms still dictated that they must preserve their femininity on and off the field. Women wore short skirts on the field (in spite of the unpleasant fate their legs would face when sliding home), and were given beauty kits to ensure that they would still be “beautiful” on the field. After practices, players were required to attend evening charm school classes.
The women were required to wear the uniforms of the league which included short skirts. However, this did not deter them from making a hard slide in the heat of competition. Source: All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Though the teams brought excitement and a much needed distraction to a country reeling from the stresses of war, many still believed that women had no place playing baseball. In 1944, when it became clear that the war would not lead major league teams to disband, Wrigley lost interest in the women’s league and sold it. The league still enjoyed success (sans charm school classes, which ended in 1945)–ten teams attracted a whopping 910,000 fans in 1948–and talk of forming an international league emerged around this time as well.
Nevertheless, revenues and publicity fell in the years after team directors decided to operate their teams independently from the centralized league. The advent of television also meant that people no longer had to venture to the field to see the sport, and in 1954 the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League closed its gates forever. It wouldn’t be until the 1992 release of A League of Their Own that popular interest in the AAGPBL would be renewed.
Get to know the women who quite literally stepped up to the plate in times of war by viewing the gallery below:
Though Penny Marshall did not use real names of players in "A League of Their Own," it was Lavone Paire “Pepper” Davis who actually uttered one of the film’s most famous lines in real life.After breaking each of her fingers at least once during the course of her baseball career, Pepper was asked how she kept on playing. Her response: “There’s no crying in baseball.” Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library
The Rockford Peaches - as portrayed by the cast of the 1992 film "A League of Their Own." Source: IMDB The Rockford Peaches of Rockford, Illinois were the focal point of the film "A League of Their Own," but the team did not play in the 1943 championship as depicted in the film. In reality, the Racine Belles faced the Kenosha Comets for the title that year. Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Mrs. America, Fredda Acker was a member of the South Bend Blue Sox in 1947 and was also employed by the AAGPBL as a charm school assistant. She was very popular among the fans in Havana during spring training, though she never played in a regular season AAGPBL game. Source: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Catcher Mary Rountree catching a popup in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League - Opa-locka, Florida. Nicknamed “Square bush” Rountree was one of the top five defensive catchers in the history of the AAGPBL. Source: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory It should have been clear that skirts were not an appropriate uniform for a competitive sports league. Injuries such as this were very common. Source: Study of Sports Original program and scorebook from the 1953 Grand Rapids Chicks. The Chicks would go on to win the league championship in 1953. Source: MLIVE After the film brought national attention to the AAGPBL, people flocked from all over to see the display featuring uniforms and other artifacts at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Before the movie, the league had pretty much been forgotten by the general public. Source: Great Museums This bronze statue commemorates the players of the All-American Girls Baseball League on the grounds of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Source: Wikipedia Top female athletes such as Mo’ne Davis are still smashing boundaries today. Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
War, Women And Sports: A Brief History Of Women’s Baseball View GalleryncG1vNJzZmiZnKHBqa3TrKCnrJWnsrTAyKeeZ5ufony4u8yepaxlkpbApq7ApaM%3D