“There’s No Crying in Baseball!”
We are all familiar and love that quote by Tom Hanks, “There’s no crying in baseball!” from the movie, “A League Of Their Own.”
The story was based on actual events and portrayed some of the actual team players from that time in history.
During a unique period in American history when millions of men were called to serve during WWII, which included many professional baseball players, major league baseball executives feared the sport might decline.
Philip K. Wrigley spearheaded the effort to remedy professional baseball’s wartime decline with a women’s league. They decided on The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A piece written by Eliza Berman states that as exciting as it was to watch women slide and steal and scuff their knees, the league was a product of its time, and its strict rules of conduct reflected the times.
Rules for the women athletes were: must always wear feminine attire, could not smoke or drink in public, and dating was limited to “old friends” only.
These were serious athletes as the stats show: Blue Sox Catcher Mary “Bonnie” Baker could throw 345 feet. Lefty pitcher Annabelle Lee threw a perfect game, and Sophie Kurys stole 1,114 bases during her 10-year career.
The AAGPBL was centered in medium-sized cities across the American Midwest. Over its twelve-year run, the league expanded to eventually include ten teams. The ages of the players were 16 to 27 years of age, and the pay was $50 to $85 a week.
Familiar team names included the Rockford Peaches, known for winning four league championships, and the South Bend Blue Sox. These two clubs were the only ones to remain in their original cities for the entire duration of the league.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) operated from 1943 to 1954, offering talented female athletes a chance to play ball at a high level while entertaining fans across the Midwest. Note: An exhibit may be seen at the History Museum located within the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, IN.