“There’s no crying in baseball”
Celebrating women in baseball
Across the United States March is recognized as Women’s history month. As such, I have started to think about how women have shaped the sport of baseball, and how their impact is historical and still felt in present day. Whether on the field or off, women have had a huge impact on the landscape of America’s past time.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) is the most widely known example of women in baseball, but women had played the game long before that (the first known women’s team played at Vassar College all the way back in 1866). The makeup and history of the league was popularized by the critically acclaimed movie, A League of Their Own in 1992. Although the movie presents a fictionalized version of events, it still conveys the cultural and historical significance of the AAGPBL accurately, as well as also holding cultural and historical significance of its own.
The idea for an all-women’s baseball league was born out of the fear that too many young men would be drafted into the war effort to sustain a major league system. The league was the creation of Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley. It was a way to keep ball parks busing during World War II as well as a way to keep baseball in the public eye while the majority of men were away at war.
The first tryouts were scheduled in Chicago during the Spring of 1943. They drew almost 300 women from across the United States and Canada. All players were tested on their fielding, throwing, catching, running, sliding, and hitting. However, women were also expected to “look the part” so that they could be marketed by the league. This entailed being openly feminine and very pretty. In total, 60 women survived the cut to form four mid-west teams: the Rockford Peaches, South Bend Blue Sox, Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets. Over the ensuing years teams would be added and dissolved, but it is these four that are the most widely known. In the course of the league’s decade long life-span, over 600 women would play professional baseball.
During the first spring training, the women were required to attend Helena Rubinstein’s evening charm school classes. To try and make the women as physically attractive as possible, they were given a beauty kit and taught how to use it. In addition, they were made to learn proper manners, etiquette, and social skills in every situation including; the art of walking, sitting, speaking, selecting clothes, and applying make-up. The women weren’t allowed to have short hair, smoke or drink in public, and required to wear lipstick at all time.
“Every day after practice, Mr. Wrigley sent us to Helena Rubinstein’s charm school to learn how to put on makeup, how to put on a coat, and how to get in and out of a car or chair” — Lil Jackson (AAGPBL 1943–1945)
Results from the first year of play were encouraging. The teams were well received by locals and drew crowds, all while working to change the perception of how athletic women could be. Attendance rose steadily during the early years of the league, topping out at around 1 million fans in 1948. Talent in the league was abundant. It became evident that it was women’s high caliber of play that was the main draw for the fans, not their outward appearance. In 1944, the ownership of the league changed hands to Arthur Meyerhoff. It was with his leadership that the league reached its peak. He changed the emphasis of the league on how the players looked and acted to how they performed on the field. Charms school was officially out of session.
However, the league began to struggle to make money. In addition, the end of World War II and the rise of televised Major League games had more people focused on men’s games than women’s. This all culminated in the demise of the AAGPBL in 1954.
It has been about 65 years since the league has ceased to exist. But the players remained people that young girls everywhere have looked up to. The resounding effects of the league are seen in Effa Manely (the only women in the Baseball Hall of Fame), Jackie Mitchell (who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during a scrimmage against the New York Yankees), Mo’ne Davis (the first girl to ever win a game in the Little League World Series), and so many others, famous or not.
The Diamond Dreams exhibit opened in Cooperstown in 1988. On display are the uniforms, gloves, bats, programs, newspaper clippings, and tickets from the AAGPBL. Every women who so much as tried out of the AAGPBL was instrumental is shaping society to day. They were trail blazers, they worked towards gender equality, and they are baseball treasures.
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Baseball Treasure
Riley Poole
Baseball Treasure
Riley Poole
