All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: Difference between revisions

The '''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League''' ('''AAGPBL''') was a professional [[women's baseball]] league founded by [[Philip K. Wrigley]] which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the United States. Over 600 women played in the league, which consisted of eventually 10 teams located in the American [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]. In 1948, league attendance peaked at over 900,000 spectators. The most successful team, the [[Rockford Peaches]], won a league-best four championships. The 1992 film ''[[A League of Their Own]]'' is a mostly fictionalized account of the early days of the league and its stars.

 

[[File:All American Girls Professional Baseball League members performing calisthenics.jpg|thumb|All-American Girls Professional Baseball League members performing calisthenics in [[Opa-locka, Florida]], on April 22, 1948. The different baseball clubs are (L-R): [[Fort Wayne Daisies]] (partially visible), [[Chicago Colleens]], [[Rockford Peaches]], [[South Bend Blue Sox]], [[Springfield Sallies]] and [[Peoria Redwings]].|alt=]]

With the entry of the United States into [[World War II]], several major league baseball executives started a new professional league with women players in order to maintain baseball in the public eye [[History_of_baseball_in_the_United_States#The_war_years|while the majority of able men were away]]. The founders included [[Philip K. Wrigley]], [[Branch Rickey]], and [[Paul V. Harper]]. They feared that [[Major League Baseball]] might even temporarily cease due to the war because of the loss of talent,<ref name=WDL1/> as well as restrictions on team travel due to [[Rationing in the United States#World War II|gasoline rationing]].<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-flash-women-baseball-wrigley-0624-20180612-story.html |title=Female players hit a home run for wartime baseball — but were seen, rarely heard |last=Grossman |first=Ron |date=2018-06-24 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=2018-06-24 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In the winter of 1952–1953, players from both the AAGPL and National Girls Baseball League played together in the four–team [[International Girls Baseball League]] based in [[Miami, Florida]].<ref name="sabr.org"/>

 

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League went through three periods of ownership. It was owned by chewing gum mogul Wrigley<ref name="Cullen-DuPont2000">{{cite book |first=Kathryn |last=Cullen-DuPont |title=Encyclopedia of Women's History in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIro7MtiFuYC&pg=PA374|access-date=November 28, 2011 |date=August 1, 2000|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-4100-8|pages=9–10}}</ref> from 1943 to 1945, wealthy publicist [[Arthur Meyerhoff]] from 1945 to 1951, and the teams were individually owned from 1951 to 1954. The teams generally played in [[Midwestern]] cities. The [[South Bend Blue Sox]] and the [[Rockford Peaches]] were the only two teams that stayed in their home cities for the full period of the AAGPBL's existence.<ref name=May/>

{{HistBaseball nav}}

 

In the first season, the league played a game that was a hybrid of baseball and softball. The ball was 12&nbsp;inches in circumference, the size of a regulation softball (regulation baseballs are 9 to 9{{fraction|1|4}}&nbsp;inches). The pitcher's mound was only forty feet from home plate, closer even than in regulation softball and much closer than the baseball distance of 60 feet, 6&nbsp;inches. Pitchers threw underhand windmill, like in softball, and the distance between bases was 65 feet, five feet longer than in softball, but 25 feet shorter than in baseball. Major similarities between the AAGPBL and baseball included nine player teams and the use of a pitcher's mound (softball pitchers throw from flat ground). By 1948, the ball had shrunk to 10{{fraction|3|8}} inches, overhand pitching was allowed, and the mound was moved back to 50 feet. Over the history of the league, the rules continued to gradually approach those of baseball. By the final season in 1954, the ball was regulation baseball size, the mound was moved back to 60 feet, and the basepaths were extended to 85 feet (still five feet shorter than in regulation baseball).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/20/rules-of-play |title=Rules of Play |website=All-American Girls Professional Baseball League|date=January 18, 2012}}</ref> Teams were generally [[Baseball manager|managed]] by men who knew competitive athletics and were former major league players, in part to demonstrate to fans that the league was serious.<ref name=May/>

 

During [[spring training]], the girls were required to attend [[Helena Rubinstein]]'s evening charm school classes. The proper etiquette for every situation was taught, and every aspect of personal hygiene, mannerisms, and dress code was presented to all the players. In an effort to make each player as physically attractive as possible, each received a beauty kit and instructions on how to use it. As a part of the league's 'Rules of Conduct', the 'girls' were not permitted to have short hair, they could not smoke or drink in public places, they were not allowed to wear pants, and they were required to wear lipstick at all times. Fines for not following the league's rules of conduct were five dollars for the first offense, ten for the second, and suspension for the third.<ref name="leaguehistory" /> In 1944, [[Josephine D'Angelo|Josephine "JoJo" D'Angelo]] was fired for cutting her hair short.<ref>{{cite web |last1=de la Cretaz |first1=Britni |title=The Hidden Queer History Behind "A League of Their Own" |url=http://narrative.ly/the-hidden-queer-history-behind-a-league-of-their-own/ |website=Narratively |access-date=May 30, 2018 |date=May 30, 2018}}</ref> The women's contracts were much stricter about behavior than in the men's league, and each team was also assigned its own [[chaperone (social)|chaperone]] by the league.<ref name=May/>

 

The AAGPBL received extensive publicity from its inception throughout the 1940s. The league was featured in both national periodicals such as ''Time'', ''Life'', ''Seventeen'', ''Newsweek'', and American Magazine'','' as well as in local city newspapers. Philip Wrigley, the league's founder, believed in the value of advertising, which may have contributed to the league's extensive exposure and marketing focus. Wrigley learned to appreciate advertising from his father, William Wrigley, who had success with his chewing gum company in large part due to marketing methods. The league remained under Wrigley's advertising influence until 1951, when individual team directors took over the publicity.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last=Fidler |first=Merrie A. |chapter=Establishing the Public Image: Publicity and Promotion, 1943–1944 |title=The Origin and History of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League |pages=50–68 |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland |date=2006}}</ref>

 

 

The AAGPBL peaked in attendance during the 1948 season, when 10 teams attracted 910,000 paid fans.<ref name="leaguehistory" /> The [[Rockford Peaches]] won the most league championships with four (1945, 1948, 1949, 1950). The Milwaukee/Grand Rapids Chicks were second with three (1944 in Milwaukee, 1947 and 1953 in Grand Rapids). The Racine Belles (1943 and 1946) and the South Bend Blue Sox (1951 and 1952) each won two, and the Kalamazoo Lassies won in the league's final season (1954).<ref name=May>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BK3iCwAAQBAJ&q=from+1943+to+1945,+Arthur+Meyerhoff+from+1945+to+1951,+and+the+teams+were+individually+owned+from+1951+to+1954.+In+1947+and+1948,+spring+training+exhibition+games+were+held+at+the+Gran+Stadium+in+Havana,+Cuba. |title=Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball |last1=Heaphy |first1=Leslie A. |last2=May |first2=Mel Anthony |date=March 1, 2016 |publisher=McFarland |pages=9–16 |isbn=978-1-47666-594-8 |language=en}}</ref>

 

==Legacy==