A League of their Own
With the entrance of the United States into WWII and the need for soldiers to cover the front, many jobs were left understaffed. With many of the "Boys of Summer" being deployed overseas, the Major League Baseball games were threatened to the point of being shut down. This is where candy bar mogul, Walter Harvey, persuades fellow investors to create an all women league.
Dottie Hinson and her sister Kit Keller were among the many girls scouted throughout the country to attend tryouts at the Harvey field in Chicago. Out of the hundreds of attendants, only 64 girls would go out to form four teams: Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, and South Bend Blue Sox.
We follow the Rockford Peaches journey as they navigate becoming a cohersive team under the supervision of coach Jimmy Duggan, a former baseball star now ruined by his alcoholism, who refuses to acknowledge the league and his coaching job as "real".
The Real AAGBBL
In 1940, baseball was the most popular game in the country. However, with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entering WWII, many of the minor and major league players were needed in the front. This left many of the baseball team owners and executives puzzled as to whether the next season should be planned or cancelled altogether. With President Roosevelt’s blessing on what is now known as the “Green Light Letter”, the social importance of this sport came to the spotlight – not only did it serve as a recreational aid for those left in the States as well as soldiers overseas, but not halting the games allowed a new generation to be exposed to the sport, ensuring its continued popularity.
Baseball was not the only area that was threatened by the war. Many jobs were left understaffed as most abled body males were being drafted. This is where many women stepped up to support the war effort and took on factory, production and farming trades. As these positions were being temporarily filled by women, Chicago Cubs owner and chewing gum magnate, Philip K. Wrigley, thought of the possibility of having women also fill in and play ball. Until then, while many women partook in baseball recreationally, there were no official leagues of any kind. Wrigley took it upon himself to send scouts all across the US, Canada, and Cuba. Around 300 candidates attended the league’s first tryouts in Chicago in the spring of 1943, but only 60 women made the cut. Those 60 formed the first four original teams: Indiana’s South Bend Blue Sox, Illinois’ Rockford Peaches, the Wisconsin’s Kenosha Comets, and Racine Belles.
But the only thing they would have in common with their male counterparts was the game they played. The female players were to keep their femininity on and off the field. This meant no jeans, no smoking or drinking alcohol in public, and mandatory attendance at finishing school where they would learn how to apply makeup and conduct themselves in proper ladylike etiquette. Their baseball uniform consisted of short sleeved tunic dress with a slight flare on the skirt and a high waisted belt.
The league was extensively publicized in newspapers and magazines, but it was the novelty and the excellence in performance that started to fill the stadiums. Attendance kept rising throughout the years, topping out at around 1 million fans in 1948.
"We were just a bunch of young kids doing what we liked best. But most of us recognize now that those were the most meaningfl days of our lives" - Dottie Collins, Fort Wayne Daisies.
Pictured: Wisconsin's Racine Belles - 1943
** This cache was released for the 2023 KC Area Picnic Event. **
Please be mindful of the park hours and possible games going on - although there should be ample parking thoroughout the facility. Don't forget to bring your own writing utensil and use stealth when retrieving the cache!
Permission granted by Justin Stuart, Assistant Director Blue Springs Parks & Rec, jstuart@bluespringsgov.com to be placed in this location.