The Look Back

How Women in the Midwest Saved Baseball

– Now, imagine sliding into bases wearing a skirt.

But their decision really was, “We want these girls to act like a lady but play like a man.”

[upbeat music] – Cat Phan: So who is ready for some baseball?

Watching A League of Their Own about professional women’s baseball players in the 1940s has got me so inspired.

– Taylor Bailey: Me too.

How about we play a game like they did back in the women’s league in the 1940s?

– Sergio Gonzlez: Ooh, a historic game of baseball?

Count me in.

– Great!

So who’s up first?

I don’t know, but what’s the deal with that ball?

I thought we were playing with a baseball.

– A baseball?

But I saw photos and old videos of the women’s league, and they played with a softball.

Yeah, and they played on a softball-size field, so really, we should be playing over there.

– Well, I also saw old videos and photos, and they played with a baseball on a field just like this one.

– I read it was more like softball for them.

– And I read it was more like baseball.

– Softball!

– Taylor: Baseball!

– Softball!

– Baseball!

[Sergio sniffling] – In unison: Are you crying?

– Sergio, there’s no crying in baseball!

– Oh, I’m sorry.

I just hate it when people fight over history!

– Yeah, yelling isn’t the way to solve conflicting histories.

Research is.

– Maybe what we need is to do a little bit of research on what baseball was actually like in the women’s league back in the day.

Y’know what?

One of those teams actually played in Racine, Wisconsin.

I think I know where we can go to learn some more information.

– Christa Bauer: Hello, I’m Christa.

Nice to meet you.

All this stuff here is from Racine Heritage Museum in Racine, Wisconsin, and we’re talking about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball team known as the Racine Belles.

– How did these teams even come about?

– It started in 1943.

And do you guys know what was happening in 1943?

– In unison: World War II.

– There you go, yes, World War II.

And what happens when you have a war?

The men have to go off to war, right?

So a lot of them enlisted and went off.

And Wrigley was, like, “Well, America, baseball is their favorite pastime.

They love it.”

So he decided to create a women’s team.

And from there, it kinda just took off.

So with him sponsoring half of the team and then another company from whatever city sponsoring the other half.

It just kept going.

– Movies and shows like A League of Their Own are more than just good stories.

They’re inspired by real history.

From 1943 to 1954, hundreds of young women played professional baseball for teams in cities around the Midwest.

The first season of the women’s baseball league in 1943 featured four teams: the Racine Belles, the Kenosha Comets, the Rockford Peaches, and the South Bend Blue Sox.

More teams joined in later seasons.

– Just looking at the uniform, it’s very different from what softball players in college now and even baseball players wear.

– So this is actually a reproduction.

It’s not an original uniform.

But this is what a Racine Belle uniform would’ve looked like.

What do you notice that’s different about this?

– No pants.

[all laughing] – Christa: No pants, yes, that’s a huge thing.

And the color, right, that’s the one thing.

So all of the professional girls’ teams wore kinda like pastel colors.

That’s one thing.

And their outfits were designed to look more feminine.

That was the first choice that Wrigley made when creating this league was that he wanted it to be a feminine league.

So that meant that you weren’t wearing pants all the way down to your ankles, right?

You were wearing skirts.

Now, you would have shorts underneath, obviously.

But you didn’t have these pants.

Now, imagine sliding into bases wearing a skirt.

But their decision really was, “We want these girls to,” they said, “Act like a lady, but play like a man.”

American society had pretty strict cultural expectations regarding what was and wasn’t appropriate for women, and the league wanted to make sure their players didn’t break those norms.

This is most clearly seen in the players’ uniforms.

Unlike men, women in this league had to wear skirts with shorts underneath, and the dress code wasn’t just for games.

Female players were even forbidden from wearing shorts or pants in public.

All this was done to make sure the players were still seen as feminine enough to the American public.

Today, women in sports still face unfair pressures over their appearance and actions.

It’s a reminder that we’ve still got work to do when it comes to women’s sports.

– Do you think we can actually feel some of these objects?

– Yes, absolutely.

Let me get you some gloves.

Here you go.

– Cat: Thank you.

Look, it’s a softball.

[ding] – Well, the one I have looks more like a baseball.

[ding] Wait, why are they different sizes?

– Yeah, they are different sizes, and they feel different, right?

Like, if you hold both of them in your hands– – Oh, yeah, this one’s heavier.

– Yeah, so when the league started, it was more like softball.

So you can tell this one’s a little earlier on.

It’s more like softball.

And towards the end, this is from 1950, towards the league’s end, it was like baseball.

– Taylor: Oh, this is– [all laughing] – Cat: The bottom of these cleats.

– Sergio: Yeah, those are intense cleats.

– Yeah, they look more like soccer cleats than baseball cleats.

– Mm-hmm, they do, yeah.

– And this would’ve been later on too.

So when the league first started, they did not give equipment to the players.

So there are stories of, you know, if you wanted to play, you’d get your neighbor’s left-handed glove even though you were right-handed.

Or one of the Racine Belles did not have cleats, and so she got bowling shoes and tacked cleats onto the bottom.

– They do kinda resemble bowling shoes.

This one still has dirt on the bottom.

– Historical dirt right there.

[all laughing] – So tell us a little bit about the kind of women who would have been playing at these times.

– These women, a lot of times, came from working-class families.

But they loved sports.

And many of them grew up playing baseball and softball.

So when they heard about an All-American Girls League, of course they wanted to join, they wanted to, you know, take a piece of that with them.

[television static] – In 1947, Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to play Major League Baseball after decades of racial segregation in the league.

So what about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League?

Unfortunately, the women’s league doesn’t appear to have any Black athletes during its entire run.

There were a few women of color, including seven Cuban players, but the league was overwhelmingly white.

On at least a few occasions, there are accounts of Black athletes trying out for the league, but none of them seem to have been picked by any of the teams.

In the 1940s and ’50s, when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was in full swing, Black players likely didn’t fit in with the league owners’ views of an “all-American girl” image.

Today, that kind of racial discrimination is illegal, but that doesn’t mean we’ve left it all behind.

We need to keep working to make sure sports are open and accessible to everyone.

– I also read that the women had to take etiquette classes too, as part of being on the team.

Is that true?

– Yes, they did.

And these etiquette classes, they were something else.

So, for example, you would learn how to walk.

So you would have a book placed on your head, and you’d have to have perfect posture, yep, and you couldn’t let the book fall.

You would go through speech classes.

You would learn how to get in and out of a car the correct way.

– Cat: In a skirt.

– In a skirt, yes.

The correct way in a skirt, right.

Also, walking up and down stairs.

There is a right way, apparently.

You would learn how to do your hair and how to wear makeup.

One of the rules was they always had to wear lipstick.

– Taylor: Even during the games?

– Christa: Yes, they had to wear it during the game.

– So I’m looking at these pictures, and sometimes we see grandstands, we see them in stadiums.

A lot of people would come to these, I’m guessing.

– Yeah, they were very well attended, they were very fun, and everyone would come out and see them.

It wasn’t like now, when we can turn on the TV and see a baseball game.

You had to go in person to see the game.

Unfortunately, what ultimately led to the demise of the A.A.G.P.B.L…. [chuckling] It’s a mouthful.

Was television.

I mean, people were able to be home and watch baseball at home.

But usually, they would watch men’s games because they got more coverage.

Or even just sit at home and watch TV instead of go out and watch a baseball game.

– Taylor: After all we’ve learned at the Racine Heritage Museum, it was time to get back on the diamond.

– Sergio!

Are you even paying attention?

– Oh, I’m sorry, Cat.

I can’t stop thinking about the All-American Girls League.

I wanna know more!

– But we already learned about the rules and about the women’s league and all the uniforms.

What more is there to learn?

– What if we actually talked to a player and found out what life was actually like on the diamond?

– Okay, but then we play baseball.

– Taylor: Thanks to help from a friend, we were able to talk to someone who played for the Junior Belles in the 1940s.

This was a league of younger players sponsored by the Racine Belles.

– Thanks for joining us today!

We’re so excited to do this oral history with you.

– So how did you get started playing baseball for the Junior Belles?

– Mary Ann Pawzun: Well, when they decided to have four teams, and my dad played baseball.

So he was gonna be one of the coaches.

And he just said, “Why don’t you try out?”

– So how old were you when you started playing for the Belles?

– I was 17.

I played 17 and 18.

Most of the time, I pitched.

And it was underhand fastball.

It was fun, I mean, I just enjoyed it, really.

– Did you get to watch the Racine Belles?

– You could stay and watch the games, too, and we didn’t have to pay to get in, so it was great.

They were very good, and sliding too.

In fact, I can remember my dad taking me and teaching me how to slide with a skirt on.

[laughing] – Do you have any pictures or items you could show us?

– I won two trophies when I was playing.

First year was this one, and it was for the All-Star team.

There.

This is the other one, and this is from ’48.

This is one day, just on the field.

[chuckling] [ding] That’s in my yard.

– Thank you so much for talking with us today!

Bye!

– Okay guys, now that we know more about the women’s league, who’s ready for a game of baseball?

– Play ball!

[jaunty brass music] Three, two, one, jump!

[all laughing] – What is that?

I don’t know, do I have a line after that?

This is a softball!

– Producer: Whoops!

– Look alive, look alive!

[laughing]