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Women’s Baseball
– Lucy Derbyshire
I was a “tomboy.” Dad had to get the fire department to get me out of the maple tree in the front yard. I had climbed too far up for his ladders to get me. I figured I could get up the tree if a cat could, but getting back down proved too difficult.
At nursing college I was on the girl’s baseball team and could throw a fastball and was good at catching, too. Dad had owned a baseball team in Peoria, so I guessed I could be a great baseball player and decided to write about some really great baseball players today. I dedicate this article to “Kammie” who played for the Rockford, Illinois, Peaches baseball team for 10 years and struck out only 81 times after being to bat 3,786 times.
Philip Wrigley, whose father formed Wrigley Gum, started the women’s team in 1943 and closed it September 9, 1954. Their motto was “Do or Die.” The uniforms they wore were a combo of tennis, hockey, and figure skating outfits. They could not have them any higher than 6 inches above their knees. What I liked was they were required to wear lipstick to every game and also they were not allowed to cut their hair. In 1944, “Jojo” was fired for cutting her hair. There were originally 15 teams from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The women’s team was formed to keep baseball interest up during World War II. At the highest point of the games, there were over 900,000 fans at the games in 1948. But in 1954, few fans were attending, so the games were closed permanently.
The years many fans were coming to watch were the years there was much media interest aroused. Newspapers, magazines, and radios were talking about individual players and expressing that it was a great activity for families to enjoy together. The Rockford Peaches team had four championship games and their star player was “Kammie.” Peoria, my hometown, Redwings were their name, never won any championships. The salaries they received were above average for a woman. They averaged $45 to $85 a week. In 2023, that would be $792 - $1497 a week.
In the movie, “A League of their Own,” Geena Davis had never played baseball in her life but found out she was pretty good at it. There were 65 of the actual girls who played baseball that were shown on that movie. Geena’s name was not the same as the gal they were actually showing, “Kammie,” but the real gals were included in the movie.
These women have not been forgotten because Jane Peppa, a pitcher, got a reunion of them started in 1980. In 2017, Richard Chapman was the president of their group, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. His mother, player Dorothy McGuire, died in 1981. Membership is now offered for descendants of the players, players, and staff members.
During these past five years of being distanced from each other due to Covid 19, it will be fun to attend sports like women’s baseball. Sharing common interests like baseball, music, writing, plays, and community improvement projects will help bring families and friends together again. During the war, women’s baseball helped keep spirits hopeful with gathering people to watch some terrific women show some wonderful skills due to a lot of hard work.
In conclusion, I say – like the Virginia Slims’ commercial – “You’ve come a long way baby!”
