All-American Girls Professional Baseball League History

In the 2000 Sydney Games, she pitched the USA team to a victory over Australia and the gold medal game against Japan. While in the olympics, she established an Olympic single-game strikeout record with 25 in a round robin game. In 2004, not only was the the best pitcher but she was the best hitter on the USA team with a .545 batting average. For the 2004 games she pitched the final out for a 5-1 win against Australia and the title of another gold medal. Later she was chosen to play in the 2008 Beijing games where they received a silver medal. Away from the USA Olympic Team she was apart of the Pro-Fastpitch X-treme tour. In 1999 she was named the USA/ASA Softball Athlete of the Year.

“A group of dedicated girls” is how Junior Danielle Urbon described the softball team. Even though the team struggled all year long and didn’t win as many games as they expected, they loved the game. The team showed improvement from last season but still have much work to do to get to where they want to be. When interview-

The All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League was founded by Phillip K. Wrigley. It was in existence from 1943-1954, and was started to keep the

Leagues began to be formed and the buildup for the game spread all over. It was known at that time as 'kitten league ball,' which was later shortened to 'kitten ball.' In 1922 the name 'kitten ball' was changed to 'diamond ball.' At different times, the name of the game also would include 'mush ball' and 'pumpkin ball.' It wasn't until 1926 that the term 'softball' was used, when Walter Hakanson of the YMCA of Denver, Colorado conceived of it while attending a meeting in Greeley, Colorado to form the Colorado Amateur Softball Association. There have been many variations of the game over the years as well. As the sport became more popular, leagues formed to help the sport grow. In 1931, an age 75-and-older team was formed, traveling around in suits playing the game, and calling themselves Kids and Kubs. Two years later the first-ever national amateur softball tournament took place in conjunction with Chicago's World's Fair and soon after, the reporter who wrote about the event, Leo Fischer, helped establish the Amateur Softball Association. Over the next seven years it was determined that more than five million players were active in the game. In 1946, the National Fastball League was established and was considered to be the top male fast pitch league to ever be put together. That year also saw the famous Eddie Feigner organize the King and His Court, a

Believe it or not softball was created by males. People consider it a women’s sport though. Softball was created in 1887 when men joined together in Chicago Farragut baseball club to listen to Harvard vs Yale football game. The inventor of indoor baseball was George Hancock. The reason it was invented it because a Yale supporter threw and boxing glove at a Harvard fan while yell “let’s play ball”. It then became its own sport in 1991. http://softball.isport.com. The first game was played on Thanksgiving. The rules for softball we created in 1889 which was only 2 years after they game was even thought of.

The All American Girl’s Professional Baseball League both challenged and reinforced traditional women’s roles. The AAGPBL only lasted for eleven years, but its effects are not forgotten. Towards the beginnings of the lead, along with the influential leaders, the players were the ones to make it famous. The AAGPBL made women athletics a possibility today and helped America to emerge to why women athletes are necessary. After the men returned from war, the league began to decline and the women were eventually forced back into being housewives and back into the households.

A scout from the a All-American Girls Professional Baseball League saw me practicing and persuaded me to tryout in Chicago in 1942. The league was formed because the men were all off at war and they needed women to play to keep sales going.

Joining the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League brought a new opportunity for females. Many females were filling in masculine jobs

Before we told our daughters that they could be anyone, or anything they wanted to be, we told them that they could only be what was acceptable for women to be, and that they could only do things that were considered "ladylike." It was at this time, when the nation was frenzied with the business of war, that the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League decided that they could do and be whatever it was that they chose. These women broke free of the limitations that their family and society had set for them, and publicly broke into what had been an exclusively male sport up until that time.

It wasn’t the first time the legendary Babe Didrikson took the mound in a Major League Baseball game, but it turned out to be the most eventful. During the 1934 spring training season in Florida, the woman known as the greatest female athlete in the world was making the MLB exhibition circuit. On March 21, 1934, she would be part of one of the rarest plays in professional sports.

As Babe once said, “If you win through bad sportsmanship, that’s no real victory.” In my opinion I think that she lived by this statement throughout her entire life which built up the strength and confidence for her to win. In the early years of her life, Babe moved to Beaumont, Texas with her family in 1915, attended Beaumont High

Baseball was called the “the national pastime” for the first time in December of 1856, years before the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, even came into existence in the year 1869. Baseball continued to develop and gain popularity throughout the end of the 19th century. Baseball spread after the Civil War by prisoners of war and soldiers where it was encouraged by officers as a way to pass the time and it allowed soldiers to take their minds off the situation at hand. The soldiers went home and brought their new knowledge with them, spreading the newly popular game to their children. Thus, baseball found its roots and started to grow into its title of “national pastime”.

The committee later became the foundation of the International Joint Rules Committee on Softball. In 1933, the Amateur Softball Association of America became the governing body of the sport. Today, the World Baseball Softball Confederation regulates the

Babe was born on June 26, 1911 in Port Arthur,Texas. That exact date was the day there was a huge blast on a barge in Port Arthur. Babe was the sixth of seven children to be born by Norwegian immigrants Ole Nickolene and Hannah Marie (Olson) Didrikson. In 1915 her family moved to Beaumont, Texas where a deadly hurricane hit and her brother Arthur Storm was born. 1915 was also the part of Babe’s life where she started to become a skilled athlete on some rustic equipment her father gave her brother and sisters. Babe actually got her nickname from sandlot games she would play with neighborhood boys who thought she batted like Babe Ruth. By high school, around 1930, she became very talented and that is when she got recruited to Spark’s, a company’s semi professional women’s basketball team. Between 1930 and 1932 she led the Golden Cyclones to two finals and a national championship where they were voted All-American each

This led to the formation of organizations like the national committee on Women’s Sports, to provide rules and standards for athletic participation for women and girls. The AAU, Amateur Athletic Union, which was under the control of men, took control over women’s athletics. This stirred up conflict amongst physical educators and other leaders like, Lou Henry Hoover, Blanche Thrilling, and Agnes Wayman who opposed the AAU control and wanted women to govern the organization not men. They were against it because “ only women could understand the psychological, motivational, and physiological need for women.” (Costa & Guthrie, 91)