May I introduce to you, The First Ladies of Baseball!!! These are the ladies you have all heard about, read about and saw the movie, "A League of Their Own", written about! These pioneering women played professional baseball when it was scandalous for women to being doing such things! Now these women tour the country year round to card shows, charities, schools, conventions and malls signing autographs along with such names as Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Gywnn, Nolan Ryan, Mohammed Ali and hundreds of others! Here is a little bit about their history and in the following pages you will see their baseball cards, their bios and a list of the memorabilia with autographs they have for sale to add to your collections! The All American Girls Baseball League History The U.S. was well into World War II when P.K. Wrigley received word from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the 1943 Major League baseball season might be suspended due to the manpower shortage. He wanted Wrigley to do something to keep the baseball game going until the men got home from service. In the midst of removing barriers for women to be able to work in the industry to help the war effort, Wrigley joined forces with Branch Rickey and several small town entrepreneurs to create the first professional baseball league for women. A new, more open game using men's baseball rules, with 80 feet between bases, 55 feet for the pitching distance and nine players rather than ten. This made a faster action game. Wrigley and his advertising agent promoted the new "Girls Baseball" as wholesome family entertainment for war workers. | |
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