It was 1943, and Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs,
had a problem.
The draft was threatening to gut the rosters
of Major League Baseball.
Wrigley worried attendance at his ballpark
would plummet with a wartime thin roster.
And so he scoured the continent to enlist women
to keep baseball alive until the men returned home.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
was born.
>> It really kind of just started
as we need to keep baseball alive.
It's a big morale boost.
People will want to see it, and having it kind of
in the heartland of America.
>> The All-American had four teams that inaugural year.
They were founded in small towns around Chicago,
including one in Indiana, the South Bend Blue Sox.
>> When we first started playing,
people came out to laugh, you know?
Oh, my god, you know, girl baseball players, but we --
we showed them that we could play just as well as men.
>> And they did it in skirts!
♪
>> They did have in mind functionality and things like
that, but also had to take into account the femininity standard.
>> Kristen Madden is the archivist at
the South Bend History Museum, home to the official archive
of the All-American.
>> I think the girls were probably okay with it overall,
because it gave them the opportunity to play,
but I don't think anybody really wants to play baseball
and slide in a dress.
>> Any injuries from sliding -- or strawberries --
certainly didn't stop the likes of Sophie Kurys,
the most prolific base stealer in the history of the league.
In her 1946 season alone, she stole 201 bases.
>> We never quit.
Listen, you could get strawberry upon strawberry and
go on the other side, and you would get another strawberry.
But I tell you, the women were far tougher than these guys
that are playing ball nowadays.
>> As the women continued to prove themselves,
the league began to catch on.
By 1948, there were 10 teams across the Midwest,
and attendance soared to 900,000.
>> An all-American pastime, baseball brings out the
All-American Girl Baseball League for spring training
at Alexandria, Virginia.
>> The competition was fierce!
A shortened baseline, and the eventual introduction
of the overhand pitch made for a fast-paced game,
on par with the men's league.
>> Tiby Eisen slides home with a run and a nicely bruised leg.
Better a bruise than long pants, hey, gals?
>> The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
was 100% real professional baseball!
And they are out there busting their butts
so that they could do something that they loved.
>> But it wouldn't last.
After years of mismanagement, the small town clubs
began to falter.
Television and the automobile were drawing fans elsewhere.
In 1954, after 12 seasons, the league abruptly folded.
It was soon largely forgotten.
>> People made fun of you.
Like, you told them you played
and you played men's rules and that.
They're like, yeah.
You know? Yeah, right.
So you -- you felt embarrassed, you know?
So there came a time where you didn't tell anybody.
>> In 1986, former players founded the players association.
They began advocating on behalf of the members, and by 1988,
they were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
>> Okay.
Let me see what happens, Rosie and Madonna.
>> Then in 1992, Penny Marshall gave the women
of the All-American the Hollywood treatment!
>> There's no crying!
There's no crying in baseball!
>> "A League of Their Own" was a box office grand slam!
It brought the All-American out from the shadows
and elevated the players to near folk hero status.
>> You know, nobody paid attention to us
for the longest time, and then all a sudden Penny Marshall,
it clicked in her head, that'd make a great baseball movie,
and by golly it did!
>> Today, the women of the All-American Girls Professional
Baseball League are considered pioneers in women's sports,
but back then, they were just playing a game they loved.
>> We all would have played for free!
Just to have -- just to be out there playing
in front of the public.
That's it.
Loved the game.
They really loved the game.
There's no kidding about that.