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Growing up, Pat Brown had two dreams: to play baseball and to attend college. She was told she couldn't play baseball because she was a girl and couldn't attend college because she had no money, but in spite of the obstacles, she achieved both of these dreams, playing for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1950 and 1951 and going on to attend college. She is among the few women professional baseball players to be included into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. "As the only former AAGPBL player to have written about the League," Brown says, "I feel like I have finally pitched my no hit game." This is a memoir of playing baseball on the sandlot, discovering and playing in the AAGPBL, and playing basketball in college. Brown shares her thoughts on the League's history, including what Philip K. Wrigley sought to do by creating the AAGPBL, what happened after Wrigley left to give more attention to the Chicago Cubs, and why the League ended. She also considers the future for women's professional baseball. Interviews with such former AAGPBL players as Helen Hannah Campbell, Patricia "Pat" Courtney, Madeline "Maddy" English, Lenora "Smokey" Mandella, Jacqueline "Jackie" Matson, Jane Moffet, Mary "Sis" Moore, and Janet "Pee Wee" Wiley are included.
Even though teenaged girl Jackie Mitchell once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, women are still striking out on the hardball diamond. This book builds on recently published histories of women as amateur and professional players, umpires, sports commentators and fans to analyze the cultural and historical contexts for excluding females from America's pastime. Drawing on anthropological and feminist perspectives, the book examines the ways that constructions of women's bodies and normative social roles have pushed them toward softball instead of baseball. Sportswriter accounts, Title IX sex-discrimination suits, and interviews with players explore the obstacles and the social isolation of females who join all-male baseball teams, while also discussing policies that inhibit the practice.
Until 1947, professional ball players were paid only from opening day to season's end. Even during the season, a lot of their expenses came out of their own pockets. Even the best-paid players had trouble making ends meet. One answer to their money woes was barnstorming--tours out of season. Cities lacking their own major league teams were happy to host big-league players for such events, as well as for special exhibition games whose proceeds sometimes went to local charities. Here is a history of barnstorming and exhibition games from 1901 (when both of the two current major leagues began operating) through 1962 (when a team led by Willie Mays was unsuccessful in its attempt at a tour, signaling an end to true barnstorming). Decade by decade, it covers the teams, the games, and the players for a detailed look at how barnstorming and exhibition brought big-league baseball to the backyard ballparks of America.
Women have been involved in baseball from the game's early days, in a wide range of capacities. This ambitious encyclopedia provides information on women players, managers, teams, leagues, and issues since the mid-19th century. Players are listed by maiden name with married name, when known, in parentheses. Information provided includes birth date, death date, team, dates of play, career statistics and brief biographical notes when available. Related entries are noted for easy cross-reference. Appendices include the rosters of the World War II era All American Girls Professional Baseball League teams; the standings and championships from the AAGPBL; and all women's baseball teams and players identified to date.
Statues of Hank Aaron and Robin Yount, two of Milwaukee's baseball heroes, stand outside the city's palatial new Miller Park. Aaron and Yount represent two generations of major league baseball in Milwaukee, but what about professional baseball in Milwaukee before the arrival of the major league Braves in 1953? Why was it such an important city for minor league baseball? This book traces Milwaukee's baseball history from the game's first appearance in the city in 1859 to the Brewers' last American Association season in 1952. It covers Rufus King, the man responsible for bringing baseball to Milwaukee, and his efforts at getting the game off to a successful start in the city, Milwaukee's status as the largest minor league market in the Northwestern League and Western Association, legendary manager Connie Mack, southpaw Rube Waddell, Hall of Fame player Hugh Duffy, who managed the team to its only Western League pennant in 1903, widowed owner Agnes Malloy Havenor, who chose veteran third baseman Harry Clark to lead the Brewers to their first two AA pennants in 1913 and 1914, colorful owner Otto Borchert, the Brewers' pennant-winning 1936 season under manager Al Sothoron, the "golden era" of minor league baseball in the city, highlighted by owner Bill Veeck's sideshows and colorful managers Casey Stengel, "Jolly Cholly" Grimm, and Nick "Tomato Face" Cullop, and the last years of minor league baseball in 1952 before the arrival of the Braves.
As World War II depleted the available manpower available to the major and minor leagues, Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley came up with a plan to ensure baseball would continue in the war years: the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The inaugural season in 1943 was so successful that two additional teams were added for 1944. One of the players brought in to fill the rosters of the new teams was Dottie Wiltse, a star softball player from Southern California. Assigned to the newly formed Minneapolis Millerettes, Wiltse went on to become one of the dominant players in the AAGPBL. During her six-year career with the Millerettes and the Fort Wayne Daisies, Dottie Wiltse Collins (married to Harvey Collins in 1946) pitched in 223 games, with a 117-76 record, 1205 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 1.83. Based on extensive research and interviews with Collins and other principals, this work covers the pitcher's early career as a softball player, her triumphs in professional baseball, and her part in the renewed interest in the women's league in the late 1980s.
Here are 42 interviews with women who competed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Each interview features data about the player, a short summary of her athletic career, and the player's recollections. A brief history covers the many changes as the league evolved from underhand pitching with a 12-inch circumference ball in 1943 to overhand pitching, adopted in 1948, through the circuit's final year, 1954, when a regulation baseball was introduced. The interviews range from 1995 to 2012 and reveal details of particular games, highlights of individual careers, the camaraderie of teammates, opponents and fans, and the impact the League made on their lives. Several players recall how the 1992 movie A League of Their Own brought the historic All-American League back to life almost 40 years after the final game was played.
The hit 1992 film A League of Their Own made the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League famous. But the players' stories remain largely untold. The 600 women who played for the AAGPBL through the 1940s and 1950s enjoyed a rare opportunity to lead independent lives as well-paid professional athletes. Their experiences in the league led many to education and careers they never imagined. As teachers, coaches and role models, they strove to broaden the horizons of girls and young women. Many continued to be involved in athletics, supporting the efforts leading to Title IX and the women's sports revolution. Today, they are dedicated to preserving the history of women in baseball and creating opportunities for girls to play.
Kat D. Williams traces Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez’s life from her childhood in Cuba, where she played baseball with the boys on the streets of El Cerro, to her reinvention as a professional baseball player and American citizen. Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez gives the reader a look into Alvarez’s young life in Cuba during the turbulent years leading up to Castro’s revolution, as political differences tore families apart. Alvarez came to the United States at fifteen, speaking no English, and experienced the challenge of immigration as her mother pushed her to become a professional athlete in her newly adopted country. Through all the changes and upheaval, Alvarez found acceptance and success as a player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, where she was called “the Rascal of El Cerro.” After the league ended, Alvarez struggled with an undiagnosed learning disability that limited her options. She persevered and reinvented herself as a factory worker but later battled alcoholism and depression until baseball returned to her life and she was able to reconnect with her former teammates and become part of the active community of former players. Alvarez’s life story illustrates the struggle and strength of a young Latina immigrant and the importance of sport to her transition to her new country and her enduring identity.
When Cramton Bowl was completed in 1922, no one had any idea of the unique place it would occupy in sports history. It was originally conceived as a multi-purpose facility that would focus on baseball and served as the spring training home for the Philadelphia A's for two seasons, with many professional teams stopping in for exhibition games, including a rematch of the 1926 World Series between the Yankees and the Cardinals in 1927. As the largest established stadium in the state during those early years, Alabama and Auburn played more than 70 football games in the facility, treating fans to the likes of Paul "Bear" Bryant and Don Hudson. It was home to the first HBCU Classic, the Turkey Day Classic between Alabama State and Tuskegee, and the site of the first night football game in the South (as well as the first night college football game and the second pro baseball game under the lights in the South). For more than 60 years it was home to the Blue-Gray All Star Football Classic where stars such as Y.A. Tittle, Len Dawson, Fran Tarkenton, Howie Long and Jerry Rice roamed the sidelines of Cramton Bowl, but there were plenty of other activities in the stadium during that time, including 'Lucky' Teter's traveling daredevil show in 1934, the Negro League World Series, games involving the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and Billy Graham's Greater Montgomery Crusade in 1965.