All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Baseball – a multi-billion dollar sports amusement industry, a sport that gathers millions and millions of fans in major league arenas every year. The sport has created numerous legends from past to present including the most celebrated Babe Ruth, who was famous for his mysterious baseball bat which was allegedly made from a tree in Mt. Olympus – a mythical place for Greek Gods. Babe Ruth was even featured in a full-length 3D animation movie, Everyone’s Hero. The impact of the sport is enormous. As graceful as each swing of the bat, people are thrilled with every baseball game, no matter what league, no matter what team, no matter what happens.

The baseball world however, didn’t come before as successful as it is today. There was one time when baseball was at the brink of closure. But thanks to one man – who battled the odds, saved the sport and created the popular All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. This is a story of the first days of the league.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed in the year 1943 through the efforts of a man we know today as the father of chewing gum.

Rewind to the year 1942, the height of the Second World War. All American males were commissioned to join the armed forces to defend the country. Businessmen, bank owners, farmers and even students had to drop their books and pens in exchange for ammunitions. Among the industries that felt the mammoth exodus of recruits is the sports industry, particularly baseball.

Wrigley was the son of the former franchisee of the Chicago Cubs. In order to bring back people to the Major League Baseball sport packs, Wrigley formed the All-American Girls Softball League – the mother of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

With the assistance of Ken Sells, the Assistant to the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs, Philip K. Wrigley and the team gathered the best female players in the United States and Canada to form this new league. This league was intended to be a non-profit entity. And through the able leadership of the Board of Trustees that included Branch Rickey, Philip K. Wrigley, Paul V. Harper, Ken Sells, and Brooklyn Dodgers, the All-American Girls Softball League started its first season right away in the year 1943.

The concept of an all-female baseball league picked up and was an instant hit. It gathered crowds. But the first years of the new all-girl team weren’t that good. It had to undergo name issues and concerns regarding rules. On that same year, the BOT decided to change the name of the organization to the All-American Girls Baseball League or the AAGBBL. This was to stay coherent with the rules of the Major League Baseball.

Rules regarding playing, specifically the shorter distances of the infield and the underhand pitching, triggered Wrigley to change the name of the league to All-American Girls Professional Ball League or the AAGPBL this happened on the same year. But because of many issues that arose later, it had to change to two more names. Finally in the year 1988, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was officially adapted.

The hunt for the best players for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League went on. The priority of the organizers was to get the players in order to draw more spectators. The people behind the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League even conducted femininity and etiquette classes for the girls.

Because of its strong will to stand against the odds, Wrigley and the League not only pulled off and gained massive crowds, they also made giant names in female baseball including Mary Baker, Shirley Jameson and Clara Schillace. Why the League had to change its names more than once was because it was the desire of Philip K. Wrigley to showcase the ability of female in sports and once more bring back the love for baseball.