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| Q: | Was the AAGPBL the very first professional sport available to women? |
| A: | I do not know what the very first professional sport was for women, but I do know that the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was the first women's professional baseball league. |
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| Q: | Do you think the movie, "A League of Their Own" accurately depicted the League? |
| A: | Yes, I do believe that it portrayed the League very well, except for a couple of scenes which I tell about in my new book, "A League of My Own" published by McFarland Publishing. We personally met with the Director, Penny Marshall, over the three day celebration of our induction ceremony at the "Women in Baseball" display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Penny Marshall taped interviews with us and asked many questions about the League. When she began filming, she invited the former players to participate, and she had some former players as consultants on the movie. |
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| Q: | When did you play in the baseball league, and what position did you play? |
| A: | I played in the League in 1950 and 1951. I was a pitcher. |
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| Q: | How do you think the women players compared to the men players? |
| A: | I do not think women's sports should be about men and women competing. I believe that the issue of women's sports is that women should be allowed to have teams and play all sports, especially those which were previously denied to them, like baseball, ice hockey, etc. If there are no girls teams available in a certain area, then a girl should be allowed to play on the boys team if she is good enough. There are professional women ice hockey goalies who have tried out for men's teams, and there are a few girls who play on the boys high school baseball teams. |
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| Q: | How many teams were in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League? |
| A: | There were originally four teams, but gradually the League grew to twelve teams. |
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| Q: | How did the AAGPBL affect women in sports today? |
| A: | The AAGPBL ceased operation in 1954, and for many years was the forgotten league. But after including us, in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988 with the Women in Baseball display, the media became interested in our league. There were many TV interviews, newspaper articles and books written about the league. All this attention helped to create an interest in women playing professional sports, especially baseball. Quite a few people were surprised to discover that women could play baseball. Then when Penny Marshall's movie, "A League of Their Own" came out in 1992, interest in the history of the league was spread around the country. As people learned about the AAGPBL, they discovered that women can play baseball. As a result, women today are beginning to play baseball around the country, and the renewed interest in women in sports has opened up many different sports to women. |
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| Q: | Did you do much traveling with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball team? |
| A: | Yes. With the Kenosha Comets I traveled throughout the mid-west on the exhibition tour, and then went to Wisconsin where the Comets home field was located. I traveled all around the United States and Canada with the Chicago Colleens and the Springfield Sallies. My book, "A League of My Own", tells about the places where we played baseball including such Major League Ballparks as Yankee Stadium in NY, Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. |
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