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The Women's Baseball League: Facts and Figures

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• The Women's Baseball League

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Between 1943 and 1954, a total of 600 women got the chance to play professional baseball in America. This was the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which began with four teams but grew to double-digits membership.

Famous players included:

Dorothy "Dottie" Kamenshek, generally considered the league's best overall hitter

Sophie Kurys, "the Flint Flash," who stole more than 1,000 bases in her career, including an astounding 201 in 113 games in 1946

Betty Weaver Foss, one of the league's fiercest hitters, won two batting titles and had 312 career RBIs

Jean Faut, possibly the league's best-ever pitcher, had 12 shutouts in 1949 alone and had a lifetime won-loss record of 140-64 and a lifetime ERA of 1.23

The various teams in the AAGPBL were these:

Illinois
Chicago Colleens
Peoria Redwings
Rockford Peaches
Springfield Sallies

Indiana
Fort Wayne (Ind.) Daisies
South Bend Blue Sox

Michigan
Grand Rapids Chicks
Kalamazoo Lassies

Wisconsin
Kenosha Comets
Milwaukee Chicks
Minneapolis Lassies
Racine Belles

Interest in the AAGPBL rose again in the 1980s, capped by exposure from the hit movie A League of Their Own. Many veterans of the women's baseball league appeared in that movie, which started Geena Davis as a character based on Kamenshek.

Some statistics of note from the AAGPBL:

Most championships:
League Fort Wayne Daisies 1952–1954
Playoffs Rockford Peaches 1945, 1948–1950

Most RBIs: Dorothy Schroeder, 431
Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, Kenosha, South Bend

Most stolen bases: 1,114 career, Sophie Kurys, Racine Belles
201 in a season, in 113 games in 1946

Highest batting average: .429, Joanne Weaver, 1954 Fort Wayne Daisies

Most wins: 33 (33-9) Connie Wisniewski, Grand Rapid Chicks, 1946 (She went 32-11 the year before. Her ERA both years was 0.81 and 0.96, respectively.)