The Cathedral City Classic Welcomes:

The Women in Baseball:  All-American Girls Professional Baseball League 1943 – 1954

In 1943, women continued breaking barriers in sports when the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was formed to keep baseball alive when many major league players were fighting in World War II.  President Roosevelt approached the owner of the Chicago Cubs, (chewing gum mogul Mr. Wrigley), and asked him to think of a way to keep baseball alive.  As a result, the AAGPBL was the first professionally organized team sport for women in the United States.  The AAGPBL took girls off the farms and out of the kitchen and showed America that girls could be athletes.  The AAGPBL began in 1943 with four teams from the Midwest and by 1948, the AAGPBL had grown in popularity to 10 teams and one million fans.  During the course of the league, 1943 to 1954, the AAGPBL was comprised of nearly 600 players from the United States, Canada and Cuba.  Their love of the game presented them with new opportunities for travel, friendships, and a place in history as having paved the way to new roles for women in contemporary American society.

The women of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY in 1988.  In 1992, Penny Marshall created the movie "A League of their Own", telling the story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.  In 2003, the Baseball Hall of Fame honored the All American Girls Professional Baseball League with a permanent "Women in Baseball" exhibit.