All-American Professional Girls Baseball League Collection, ca. 1950
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APPRAISER:
Okay, put on that glove-- I want to see what you do.
GUEST:
Hmm, babe!
APPRAISER:
Scrunch down. That's right.
GUEST:
That all right?
APPRAISER:
This is you, circa 1951. How did you drop down into the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League?
GUEST:
I went to visit a friend and a cousin in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He said, "How would you like to go see the Fort Wayne Daisies play baseball tonight?" And being a softball player myself and having played baseball with the boys, I said, "What a great idea-- let's go." At the end of the ninth inning, I turned to him and I said, "You know, I can do that." The next day, I had a tryout with the Fort Wayne Daisies, with Max Carey, right here.
APPRAISER:
Great center fielder, Hall of Famer.
GUEST:
And four or five of the Fort Wayne Daisies at the time. And at the end of the hour or hour and a half, he said to me, "Lois, we'll call you."
APPRAISER. (laughs)
GUEST:
"We will let you know."
APPRAISER:
Wow.
GUEST:
In January, I received a letter inviting me to spring training in Alexandria, Virginia. And off I went.
APPRAISER:
17 years old.
GUEST:
Got special dispensation from the county superintendent to get out of school.
APPRAISER:
Wow. And how long did you play for?
GUEST:
Four years. The league folded, actually, in 1954.
APPRAISER:
Right, disbanded.
GUEST:
Bill Allington, he was one of the longtime, very, very great managers in the league-- and he said, "I am going to take "a group of former players in the league, and we're going to barnstorm." We're gonna play against men."
APPRAISER:
How did you do?
GUEST:
I was just happy that every night I didn't get killed.
APPRAISER:
And you've brought your collection, some of your collection-- there's much more...
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
...from your time with the All-American Girls Baseball League. I know you played for two teams, the Daisies, and you played also for, uh, the Blue Sox, correct?
GUEST:
Blue Sox, yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
South Bend. This is when you played with the Daisies. Here you are, and Jimmie Foxx is right here. He was your manager. He managed for one year.
GUEST:
That's right.
APPRAISER:
Jimmie Foxx, another great Hall of Famer. And I believe Jimmie Foxx was pretty much the, the figure that they used to base Tom Hanks' character in "A League of Their Own." Now, was he really like that?
GUEST:
No-- if I had an opportunity to set the record straight, I don't think there was a player on the Fort Wayne team that did not adore Jimmie Foxx.
APPRAISER:
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League got started in 1943, when the Major League players, many of them, went off to war, and Philip K. Wrigley, who was the, uh, chewing gum magnate...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Started it so they could maintain baseball in the public eye. And I see they made the women at that time wear these spiffy outfits.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Which today would almost be considered miniskirts. So there's your catcher's mitt that you caught the game. This is your original cap. That's your jacket with the original patches. This is an example of a ball that they used in later years. The ball kept changing, getting smaller.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
From 12 inches to nine inches. We have the championship photo signed by Jimmie Foxx and the entire team. This is a facsimile of an actual program that you have signed to you by Jimmie Foxx. Your patch, the photo of you at 17 with Clark Griffith and Max Carey and the other lady who didn't make the team.
GUEST:
Yeah, I have no idea who she is.
APPRAISER:
Right. Plus, we have your scrapbook that we're not showing. We have other photos, we have a locket from you. We have other programs-- it's a treasure trove. I would put an auction estimate on the entire grouping of about $10,000.
GUEST:
I'm surprised.
APPRAISER:
Not bad for a girl baseball player.
GUEST:
Not... Not bad for a 17-year-old that didn't know where New York City was.
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