W350 Baseball as History

Response Questions for April 6

Your name: Wesley Knott

Q1: What are the reasons that led to the founding and success of the AAGBL? What are the
reasons for its decline?
The AAGPBL was founded during World War II as a way to keep public interest in baseball
while the major league’s players were drafted to war. As many male stars went off to fight, there
was a vacancy for sport (and an empty Wrigley Field), so Cubs owner Philip Q. Wrigley founded
the league (p. 133-134). Additionally, the league was founded as a patriotic endeavor to sell war
bonds and raise morale for Americans at home and abroad (p. 135). The league was so successful
because it was different than previous women’s softball leagues where the players wore male
clothing and looked rough and rugged. Instead, the players in the AABPBL were cute and
feminine (wearing skirts), while happening to possess masculine baseball skills (p. 138). The
league began to decline when players got older and sought retirement due to their injuries and
general wear from playing for so long. When they were gone, there were not great replacements,
which diluted the talent of the league and made it less interesting (p. 147-149). The teams
subsequently started to lose money and the league was eventually forced to fold before the 1955
season (p. 149).
Q2: Why was women’s baseball, esp, semi-pro and professional ball, forgotten? What social and
cultural factors led to this collective amnesia? (If there’s historical and collective memory,
there’s also historical and collective amnesia!) How can the Gibson and the Clemmons articles
shed light on the issue of memory and forgetting about women’s baseball?
After the end of World War II, many men returned to the U.S. and gender/societal norms also
returned to the status-quo. Athletics were seen as a male endeavor while females were obliged to
raise children and keep house (p. 154). Women’s leagues no longer existed and Major League
Baseball returned to its peak. It is not until the recent years that women are starting to return to
the forefront of baseball, and still in small numbers. The Gibson and Clemmons articles highlight
young women that are climbing the ranks of baseball, either as coaches in the major leagues or
international players looking to make it big in America. However, there is almost no mention of
the AAGBPL. Gibson mentions it in passing in her article but does not highlight the fact that
these women were pioneers of their time. Both her and Clemmons present women in baseball as
a novel idea, when in fact there is a long history of women playing this “masculine” sport that
we all know and love. Hopefully this new wave of women in baseball can withstand the test of
time unlike the women of the AAGBPL.