Women’s Professional Baseball

Female Baseball Players
Over 600 women played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1943-1954.

The World Series is popular today. But in the fall of 1942, young men 18 and over were drafted to fight in World War II. Many baseball teams didn’t have enough members to play. What could baseball team owners do?

A group of people came up with a new idea. They formed a league of women players—the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The league started with four teams in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. The League grew, and training camps opened all over the country.

The league was a success! People accepted women as baseball players. The women were talented, and the games were exciting. Ballparks became popular places once again!

The AAGPBL started as a way to keep baseball going during the War. But it became a place for talented women athletes for years after the War was over. While the AAGPBL is no longer around, women athletes participate in many sports.

What Do You Think? How do you think the AAGPBL paved the way for female athletes in the future?

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