Co-authored with Lyndall Callan; Illustrated by E.B. Lewis; Dial Books for Young Readers, 2000
Sit in the bleachers through the 1946 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League championship game and meet new heroes, like Sophie “the Flash” Kurys and Betty “Moe” Trezza.
Awards
- Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Choices
- Top 10 Youth Sports Books, Booklist
- Parents’ Choice® Gold Award Winner
Reviews
“With its economy of language and telling period details, this book provides an exciting slice of sports history and an appealing bit of Americana, and vividly conveys the spirit of one great little girl.” School Library Journal, starred review
“During WWII, as men went overseas, women assumed many of their jobs; Rappaport and Callan enthusiastically invent a fictional witness to that historical moment when baseball, too, was taken over by women.” Kirkus Reviews
“PLAY BALL!”
Margaret and her mom in the stands waiting for the game to start…
You had to be really, really good to play in the 1946 championship game between the Racine Belles and the Rockford Peaches. Sitting in the stands, Margaret thrills to every crack of the bat. Someday she hopes to join her heroes like Sophie “the Flash” Kurys and Betty “Moe” Trezza.
As the ball hurtles toward the plate, Margaret can almost feel what it would be like to be in that batter’s position, arms tensed, bat held high.
 
The Racine Belles at Horlick Field in Racine, Wisconsin
Filmed between 1943 and 1945 [0.52 seconds]
All American Girls Professional Baseball League with players:
Dotty Schroeder, Kate VonDroll, Patt Scott, Jean Marlow, Tibby Eisen and the great Joanne Weaver.
The movie, “League of Their Own” was based on these women players.
The Rockford Peaches of Rockford, Illionois
Rockford Peaches team members were on hand to witness rededication of
Beyer Field, June 2010, where they played from 1943 to1954.
Learn More
DR and LC: We became interested in the topic after thinking about the movie, A League of Their Own, which taught both of us about women playing baseball. Neither of us knew about this before. Doreen played softball when she was a kid and followed the travails of her favorite team, the Brooklyn Dodgers until her mid-20s; Lyndie loved playing sports, but didn’t follow professional games. Of course as women and feminists, we think it crucial that girls as well as boys learn about the varied roles played by women throughout history. There’s still too little written about women athletes.
AAGPBL, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Players Association
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – a women’s professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954 [the name and ownership changed several times].
Racine Belles – one of the original teams of the AAGPBL playing from 1943 to l950 in Racine, Wisconsin and played home games at Horlick Field. They were the 1946 League and Playoff Champions.
Rockford Peaches – from Rockford, Illinois were a women’s professional baseball team and played their home games at Beyer Stadium, renamed Beyer Field in 2010.
Women’s Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King was created to advance the lives of women and girls through sports and physical activity.
Return to Celebrating Women’s History or Return to Find in a Library