More than 70 years ago, the women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in cities across the Midwest were known as the Girls of Summer, and when the league folded in 1954 after a dozen seasons, they were promptly forgotten.
But ever since the movie “A League of Their Own” reintroduced the women players to America in 1992, their story has resonated widely. Some of the players still appear at card shows, baseball games and reunions that have provided them with a measure of fame, and even money, that eluded them during their playing days.
One of their latest appearances took place in Rockford, Ill., this summer. On a sunny morning at Beyer Peaches Stadium, seven alumnae of the all-women’s league sat near home plate wearing pink, pistachio green and light blue jerseys of the teams they played for.
They were showered in cheers from the future of their beloved sport — hundreds of young female baseball players who sat in the infield — and mobbed for autographs and photos afterward.
On the same weekend that the older former women players gathered for their reunion, six nations, including Australia, Brazil and South Korea, competed for spots in the Women’s Baseball World Cup across town at Rivets Stadium.
And about 20 miles away, Baseball for All, the largest youth baseball league for girls, held its national tournament, which was almost twice the size of last year’s event.
This gave the festivities the feel of a women’s baseball Woodstock, and a symbolic passing of a baton.
Justine Siegal, the founder of Baseball for All, told the 900 girls assembled in the infield how coaches had tried to block her from playing baseball years ago, and how injuries had cut her career short. The girls, Ms. Siegal said, were going to go where she and the women who played in the 1940s and 1950s could not.
“I knew I was always alone, but now I know I’m not alone,” said Ms. Siegel, the first woman to coach a professional men’s baseball team, the Brockton Rox, based in Canada. Then she turned to the older players. “We stand on your shoulders.”
Women’s baseball is attracting a groundswell of interest as women’s sports overall is booming. Since 2024, 10 professional women’s leagues have debuted.
But women’s baseball has long lagged behind other women’s sports because girls have been steered into softball. Women who played professionally have done so on traveling teams like the Colorado Silver Bullets, which was sponsored by Coors, or as curiosities. In 2010, Eri Yoshida, a Japanese pitcher known as the Knuckle Princess, played for the Chico Outlaws in the Golden Baseball League. This spring, Olivia Pichardo at Brown University became the first female athlete to pitch in an N.C.A.A. Division I baseball game.
Last month, the Women’s Professional Baseball League — which features 68 players on four teams — began an eight-week season played entirely in Springfield, Ill. The season, which just ended, had a rocky debut. The W.P.B.L. said it had averaged fewer than 2,000 tickets sold per game, and while it has 910,000 followers on social media, its games were shown primarily on a subscription streaming service.
Separately, a board member and investor in the league, Mina Kim, sued the W.P.B.L., claiming that its chief executive, Keith Stein, mismanaged the league’s finances. The league said in a statement that it had “participated fully” in a request for records and denied Ms. Kim’s allegations. Mr. Stein said in an email that the league had “a healthy seven-figure number in our bank account” and that it expected to acquire new financing in the coming months.
The alumnae are hopeful pro baseball is here to stay.
“I’m thrilled it’s come so far but needs to still go further,” said Mary Moore, known as Sis, 94, who played three seasons for the Springfield Sallies and Battle Creek Belles.
For decades, a full-fledged baseball league was a pipe dream. Many of the women who played in the league left emboldened. Yet interest in the women’s baseball faded after major league ballplayers returned from World War II. Televisions gave fans more reasons to stay home. Family and friends stopped asking questions, so the players threw their gloves and uniforms in the attic and got on with life.
“You tell them you played ball, they all assumed it was softball, so after a while, you just didn’t mention it,” Ms. Moore said.
In 1982, some of the more than 600 former players held their first reunion. Six years later, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., held an exhibit to honor the players. Penny Marshall, the actor, director and avid baseball fan, was there and left determined to make a movie about the league.
“A League of Their Own” brought the players out of the shadows and turned the actors who portrayed them into celebrities as well. The movie was so evocative that fans still treat the actors as if they had played in the league, too. The former players and cast members — eight of whom were in Rockford — appear at many functions together.
In Rockford, fans bought autographed jerseys for $250, signed bats for $50, and trading cards, movie posters and T-shirts and caps that read, “There’s no crying in baseball,” a memorable line from the film.
Just 22 of the 639 players remain, and almost all of the women are in their 90s. Many walk with canes and are escorted by helpers. Some can no longer travel long distances.
In Rockford, Gloria McCloskey Rogers, 91, a center fielder for the Rockford Peaches in 1953, threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
Charlotte Hassinger, 11, was one of hundreds of players who lined up in Rockford to meet Clara Hellemann, a bat girl for the Peaches in 1952, who was dressed in the team’s uniform.
“I want to keep going in baseball,” said Charlotte, who traveled with her parents from San Francisco. “I loved ‘A League of Their Own.’ The moments felt so real. It was a good demonstration they could do what they wanted.”
Nearby, Kat Williams, a co-founder of the International Women’s Baseball Center, discussed plans for a permanent center in Rockford to celebrate the women’s game so its legacy can be preserved after the last of the original players is gone. Her group has already helped refurbish Beyer Stadium and is now seeking more money for a building.
“We want to use the history to inspire and show what strong women can do,” Ms. Williams said. “We can’t just keep having reunions. We need to have a home.”
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