Celebrating the Rockford Peaches

Rockford Peach uniform

In 1992 the movie 'A League of their own' starring Tom Hanks & Geena Davis was released and it did 3 things..1-It showed everyone, women can play baseball (even though we already knew that), 2-It had everyone saying "There's no crying in baseball" & 3-It peeked everyone's interest in the Rockford Peaches, especially mine. I had been living in Illinois for about 3 years and had never heard about the peaches. Everything I knew about them was from the movie and I knew better than to take it all seriously. I knew that Hollywood would change the real story around to fit their dreamy version for the big screen. I was also not aware of the Midway Village Museum at that time, so it would be awhile before I could view their display and see all of the Rockford Peaches memorabilia.

Jump forward to the present. In my visits to the museum, not only have I learned more about the Peaches, but my children have as well. I like that my kids, especially my daughter can learn about how these women came together to help keep baseball going, how well they played their sport and still behaved like a lady. We read their stories and we get to see the photos of the actual team members. It's also interesting to see what was given to the fans as promotional memorabilia and to see their cute, but not practical uniform up close.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, was founded by Philip K.Wrigley and he ran it from 1943 to 1945, Arthur Meyerhoff from 1945 to 1951, and then the teams were individually owned from 1951 to 1954. The tryouts were held at Wrigley Field  with over 600 women that would eventually form 15 teams. The women that were chosen had to play in uniforms that were designed by Wrigley to show off a little skin which he thought the fans would like. The women, however, did not like their new uniforms and would often try to wear bloomers under the skirt.

The Rockford Peaches played at The Beyer stadium on 5th Avenue in Rockford. Their uniforms were peach colored with a patch of the city of Rockford seal. For their home games they would wear a white uniforms with black socks and cap. The Rockford Peaches won the league championship in 1945, 1948, 1949, 1950 and had several all star players.

Vintage baseball game

The Midway had other celebrations for the Peaches, but this was the first I had ever attended. They had a luncheon with two of the original peaches for a fee and it would've been interesting for me, but not for my kids. We decided to enjoy the other festivities that were free and more family oriented. A vintage baseball game where visitors could either play or watch & yell vintage baseball lingo from sheets that were passed out to everyone. There was also a food tent that sold baseball favorites, another tent had been set up for arts and crafts, and a table that had Rockford Peaches memorabilia for sale.

They also had a showing of  'A League of their Own' movie on the back of one of their buildings. The kids and I brought a blanket and picked out our spot. While we waited for the film to begin, my daughter played baseball and my son participated in the arts & crafts. We made paper baseballs, colored drawings of baseball uniforms and did word searches. It was all a lot of fun, except that it was muggy & buggy. I completely forgot to bring bug spray, luckily the museum was passing out cans for everyone to use. We sprayed and sprayed against every mosquito that also came out to watch the movie. We normally would have left,  we don't do well in high humidity, but we really wanted to watch an outdoor movie. The bugs finally fled as a cool breeze came in and we were finally able to sit back, kick off shoes, buy brown paper bags filled with popcorn and enjoy the movie. I loved that my kids were able to get a bit of an idea of how a drive-in used to feel.

As we headed home the kids and I talked about the good, the bad & the buggy. My daughter loved playing baseball, the popcorn & how everyone talked about how strong women are. My son enjoyed making friends, crafts & popcorn. I enjoyed watching my kids watch an outdoor movie at my favorite museum, and like my daughter, loved that the focus was on women. We also talked about how the museum should expand the Peaches display from a corner to a whole room and include other Rockford women in sports. In the end, we all agreed that after the humidity, sprays & even with a bite or two from the baseball bugs, we still had fun and would probably do it again...Probably. 

If I sit very still, maybe bugs won't find me...

A League of their Own

 VICTORY SONG
Batter up! Hear that call!
The time has come for one and all To play ball.

We are the members of the All-American League We come from cities near and far We’ve got Canadians, Irishmen and Swedes, We’re all for one, we’re one for all We’re all Americans!!

Each girl stands, her head so proudly high, Her motto ‘Do or Die’ She’s not the one to use or need an alibi.

Our chaperones are not too soft, They’re not too tough, Our managers are on the ball. We’ve got a president who really knows his stuff, We’re all for one, we’re one for all, We’re All-Americans!