A League of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

by Patricia I. Brown

Growing up, Pat Brown had two dreams: to play baseball and to attend college. She was told she couldn't play baseball because she was a girl and couldn't attend college because she had no money, but in spite of the obstacles, she achieved both of these dreams, playing for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1950 and 1951 and going on to attend college. She is among the few women professional baseball players to be included into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. "As the only former AAGPBL player to have written about the League," Brown says, "I feel like I have finally pitched my no hit game." This is a memoir of playing baseball on the sandlot, discovering and playing in the AAGPBL, and playing basketball in college. Brown shares her thoughts on the League's history, including what Philip K. Wrigley sought to do by creating the AAGPBL, what happened after Wrigley left to give more attention to the Chicago Cubs, and why the League ended. She also considers the future for women's professional baseball. Interviews with such former AAGPBL players as Helen Hannah Campbell, Patricia "Pat" Courtney, Madeline "Maddy" English, Lenora "Smokey" Mandella, Jacqueline "Jackie" Matson, Jane Moffet, Mary "Sis" Moore, and Janet "Pee Wee" Wiley are included.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Baseball

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2003

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiography of one of the AAGPBL pitchers, who was with them for two seasons on the traveling teams. This feels almost more oral history--it's written like she's talking straight to you, in all the awkwardness that speech and conversation bring. Still, it was fascinating to see how she went from struggling to gets boys to let her play, to playing whatever sports her high school allowed, to the League, and then starting a few college level teams, too. And then going off to be a librarian and getting her law degree to be a law librarian. She is not an underachiever, basically!

I loved reading about the induction into the Hall of Fame and all it entailed, the filming of the movie, and the appendices covering the rules and their rationale, why Wrigley started and how it kept going, etc. I like how she called out the sexism of the 50s, taking sports away from girls in a way that we've never really gotten back--even today when the MLB talks about attracting women and getting bats into the hands of all children, they don't want women playing and they mean boys. The unwritten rule of the 50s that girls and women don't play ball still exists today, and it sucks. I love seeing Pitch and Ellen Emerson White's latest book dismantling that a bit, and hopefully we'll see strides forward again some day.

[John Nondorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe not the best written book I've read, but it's a great and important look at the AAGPBL by a former player. Love the attention paid to the lesser-known traveling/developmental teams from Chicago and Springfield as well as the interviews with other players who came up with the Colleens and Sallies in the early 1950s.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book.

[LeOta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read.