On Saturday, May 2nd, the Bishop Hill Heritage Association is hosting a ‘Women’s Baseball in Illinois and the Midwest’ program, exploring how the state played a significant role in the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, informs Administrator Todd DeDecker:
“It is being presented by Anna Sielaff, she is a local History Librarian from the Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection in Springfield. She is a women’s baseball expert, and she is going to talk about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the one that was made famous by making their own movie, with an emphasis on the Illinois teams; the Rockford Peaches, the Springfield Sallies, the Peoria Redwings, and the Chicago Colleens,” shares DeDecker.
“I think it is especially appropriate because this is the year they are starting a Women’s Professional Baseball League and there is a Springfield team. I think it is really appropriate that we take a step back, review the history of how we got to women’s professional baseball today. Anna will cover topics like the “Charm School” you saw in the movie, player uniforms, and their promotions and publicity that they used to get women’s baseball into the spotlight during World War II. This is part of our series of programs that the Bishop Hill Heritage Association is doing this year to celebrate America’s birthday,” DeDecker adds.
The free ‘Women’s Baseball in Illinois and the Midwest’ program in Bishop Hill will begin at 1 pm, Saturday, May 2nd, in the Steeple Building Museum, located at 103 North Bishop Hill Street.
