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Ontario players with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Achievements:

  • 1943 – Gladys Davis played on the All-Star team
  • 1944 – Gladys Davis’ team, the Milwaukee Chicks, became champions
  • 1946 – Thelma Jo Walmsley’s team, the Racine Belles, became champions
  • 1998 – These Ontario players were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

During the Second World War, women took on typical male professions, including that of baseball players. An All-American Girls Professional
Baseball League (AAGPBL) was created to maintain interest in baseball. Included in the league were 64 Canadian women, five of whom were from
Ontario. In 1992, the movie A League of Their Own was based on the AAGPBL and focused on specific teams and players. The young women from Ontario who played in the league included:

  • Dorothy Cook from St. Catharines – who played for the Fort Wayne Daisies and the Rockford Peaches
  • Gladys Davis (b. 1919) from Toronto – who played for the Rockford Peaches and who, in 1943, was the first batting champion of the league; Davis also played with the Milwaukee Chicks and the Muskegon Lassies
  • Helen Sandiford (1919-93) from Toronto – who was a catcher for the Rockford Peaches
  • June Rose Schofield (1926-2002) from Toronto – who played for the Springfield Sallies, the Muskegon Lassies and the Peoria Redwings
  • Thelma Jo Walmsley (b. 1918) from Sudbury – who played for the Racine Belles

These women were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Learn more about the league, its teams and players on the official All-American Girls Professional Baseball League website.

Read more about the Canadian women involved and see related artifacts on the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum website.

Watch a CBS Sunday Morning story on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.