Play Ball!
Winning contest essay describes women at bat during World War II.
I’m sure you know what baseball is. You might have seen it on TV once or twice, or you might be the biggest fan in the world! And I’ll bet you know that only men play in the professional league. But have you ever heard of women playing professional baseball? This is the amazing story of a woman who was part of women’s minor league baseball during World War II (1939–1945).
Throughout the United States, young men, including popular baseball players, were sent off to fight in the war. The owner of the Chicago Cubs, Philip K. Wrigley, decided to start a women’s baseball league to keep the sport going. [The league ran from 1943–1954, with hundreds of women hitting the baseball diamond to play for teams throughout the Midwest.] That’s how Mrs. Fran Russmann came to play ball! Her team, the Blue Island Dianas, was a minor league team in Chicago, Ill.
Mrs. Russmann was 22 years old when she started playing. A few boys she knew asked her whether she wanted to play baseball, and she replied yes. She was very sports-minded and decided to try it. She traveled all over Illinois to play games, and she had to take a streetcar to practices! [That is a bus-like vehicle that moves on rails around cities. Streetcars were common in the 1940s.] The Blue Island Dianas played mostly on the South Side of Chicago and in small towns throughout Illinois.
People reacted differently when women started playing baseball. “We were a novelty, seeing girls play,” Mrs. Russmann told me. A novelty is something unique or different. Female players had to be ladylike as well.
She remembers how she felt while playing baseball. Her favorite position to play was second base, and she loved the game, though she was a bit nervous—but excited—when everyone was watching. [Thousands of fans filled stadiums to watch the women’s teams play games.] Mrs. Russmann’s favorite thing about baseball was hearing the crowd cheer because she knew she was entertaining them. Back then, there was no TV or Internet, so this was entertainment.
When I asked Mrs. Russmann about the thing she disliked the most, she chuckled and answered, “Sliding into second base. When you did, you got strawberries.” A strawberry is a bright red bruise that can sometimes bleed. Female baseball players got them more because they had to wear skirts as part of their uniform, unlike men, who wore pants. [When women slid in skirts, their legs often got scraped and bruised. ]
Mrs. Russmann told me the most important thing she will always remember was having fun and learning sportsmanship. That is fair and respectful behavior by an athlete. “Just being out there was wonderful to me,” she said.
When I asked how she felt about being part of a historic event, she said, “I never thought I was part of a [historic] event until I watched the movie A League of Their Own. Then I realized I was!” Mrs. Russmann played baseball for two years. “I’m so happy I tried out,” she told me. “It was a wonderful experience.”
Lessons Learned
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a guy or a girl, whether you have dark skin or light skin, whether you’re young or old. All that matters is that if you want to do something, then go for it! You might just think it was one of the best things you’ve ever done. And you might just make history!" —Maria Cieslarczyk, fifth grade
