The baseball season at all levels is in “full swing” and is of great interest to many of us.
There is one league, however, that many are too young to remember: The American Girls Professional Baseball League. During WWII, when most men were serving our country, there was a need for women to step up and fill positions seldom open to them and playing baseball was one.
The League existed from 1943 to 1954 and gave more than 500 women an opportunity that had never before existed. One team had a player from Springfield, yes, OUR Springfield.
Rosie Folder Powell played as a pitcher and outfielder for the Kenosha Comets.
Folder Powell’s playing career in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was marked by her versatility. She achieved a commendable batting average of .261, ranking seventh in the league during a season dominated by strong pitching, and recorded a pitching ERA of 5.67 with a 2-7 win-loss record in 14 games
After the Movie A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) came out, she became known and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, and the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame here in Springfield. She died on July 3, 2014.