Michigan’s Historic Women’s Baseball Teams Featured in New Gear Line

Honoring the real-life teams featured in the movie A League of Their Own.

The 1992 movie was inspired by the first women's professional sports league in the United States, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

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While the Geena Davis and Tom Hanks led film is a fictionalized account of the Illinois team the Rockford Peaches there were plenty of AAGPBL teams throughout the Midwest including the Kalamazoo Lassies, the Racine Belles, and the South Bend Blue Sox. The league was originally founded by chewing gum magnate Phillip K. Wrigley to help keep baseball in the public eye as men went overseas to fight in World War II.

Fun Fact: Fans of the movie and baseball fanatics alike can actually visit the home field of the Rockford Peaches in the movie, which is located about 40 miles northwest of Evansville in Huntingburg, Indiana.

How to Rep Your Team

While I was looking for fun merch to support my Detroit teams this year I stumbled across an online sports retailer Homage.com which is selling t-shirts with the iconic AAGPBL team logos.

As a woman and Michigan native, I am proud of my roots and an advocate for women's rights. I love that I can represent my home state while honoring these fearless women who pioneered a path for women in professional sports-- and beyond!

I wear my Kalamazoo Lassies shirt with pride and I would love to someday add the rest of the West Michigan teams to my lineup. Even better Homage says,

A portion of net proceeds from the sales of our AAGPBL collection will benefit American Girls Baseball, which aims to develop, manage, market, and promote training and instructional programs for girls and women in the game of baseball.

Learn more about the all-star women of the AAGPBL here.