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ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-14--Ume6q ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-normal--s54Wf ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-text--QmNJR ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-sendary--WRADg ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__body4--Pl3xY">Not</div></button><button tabInx="0" id="trigger27595" aria-expand="false" aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-ntrols="dialog27596" ariaLabel="View more" type="button" class="button share-actn"><div class="actn-in"><svg role="img" width="100" height="100" viewBox="0 0 100 100" fill="none" stroke-width="1.8" stroke="#000" xmlns="><g><tle></tle><circle cx="23" cy="50" r="9"></circle><circle cx="50" cy="50" r="9"></circle><circle cx="77" cy="50" r="9"></circle></g></svg></div><div translated class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-14--Ume6q ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-normal--s54Wf ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-text--QmNJR ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-sendary--WRADg ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__body4--Pl3xY">Other</div></button></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="post-hear"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt post-label"><a href=" class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-14--Ume6q ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-medium--x7khA ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-meta--U_nxy ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-sendary--WRADg ontend-pencraft-Text-module__transform-upperse--IDkUL ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__meta--jzHdd">Deep Div</a></div><h1 class="post-tle unpublished">The Hidn Queer History Behd "A League of Their Own"</h1><h3 class="subtle">The All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League did everythg uld to keep lbians off the diamond. Seventy-five years later, s gay stars are fally openg up.</h3><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-directn-lumn--Rq7pk ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-bottom-16--KVxKv"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-directn-lumn--Rq7pk ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-16--ohCEm"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-jtify-start--_8fEd ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-align-center--rSd6h ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-12--rODKq"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-directn-lumn--Rq7pk"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-11--k1e8b ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-medium--x7khA ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-meta--U_nxy ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-pub-primary-text--RzL7j ontend-pencraft-Text-module__transform-upperse--IDkUL ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__meta--jzHdd"><div class="profile-hover-rd-target ontend-rear2-ProfileAndPublitnHoverCard-module__profileHoverCardTarget--Od_YL"><a href=" class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ratn-hover-unrle--BEYAn ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ">Frankie la Cretaz</a></div></div><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-4--zeW5_"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-11--k1e8b ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-medium--x7khA ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-meta--U_nxy ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-pub-sendary-text--OzRTa ontend-pencraft-Text-module__transform-upperse--IDkUL ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__meta--jzHdd">May 30, 2018</div></div></div></div></div><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flexGrow--mx4xz ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-jtify-space-between--NvIcg ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-align-center--rSd6h ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-16--TpblU ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-16--ohCEm ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-top-tail-themed--e17yZ ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-bottom-tail-themed--eVwFY post-ufi"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-8--HFpIK"><div class="like-button-ntaer 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ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-tail--MiH57 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-radi-12--AmQy9 social-preview-box post"><div class="social-image-box"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" /><img src=" siz="100vw" alt loadg="lazy" width="120" class="ontend-ponents-rponsive_img-module__img--Pgjj2 social-image" /></picture></div><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-directn-lumn--Rq7pk ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-8--exiCC ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-left-12--eE6bp"><h4 class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-16--fFowu ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-bold--Ps9DB ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-text--QmNJR ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-primary--ud4Z0 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ">The Hidn Queer History Behd "A League of Their Own"</h4><div class="pencraft 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Please upgra.</d><div class class><div class="available-ntent"><div dir="to" class="body markup"><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-fullscreen" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" fetchprry="high" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em><span>Photo urty</span><strong> State Archiv of Florida</strong></em></figptn></figure></div><p>Josephe “JoJo” D’Angelo was a hotel lobby 1944. An outfielr for the South Bend Blue Sox — a team the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League (A.A.G.P.B.L.), found the year prr — she had dark, curly hair. Even if you didn’t know her last name, her looks hted at her Italian herage.</p><p>The hotel was likely rated wh muted lors the mornist style of the prev . Thanks to World War II, there were supply shortag and ratns, which put a hold on new sign the early ’40s. All available suppli need to go toward the war effort.</p><p>The story was siar baseball. Wh most of the Major League Baseball players ployed, executiv cid to fill the gap wh female players, pavg the way for the A.A.G.P.B.L.</p><p>But the hotel that day, D’Angelo was approached by one league executive and told that she was beg released om her ntract. This was vastatg for the right-hanr who’d batted .200 her two seasons wh the Blue Sox. She’d been playg sce she was a ltle girl, and had spent her days workg a steel l her hometown of Chigo while votg evengs to playg ball, before attendg a tryout for the league at Wrigley Field. That scene was ma famo by the film “A League of Their Own,” wh hundreds of women travelg om around the untry to the brick ballpark wh the ivy-vered outfield wall.</p><p>Why was D’Angelo beg cut om the thg she loved most the world? When she told the story later her life, she gave the reason: “a butchy haircut.” It was a haircut she says she never even wanted, one she was prsured to gettg by the hairstylist who assured her she would look lovely wh her dark curls trimmed to a bob.</p><p><span>D’Angelo had broken one of the rdal l of the A.A.G.P.B.L.: “Play like a man, look like a lady.” But she wasn’t the only one. Connie Wisniewski was told she’d be kicked off her team if she chose to get a close-trimmed cut. Multiple recs were immediately hand tickets home after they showed up to sprg trag wh bobs, and “Dottie Fergon was warned by her chaperon agast wearg girls’ Oxford sho, bee they were excsively mascule-lookg,” wr Lois Browne her book </span><em>Girls of Summer: In Their Own League</em><span>.</span></p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="1456" height="1109" data-attrs="{"src":" of the Fort Wayne Daisi baseball team, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)","tle":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":false,"ternalRedirect":null}" class="sizg-normal" alt="Members of the Fort Wayne Daisi baseball team, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" tle="Members of the Fort Wayne Daisi baseball team, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em>Members of the Fort Wayne Daisi baseball team, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)</em></figptn></figure></div><p>Players had to attend charm school and wear lipstick on the field. Their uniforms had skirts stead of pants — not great for slidg, but emed appropriately feme by league owner Philip K. Wrigley. All of this was chronicled “A League of Their Own.” But there was one thg the movie left out: the reason for the requirements.</p><p>Though was never explicly stated, historians and players alike say the l were place, part, to prevent the women om beg perceived as lbians. Many of the women actually were gay, cludg D’Angelo, which is another part of the story the movie didn’t tell. By not cludg a gay character’s story “A League of Their Own,” the film do to the history of the league what the owners tried to do s existence — erase lbians om the narrative.</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="48" height="10.285714285714286" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>When Terry Donahue met Pat Henschel 1947, Donahue was a 22-year-old tcher and utily fielr the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League. She grew up playg ball wh her younger brother, Tom, on their fay’s farm Saskatchewan, Canada. “She claimed that she was five-foot-two. She was about five-foot,” Henschel tells me over the phone om the home she shar wh Donahue. “She had dark hair, blue ey, and was very attractive, and she was wonrfully liked.”</p><p>Donahue was Nova Stia for the wter when she met Henschel, who was 19 at the time. The two women h off, keepg touch when Donahue moved back to the U.S. to play for the Peoria Red Wgs. “She was a utily player, and the tcher on her team broke her thumb or her fger,” Henschel says. “The manager me up to her and said, ‘Have you ever ught?’ And Terry said, ‘no.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re gog tonight.’” The first game Donahue ever ught end up beg a 19-ng game. The next day was her birthday.</p><p><span>“The only thgs [women] n’t do, we n’t h as far and we n’t throw as hard, but we certaly n make all the plays that you see the Cubs’ ballpark. Or the Sox,” Donahue told the </span><em>Kane County Chronicle</em><span> 2010, referrg to the Cubs and Whe Sox, Chigo’s two major-league squads.</span></p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="1456" height="556" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt tle srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em>Left, Terry Donahue’s baseball rd. Right, Peoria Redwgs team photo 1947 – the year she met Pat Henschel. Donahue played the team om 1946 to 1949. (Photos urty All Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League Players Associatn)</em></figptn></figure></div><p><span>Today, Donahue, who has Parkson’s disease, is 92. Henschel is 89. For seven s the two told almost everyone, asi om their ner circle, that they were bt iends. The </span><em>Chronicle</em><span> story lls Henschel Donahue’s “ and roommate.” But the tth was much more than that. For 70 years theirs has been a love story, origatg a time when the only love stori we were allowed to tell were those between a man and a woman. Try to ask most former players about the issue and they clam up. “I don’t thk was really even talked about, ankly,” Henschel says.</span></p><p>In the ’40s and ’50s, homosexualy was not discsed much; wasn’t until 1973 that the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn removed om the list of mental illns. The players uld have lost more than jt their baseball reers if they had been open about their queerns. They uld have lost their fai, occupatns, and reputatns, too. In those days, “you had to be very discreet, and we were,” says Henschel. “No one was even aware of bee we got so reful and no one would have even imaged anythg at all.”</p><p><span>That stigma has rried on for s. As Ila Borrs, the first woman to play for a men’s profsnal baseball team sce the Negro Leagu, wrote her memoir, </span><em>Makg My Pch</em><span>, “I rema certa that my profsnal reer would not have been possible had I e out.” In 1994, Borrs, a left-hand pcher, beme the first woman to receive a llege baseball scholarship. She was the first to start an N.C.A.A. baseball game and the first woman to get a w llegiate baseball. She then played for the pennt, otherwise all-male St. Pl Sats and Duluth-Superr D.</span></p><p><span>“In 1994 few baseball — or the untry — were ready to accept a gay player, male or female,” wr Borrs. Ined, that same year, the book </span><em>SportsDyk: Stori From On and Off the Field </em><span>was also published. In her say, “The Lbian Label Hnts Women Athlet,” Lynn Roselli wr, “To most lbian athlet … g out is not yet worth .”</span></p><p><span>“If a woman plays hardball, people figure she’s likely gay,” wr Borrs. It’s why, durg her baseball reer, she nstantly had to answer qutns about whether she dated men, and had to reassure the public that, spe the fact that she played ball, she was not gay. She unrstands today that talkg about beg a gay athlete is a double-edged sword, a way. There’s the stereotype that women athlet are all lbians, which is both accurate and unfair. And yet, there’s also the tth that there are many athlet who </span><em>are</em><span> also lbians.</span></p><p>“I was eply ignorant of my small place the history of women athlet and the whole gay rights movement,” Borrs wr of her playg days as a closeted homosexual.</p><p><span>But this stereotype existed long before Borrs was even born. Some A.A.G.P.B.L. players ced mascule clothg or appearanc as tippg them off about a woman’s sexual orientatn, a stereotype that still exists today and may or may not be accurate. “The lbians, they drsed like men wh those big pants and big sho, most of them. … [T]hey had boyish bobs,” Dottie Green, a former A.A.G.P.B.L. player and chaperone told San K. Cahn her book </span><em>Comg on Strong: Genr and Sexualy Twentieth Century Sports</em><span>. Or, as Dottie Fergon Key put , “tomboyish girls” who “wanted to go wh other girls” signaled wh their “mannish” sho and clothg.</span></p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="474" height="642.9540316503391" data-attrs="{"src":" players (left to right) Daisy Junor, 27, South Bend; Dorice Reid, 19, Chigo club member; Dodie Healy, 19, Chigo club member; (top) Gene Gee, 20, Peoria club member, aternizg a bunk room over a sports magaze, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)","tle":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":te,"topImage":false,"ternalRedirect":null}" class="sizg-normal" alt="A.A.G.P.B.L. players (left to right) Daisy Junor, 27, South Bend; Dorice Reid, 19, Chigo club member; Dodie Healy, 19, Chigo club member; (top) Gene Gee, 20, Peoria club member, aternizg a bunk room over a sports magaze, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" tle="A.A.G.P.B.L. players (left to right) Daisy Junor, 27, South Bend; Dorice Reid, 19, Chigo club member; Dodie Healy, 19, Chigo club member; (top) Gene Gee, 20, Peoria club member, aternizg a bunk room over a sports magaze, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em>A.A.G.P.B.L. players (left to right) Daisy Junor, 27, South Bend; Dorice Reid, 19, Chigo club member; Dodie Healy, 19, Chigo club member; (top) Gene Gee, 20, Peoria club member, aternizg a bunk room over a sports magaze, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)</em></figptn></figure></div><p>It was this perceptn of female athlet as unfeme and unfeme women as lbians that led Wrigley, a chewg gum manufacturer and print of the Chigo Cubs, to sist that his players be appropriately feme appearance.</p><p>But the A.A.G.P.B.L. went even further than that, stutg a policy agast aternizg wh other teams. The given reason was “to sta the plete spir of rivalry between clubs,” but Browne wr that the real reason that teams imposed stiff f on players who vlated this le was the fear of lbianism. When the affair was between teammat, chaperon would refe to let the spected uple room together and gge the reactn of the players to nfirm their hunch. In one se, the spected lovers were so angry about beg barred om beg roommat that team manager Johnny Gottselig nsired proof of the affair. One manager released two of his players bee he thought they were gay and was worried they would “ntamate” the rt of the team.</p><p>In another se, a married player was mored to have fallen for one of her teammat. “That player nverted this young married woman jt two weeks,” said Fred Leo, who was the League’s publicy director and, later, s print. Another time, Leo said that a married player was disvered to be a relatnship wh a woman who was unassociated wh the league. Leo claimed he notified her hband, who me and took her home.</p><p>“Knowledge of gay women sport ranged om a hazy, unarticulated awarens to an rmed faiary or personal volvement,” wr Cahn. “Often an athlete’s ial awarens of lbianism veloped om seeg women ‘pairg off’ or gettg ‘very clannish’ wh each other.”</p><p>However, many of the players me to the league que sheltered. They often arrived om small towns or ral areas and were que young when they left home. As a rult, was not unmon for new or younger players to be pletely bldsid by the relatnships between their teammat. Dorothy Hunter entered the League 1943, when she was 27. Hunter, who was om Wnipeg, Canada, said she had “never heard of lbianism,” so her teammat regaled her wh tal of lbian love affairs. “They told me they had weddg ceremoni. Well, I jt thought they were givg me the gears bee I was a green Canadian.”</p><p>But many of the players were unattached. If straight players were married, many of their hbands were off at war or were left back at home on farms or factori. The players’ gelg schle and nstant travel ma datg difficult. It was many ways the perfect environment for gay women to bee volved wh each other. But some s, the near-abily to date was a wele realy. It ma stayg the closet easier, bee there was no time for datg and so there was no need to make exc. This was somethg that Borrs disvered, too, when she was playg ball the 1990s.</p><p>“Playg baseball allowed ltle time for datg,” she wr. “When people tried to set me up, was easy to say, ‘No thanks, too by.’”</p><p>The rtrictns kept some women out of the league altogether. One of those women was Dot Wilkson, often regard as the greatt softball player of her time — and perhaps all time. Wilkson was a hard-playg tcher for the Phoenix Ramblers. She joed the Amerin Softball Associatn (A.S.A.) team 1933, when she was jt 11 years old.</p><p>“Softball has meant more to me than I n ever tell anybody,” Wilkson says the documentary film “Extra Inngs.” “I love that game. I never thought about anythg else.”</p><p>Wilkson was reced to play the A.A.G.P.B.L. “They me to Arizona to offer some ntracts,” Wilkson said. “They wanted to give me $85 a week [equivalent to $1,240 today] to tch. I didn’t want to leave the Ramblers and I don’t like beg away om home so I didn’t go.”</p><p>But was more than that. Wilkson didn’t want any part of the curfews, the charm school, the chaperon, or the mandatory drs. She played Levi’s or her shy sat uniform shorts, and she liked that way. She also knew that the league was actively disuragg players om beg perceived as exactly what Wilkson was — gay.</p><p>“Softball was my first love and still is,” said Wilkson. But she had another love, too. In 1963, Estelle “Ricki” Cao, a star send baseman, joed the Ramblers. Wilkson and Cao played together for two seasons, until the A.S.A. disband. But they also began a relatnship that would last 48 years, until Cao’s ath 2011.</p><p>“We were born at a time when we were all the closet and that was jt the name of the game,” Wilkson said. “And you had to live wh and that’s what we did.”</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="48" height="10.285714285714286" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>It is the obuari that offer the most publicly available clu to some of the players who spent their liv wh other women. The most tellg evince is often veiled language or tl that are open to terpretatn. In at least one se, a player had a “special iend.” In others, their relatnships are more explicly acknowledged.</p><p>Mabel Holle played third base for the South Bend Blue Sox, and like teammate JoJo D’Angelo hailed om Illois. Holle’s father was a semi-profsnal pcher and she grew up playg ball wh her siblgs. She attend the mass tryout at Wrigley Field, beg one of the origal members of the league 1943. Durg the season, she was trad to the Kenosha Comets. Her ntract was not renewed 1944, forcg her to try out aga. This time, she didn’t make the cut. After leavg the league, she beme a physil tn teacher. In Holle’s 2011 obuary, wrten after she died at 91, there’s this: “Holle is survived by her longtime partner, Lda Hoffman.”</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="446" height="422.10714285714283" data-attrs="{"src":" Ruth and Millie Deegan, 1938. (Photo urty The Diamond Angle, via Archive Today)","tle":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":te,"topImage":false,"ternalRedirect":null}" class="sizg-normal" alt="Babe Ruth and Millie Deegan, 1938. (Photo urty The Diamond Angle, via Archive Today)" tle="Babe Ruth and Millie Deegan, 1938. (Photo urty The Diamond Angle, via Archive Today)" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em>Babe Ruth and Millie Deegan, 1938. (Photo urty The Diamond Angle, via Archive Today)</em></figptn></figure></div><p><span>Mildred “Millie” Deegan played 10 seasons wh the A.A.G.P.B.L., om 1943-1952. She is mored to have imprsed Babe Ruth wh how far she uld h a softball, and is said he squeezed the biceps on her arm when he posed wh her for a photo. In 1944 the Brooklyn Dodgers ved Deegan and two other women to their sprg trag mp. Leo Durocher, the Dodgers manager, told the </span><em>Daily Oklahoma</em><span> 1946, “Deegan spent a whole week trag wh the Brooklyn Dodgers at their Bear Mounta, NY mp. If she were a man, she no doubt would have been a Dodger.”</span></p><p><span>Deegan died of breast ncer 2002 at the age of 82. Her obuary the </span><em>New York Tim</em><span> mentns Margaret Nse, “Ms. Deegan’s pann and her only survivor.” Nse, known as “Toots,” was a softball legend herself. Acrdg to the now-funct NJ Divas Fastpch se, Deegan and Nse were partners for almost 50 years. The two shared their passn for softball: Deegan was the ach for the Ln, New Jersey, Arians and Nse was the manager. Nse passed away jt six months after Deegan died, at age 85.</span></p><p><span>June Peppas was a pcher and first baseman om Fort Wayne, Indiana, who played the A.A.G.P.B.L. om 1948-1954. The player known as “Lefty” had spunk. Fort Wayne Daisi manager Harold Greer relat a story Browne’s book </span><em>Girls of Summer</em><span>: “Once there were some men out the street, and some smart aleck said somethg. I didn’t hear what was, they’d watched till I wasn’t nearby. Anyway, all of a sudn I hear ‘Wow!’ I turned around and saw that June Peppas had cked the guy — and I mean she really cked him. He crawled away.”</span></p><p>The A.A.G.P.B.L. meant a lot to Peppas. She was the first chairperson of the Players Associatn Board and two-time A.A.G.P.B.L. All-Star. Polly Hut was Peppas’s partner for 46 years before she passed 2007, ne years before Peppas died at the age of 86. The two operated a prtg bs Allegan, Michigan, lled PJ’s Prtg, om 1975-1988. They sold the bs and retired to Florida where, acrdg to Peppas’s obuary, they enjoyed “golf and an active social life.”</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="692" height="742.8543956043956" data-attrs="{"src":" Wayne Daisi player Marie Wegman argug wh umpire Norris Ward, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)","tle":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":te,"topImage":false,"ternalRedirect":null}" class="sizg-normal" alt="Fort Wayne Daisi player Marie Wegman argug wh umpire Norris Ward, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" tle="Fort Wayne Daisi player Marie Wegman argug wh umpire Norris Ward, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><em>Fort Wayne Daisi player Marie Wegman argug wh umpire Norris Ward, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)</em></figptn></figure></div><p><span>One of the bt pchers to ever play the A.A.G.P.B.L. was Jean Cne. The girl om Rockford, Illois, played 10 seasons the league. In that time she threw three no hters, had three 20-w seasons, and had an unassisted triple play — somethg that has only happened 15 tim Major League Baseball sce 1909. Cne spent her rookie year 1947 wh the Rockford Peach and fished wh an astonishg 1.30 ERA. “She was a lot fun to be wh,” Cne’s partner Gny Hunt told the </span><em>Bozeman Daily Chronicle</em><span> after her ath 2010. “If you didn’t ever experience watchg a baseball game wh her, you really missed somethg. It was a treat to watch a game wh her. She analyzed every play.”</span></p><p>Catcher Eunice Taylor and her partner of 45 years, Diana Walega, owned and operated a pet supply store for 40 years. Outfielr Barbara Sowers was wh her “lovg pann” Shirley Ann Weaver for 45 years. And there are many more, players wh “longtime,” “beloved panns,” whose nam I have chosen not to clu here out of rpect for the fact that they were likely still closeted durg their liv. Their obuari, which are historil documents, offer glimps to their liv and are open for to terpret.</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="48" height="10.285714285714286" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>“Our relatnship is one of the bt,” Pat Henschel says of her partnership wh Terry Donahue. “We’re very lucky and we know .”</p><p>Photos of the women throughout the years give a glimpse of the life they’ve had together. In their younger days, they look like they uld be sisters as they pose ont of a Christmas tree a picture that might have been taken the 1960s. They each sport short, dark hairstyl and wear sleevels turtleneck shirts. In another, they are perhaps their 60s and they dance together ont of a fireplace. They are both lghg. Their hairstyl have not changed the s between the two photos except to turn om brown to gray.</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="1440" height="912" data-attrs="{"src":" of the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League and an umpire, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)","tle":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":te,"topImage":false,"ternalRedirect":null}" class="sizg-normal" alt="Members of the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League and an umpire, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" tle="Members of the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League and an umpire, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn">Members of the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League and an umpire, 1948. (Photo urty State Archiv of Florida)</figptn></figure></div><p>They are ready to tell the world the tth about their relatnship. Donahue’s great nephew, Christopher Bolan, is workg on a documentary about their life together. Another photo shows the two of them dog what they had only ever done behd closed doors: they hold hands, weathered and wrkled by the years they’ve spent together, and they kiss each other on the lips. Their ey are closed. It is sweet. It is timate. But they hid this tth for as long as they did bee, for most of their liv, they had too much to lose by g out.</p><p>But today, Henschel says, “They eher accept or they don’t.”</p><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="48" height="10.285714285714286" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Fifty years after the All-Amerin Girls Profsnal Baseball League end, Ila Borrs was makg history. She had ascend to a level that no woman ever had before. She was playg — and succeedg — men’s profsnal baseball. And then, she qu.</p><p>We are stg together the stands at JetBlue Park, the Red Sox’s sprg trag facily Fort Myers, Florida. We’re watchg a group of women play the champnship game at the team’s Women’s Fantasy Camp, where Borrs is achg. “It got to me,” Borrs says about beg the closet. “It’s why I qu. It’s the worst thg on Earth to hi who you are.”</p><p>That, Borrs says, is why she ultimately me out — for the next generatn of girls who want to play ball, so they n be themselv, no matter who they are, and so history don’t have to repeat self.</p><p>Borrs looks out onto the field of women whose uniforms are streaked wh dirt. “If you are a ballplayer, ’s O.K. to play hard and jt be yourself,” she says. And she’s fally at a place her life where she tly believ .</p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong>Frankie la Cretaz</strong><span> is a eelance wrer whose work has been featured the New York Tim, Rollg Stone, Bleacher Report, pnW, Vogue and more. In 2017, they won the Nellie Bly Award for Invtigative Journalism om the Transformative Culture Project for their work on racism the Boston sports media landspe.</span></em></p></div></div><div class="visibily-check"></div><div class="post-footer"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flexGrow--mx4xz ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-jtify-space-between--NvIcg ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-align-center--rSd6h ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-16--TpblU ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-16--ohCEm ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-top-tail-themed--e17yZ ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-bottom-tail-themed--eVwFY post-ufi"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-8--HFpIK"><div class="like-button-ntaer post-ufi-button style-button"><a role="button" class="post-ufi-button style-button no-label wh-borr"><svg role="img" style="height: 20px; width: 20px;" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="#000000" stroke-width="2" stroke="#000" xmlns=" class="in"><g><tle>.