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The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. Over 600 women played in the league.〔 In 1948, league attendance peaked over 900,000 spectators in attendance. The Rockford Peaches won a league-best four championships while playing in the AAGPBL. For most of the leagues history manager Bill Allington coached different teams and led the league in career wins as a manager. The motion picture, ''A League of Their Own'' (1992), told the story of one of the league's teams. ==History== Although the name ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League'' (AAGPBL) is commonly used today, it was official for only two seasons. The league was founded as the All-American Girls Softball League.〔 In 1943, the name was changed to the All-American Girls Baseball League. In 1949 and 1950 the league was called the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and from 1951 to 1954 the league adopted American Girls' Baseball League. The league went through three periods of ownership. The League was owned by chewing gum mogul Philip K. Wrigley from 1943 to 1945, Arthur Meyerhoff from 1945 to 1951, and the teams were individually owned from 1951 to 1954. In 1947 and 1948, spring training exhibition games were held at the Gran Stadium in Havana, Cuba. The teams generally played in second-tier Midwestern cities. The South Bend Blue Sox and the Rockford Peaches were the only two teams that stayed in their home cities for the full 12-year period of the AAGPBL's existence. With America's entry into World War II, several major league baseball executives started a new professional league with women players in order to maintain baseball in the public eye while the majority of able men were away. The founders included Wrigley, Branch Rickey and Paul V. Harper. They feared that Major League Baseball would cease, due to the war.〔 Initial tryouts were held at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The name of the league is something of a misnomer, as the AAGPBL never played regulation baseball. In the first season, the league played a game that was a hybrid of baseball and softball. The ball was 12 inches in circumference, the size of a regulation softball (regulation baseballs are 9 to 9 inches). The pitcher's mound was only forty feet from home plate, closer even than in regulation softball and much closer than the baseball distance of 60 feet, 6 inches. Pitchers threw underhand windmill, like in softball, and the distance between bases was 65 feet, five feet longer than in softball but 25 feet shorter than in baseball. Major similarities between the AAGPBL and baseball included nine player teams and the use of a pitcher's mound (softball pitchers throw from flat ground). By 1948, the ball had shrunk to 10 3/8 inches, and overhand pitching was allowed. The mound was moved back to 50 feet. Over the history of the league, the rules were gradually modified to more closely resemble baseball. The ball shrank from season to season until it was regulation baseball size, the mound was moved back to 60 feet, the basepaths were extended to 85 feet (still five feet shorter than in regulation baseball), and overhand pitching was allowed.〔(Rules of Play All-American Girls Professional Baseball League )〕 Salaries ranged from $45–$85 (or $–$ in dollars) a week during the first years of play to as much as $125 (or $ in dollars) per week in later years.〔(Anne Janette. Great Women in Sports. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1996. )〕 The uniforms worn by the female ballplayers consisted of a belted, short-sleeved tunic dress with a slight flare of the skirt. Rules stated that skirts were to be worn no more than six inches above the knee, but the regulation was most often ignored in order to facilitate running and fielding. A circular team logo was sewn on the front of each dress, and baseball caps featured elastic bands in the back so that they were one-size-fits-all〔()〕 Ann Harnett became the first girl to sign with the All-Americans, being followed by Shirley Jameson, Edythe Perlick and Claire Schillace. During spring training the girls were required to attend Helena Rubinstein's evening charm school classes. The proper etiquette for every situation was taught, and every aspect of personal hygiene, mannerisms and dress code was presented to all the players. In an effort to make each player as physically attractive as possible, each player received a beauty kit and instructions on how to use it. As a part of the leagues 'Rules of Conduct', the girls were not permitted to have short hair, smoke or drink in public places, and they were required to wear lipstick at all times. Fines for not following the leagues rules of conduct were five dollars for the first offense, ten for the second, and suspension for the third.〔()〕 During the 1946–1948 seasons the league went on the road for spring training. They went to Mississippi in 1946, Havana, Cuba in 1947 and to Florida in 1948. The AAGPBL peaked in attendance during the 1948 season, when 10 teams attracted 910,000 paid fans.〔 The Rockford Peaches won the most league championships with four (1945, 1948, 1949, 1950). The Milwaukee/Grand Rapids Chicks were second with three (1944 in Milwaukee, 1947 and 1953 in Grand Rapids). The Racine Belles (1943 and 1946) and the South Bend Blue Sox (1951 and 1952) each won two, and the Kalamazoo Lassies won in the league's final season (1954). Bill Allington was the most successful manager in the league's history. From 1945 to 1954, he posted a 583-398 record for a .594 winning percentage, never had a losing season and is the all-time leader in victories in the league. He also was an active talent scout for the league. Allington reached the playoff eight times, winning the AAGPBL Championship Title in 1945 and in consecutive years from 1948 to 1950. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「All-American Girls Professional Baseball League」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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