Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball/ a Harvest Original (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Women's baseball did not begin--and certainly didn't end--with the 1940s short-skirted stars featured in the rousing film story A League of Their Own. Women were playing baseball at Vassar as early as the 1880s, and Ed Barrow, who would later bring Babe Ruth to New York, signed a woman pitcher named Lizzie Arlington to a minor-league contract in the late 1890s. Indeed, as presented here, the history of women in baseball is a long and colorful one; the exploits of Alta Weiss, Lizzie Murphy, and Jackie Mitchell, who struck out Ruth and Lou Gehrig back-to-back in a 1931 exhibition deserve to be remembered. Women at Play remembers well.

From Library Journal

The 12-year existence of the All-American Girls Baseball League, as depicted in last summer's hit movie A League of Their Own , is only the culmination of a long history of women being paid for playing baseball (not softball). Did you know that hundreds of "bloomer teams" barnstormed the East and Midwest from the 1890s to 1935, playing against men's teams? Or that a few women played American Legion and minor league ball until the organizations officially banned women? Or that in a 1931 exhibition game, Jackie Mitchell, age 17, struck out Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth? Gregorich, author of the woman-plays-pro-ball novel She's on First ( LJ 1/5/87), here focuses on personalities and teams, relying on newspaper accounts and teammates' reminiscences. Women loving baseball and struggling to leap men's roadblocks are the themes of this attractive and unique book. Recommended for popular collections.
- Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B. C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1st edition (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156982978
• ISBN-13: 978-0156982979
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,007 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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