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Grand Valley State University
All American Girls Professional Baseball League Veterans History Project
Interviewee’s Name: Mary Moore
Length of Interview: (36:56)
Date of Interview: August 7, 2010 at the Reunion of the Professional Girls Baseball League
Interviewed by: James Smither
Transcribed by: Lindsey Thatcher, November 18, 2010
Interviewer: “Alright, today is August 7, 2010 we are at Detroit Michigan at the reunion of
the All American Professional Girls Baseball League and talking this morning with Mary
Moore of White Lake Michigan. The interviewer is John Smither of the Grand Valley State
University Veterans History Project. Now Mary what we are going to do here is basically
just follow your story. And we are going to begin at the beginning. So why don’t you tell us
where and when you were born?”
I was born in Detroit Michigan.
Interviewer: “In what year?”
1932. During tough times, the depression era.
Interviewer: “And what did your family do for a living in those days?”
Well my dad was a jewel die maker and well after when we moved out to Lincoln Park Michigan
when I was about 5 or 6 years old, that’s where I actually grew up and graduated, Lincoln Park
High and that was our main resident area. He worked for General Motors, Cadillac division, Ford
Street in Detroit.
(01:10)
Interviewer: “Now how did you get involved in sports initially?”
Well probably like most of the women, I mean well you know, I played out in the fields with the
boys Lincoln park you know, well it wasn’t very populated. There were a lot of fields out there
where we lived at that time. We were like the only house in fact; there was one other house on
the lot on one side of the street and maybe one or two on the other side. So there were a lot of
fields out there and we would take them and cut the weeds down and make our own ball field.
And of course if you get it to the white field we were out and we didn’t have enough players but
it was always something to go out to the field with the boys. I had an older brother that had a
paper route. Detroit News and it was a weekly paper. And so I would help him on his paper route
to earn money. So I was the one who always would come up with bats and balls and the
equipment. So if the boys wanted to play ball or any sport be it football, basketball, they had to
come get me first. So, so I was never left out.
(02:23)
�Interviewer: “Alright were there other girls that would play too, or was it just you?”
No there was hardly, I can’t even remember any girls in the neighborhood basically so, and if
there were they were down the street or quite a ways away, or they just weren’t interested. Most
of them weren’t anyway so.
Interviewer: “Now at your high school were there girls teams and girls sports?”
No, not heavily in high school back then. I graduated in January 1950 and in our senior year
(03:00) we were allowed to take one hour of gym. And then we had to share the basketball court
with the boys and we’d take half the court and they would take the other. But we had no
organized sports at all for the girls.
Interviewer: “So how did you wind up hooking up with the All Americans?”
Well like I said I had been playing ball with the boys there was that and always we had a Detroit
Tigers in Lake who played short stop for the Tigers oh back when he lived about 3 miles from us
and he would come out and play ball with us and he would pick the ball up and I would learn
how to judge fly balls and things like that. And basically teaching the guys but you know I was
watching and doing it too and he would take the students to the Tiger’s stadium to the ball park
and at that point I got a baseball and autographed a little autographed book like Hank Greenburg
(04:00), Dick Wakefield, George Kell, and all those guys back in the late 40’s. So I still have the
autograph book but I did have a fire in my place and I did lose the baseball. And so I mean, you
know I was a great sports fan and but it started in when I graduated from high school oh my high
school English teacher, Mrs. Nelson, put me in touch with another lady who had graduated. I
hadn’t heard anything about it, I mean it wasn’t widely known around you know, especially in
big cities. So she put me in touch with Doris Kneel who was already trying out. So we went
down to Crown Recreation in Detroit. There were a lot of girls from the Detroit Michigan area.
In fact Michigan has more (05:00) girls in the League than any other state. And so that’s where
they would go to practice in the winter time. So I went down there because I needed the practice.
From there one of the girl’s fathers was a scout. And Helen Filarski then took me in down to
South Bend with her for the tryout of the spring of 1950. Jobs were hard to find back then. You
know you graduate from high school and then there was really nothing. I mean I was willing to
sweep floors or do anything but there weren’t jobs out there, kind of like today. And so anyway
Helen took me to South Bend for tryouts. We were there for 2 weeks. And of course I hadn’t
really played anywhere for ball or anything (06:00) but I was you know, quite athletic. And so
after two weeks of spring training, of course they had a second baseman there, I can’t even
remember who it was now. But they sent me down to Chicago for 2 more weeks of training. And
there we had a lot of girls trying out. They picked 15 girls for the Springfield Sallies team and 15
girls for the Chicago Colleens team and…
Interviewer: “We’ll get back to that in just a moment I want to go a little bit back and talk
about the try outs and training. Were you, you went to South Bend. What was the set up
there? What were they trying to do to South Bend when you went there initially?”
�Just I guess, see if I they make the team or how good you were. I guess you know, they invite
people you know that maybe that [?] father might have saw playing ball and they said you know
we need a good player and they say go ahead go and try out you know.
(07:08)
Interviewer: “And what would they have you do when you were trying out?”
Well it’s kind of funny because all these Veterans down in Detroit in Rockville asked, what
position do you play? I said well any place, you know, you know they got, anyplace you want
me to I could play you know out in the scrub games you know I could be taught infield outfield
whatever, well you can’t tell them I can just play anywhere, so they wouldn’t think you were any
good. You got to tell them you play someplace. So they go over to all these Veterans, my friends
and so they say well third base that’s a really hot corner, I said well I don’t know about that.
Shortstop then you would really have to arm and move around; well I don’t know about that.
First base, well you really have to stretch and dig them out of the dirt, better not tell them there.
Outfield you really need a strong arm, and really you know move, well I don’t know about that.
Why don’t you tell them you play second base…so I did. I told them I played second base but I
hadn’t. So I get there and I watch you know, and I thought how hard can this be? Well it was a
lot harder I guess than I thought it was. But anyway I was out there and the manager says (08:30)
“How old are you?” and I said seventeen, “Well then act like it, don’t act like an old lady.
Move!” I thought ok. So but I must have done something fairly decent because like I said they
sent me on to Chicago for two more weeks to make me hit on a different team they didn’t need
me there in South Bend so.
Interviewer: “Now when you went to Chicago how many other women were trying out at
the same time as you were?”
Oh, probably about a hundred.
(09:00)
Interviewer: “And out of that hundred they were going to take…?”
Thirty, two teams. They were going to be a traveling team kind of like the farm hunt system team
and so we had fifteen each team. And we had to make our way on a bus and sat by the
chaperones and managers and so we toured all over the country you know, playing games. We
went to twenty one states and Canada in three months. And we played seventy seven games of
the ninety game schedule we got rained out the rest. And we played Yankee Stadium before a
Yankee game, we met Joe DiMaggio, Casey Stengel, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and all those
guys were playing and of course if we had known that now, I mean we’re there to play, we’re in
our uniform. We had nothing to do to get autographs or having no idea how big (10:00) this
thing really was you know. So I mean, we just played our game and then you think about it now
and you think wow, you know. We played on Yankee Stadium. It was quite a thrill. We were
also playing in Washington D.C. Griffins Stadium and all along the way places. We would tour
so after the 1950 season and I got drafted by Battle Creek.
�Interviewer: “Let’s go back again into a little bit and let’s talk a bit more about that barn
storming season there. First of all explain again, you have there are two teams, and the two
teams, tell us who the two teams were?”
Springfield Sallies and Battlecreek Belles.
Interviewer: “Ok.”
Oh no, I’m sorry. Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens.
Interviewer: “Right, ok and you were with…?”
I was with Springfield.
(11:01)
Interviewer: “You were with the Sallies, ok.”
In fact my baseball card says Springfield Illinois, instead of Lincoln Park Michigan.
Interviewer: “Well, alright. How did they manage this physically, with moving you around
the country like this? So you’re riding around on a bus, you’ve got your chaperones your
manager with you and so forth, and then what do you do when you go from town to town?
What’s the routine?”
Well most of our games were at night, and so we would play a night game for two hours and
shower and get back on the bus and basically travel to the next town, maybe try to sleep on the
bus. And the day was ours if we didn’t want to try to sleep or catch up on your laundry, and do
something like that. But you know, you would have a lot of time. So when we were in New York
though we were right in the city (12:00) and we were able to go at night, and you know a couple
things like that basically traveling at night, and they were small towns so they didn’t have many
entertainments or anything like that. But most of us were quite young so we really weren’t into
going out or anything like that. We had a, we had to be at the ball park for two or three hours
before the game for the warm-up. You play a 9 inning game and you get done and you are a little
tired. So then we get back on the bus and travel to the next town.
Interviewer: “And did they have any particular rules or regulations regarding your
conduct or your dress or anything else like that?”
Well that was strictly enforced. We could not wear blue jeans, shorts, slacks, or anything out in
public. You had to be in a skirt (13:00) and a dress. If we were on the bus in the middle of the
night and we stopped at a rest area, we could get off, nobody there, but you aren’t allowed off the
bus unless you got a skirt on or a dress so we used wrap around skirts so you just had to hurry up
and put that on then you could get off the bus. They had strictly enforced, well all the rules were
enforced. Like we had bed check every night, if you were caught out after bed check well you
would be fined or sent home. This one girl she didn’t go out after bed check, she went to the
vending machine, and she got caught and she got fined and it was paid. All of that was pretty big
money back then. Well they could’ve sent her home, and if she disobeyed really bad they could
�be sent you home because along the way on this tour (14:00) we were kind of on a farm system
there were try outs at these towns. Now if they found someone that they was doing better than
you, who you got to go home and pick up this other player. So we didn’t want to do anything to
be sent home so we obeyed them. And you know things were different back then anyway. I mean
discipline was pretty much normal for most families. You know, times have changed a lot now
and things have got a lot more lax and federal government won’t let teachers discipline the
students and just all kinds of things that have changed so I mean you know it wasn’t even hard
for us because we were brought up that way.
Interviewer: “Ok, now at this point did they make any effort to teach people how to dress
or do things with their hair and make-up and stuff or was that long gone by then?”
That was gone by the time we started, but we did know the rules and stuff (15:00). You didn’t
disobey that, if you did it would be bye.
Interviewer: “Ok, what as you were touring around these different places, what kind of
response did you get from fans? Did you draw big crowds?”
Oh yeah, we kept up a good attendance. We had a PR man and I’ll give his first name Murray.
He would go he had he would go to these towns and he had newspaper articles and every time
we would get into, we would take turns of being on the radio broadcasts because there was no
TV wasn’t anywheres around yet or it was just starting. So they had good press, and also during
this firestorm tour half the proceeds would go to a local charity at that time. So you know, people
were very supportive, it was something new and different. So they were coming out, because like
I said with gas rationing you can’t go too far (16:02). And so depending on what town it was,
how many people, sometimes two, three thousand sometimes maybe less. But we had fans and
they were very appreciative of grand ball we played.
Interviewer: “And what about when you played in Washington or New York Stadiums?
Was it, before a game; was there a crowd there already?
Yeah there was quite a few yeah, that was a big deal. Yeah that was before the Yankee games
there was a lot of people coming in. I don’t know if it was if they knew about the game. I’m sure
they must have but it was a lot of people.
Interviewer: “Alright, so you kind of go and you do that for three months. With fifteen
players on the team you are playing most of the games right?”
Oh yeah, about every game.
Interviewer: “Alright, how did you turn out as a second baseman?”
(16:59)
I guess very decent. I was involved in a lot of double plays and the first year I led my team in
almost every category, hits, runs, RBIs [?], home bases. I was involved in a triple play and I got
it unusually, there was no force outs, they were all tag players. And there was two girls on, the
�first and second a girl would bat hit the ball out to the outfield, a base hit, the girl on second
tried to score, well they threw the ball on then and run her down and tag her out. Well meanwhile
the girl on first rounded second going on towards third. Well when they got the other girl tagged
out they started to run her back and the girl that hit the ball she was heading towards second so I
was standing on second as they both came to second I just pop pop and one side and the other
and they were all out. So…
(18:01)
Interviewer: “Alright, well that’s pretty good. Ok, so if you were leading your team and
hitting double bases, were you stealing bases yourself?”
Oh yeah, yeah I had quite a few stolen bases.
Interviewer: “Ok, had you known anything about base stealing before you had joined the
league?”
No, not really. Just watching the major leagues and stuff like that so…
Interviewer: “Ok, were there particular tricks to it that you could use or could you read
certain pitchers or…?”
Well yeah. It depended on who was pitching, how slow they were, or what their rules were you
know…
Interviewer: “How many pitchers would a barnstorming team have?”
Let’s see, maybe about six I guess. I don’t know.
Interviewer: “Ok, so if you are always playing the same team than you probably learned
those pitchers pretty well?”
(18:56)
Well yeah, we had bets back and forth. If I get ahead of you tonight, you owe me a milkshake.
You strike me out, ok I’ll owe you one.
Interviewer: “Alright, of the people you were traveling around with are there some they
you became particularly good friends with, or just stand out in your mind as being really
distinctive characters or really good players?”
Yeah there was, there was several. There was a lot of them that were international, we had
Cubans, we had a few from Canada, and all over the states so. But we had a lot of good players,
too many to mention.
Interviewer: “Ok. Alright, so you get through that first season. What happens when that
season comes to an end?”
�Well you go home and you look for a job for the season, which again wasn’t really easy to find
but I had a high school girlfriend that was working in a small (20:00) automobile shop so they
happened to need some work so I got a job there, I sort of wish I hadn’t but it was work you
know. And, but towards the 1951 season started, January 30, 1951 I had a puncture accident. I
kind of messed my hand up a little bit, making Packard rings. You dart on and I kind of just
jerked it back at me and I got in the way and it got all my fingers. I didn’t get them all but it
messed up the others too. So that was in January and I did go to spring training in ’51. Which
they ended up not taking me, they didn’t want to be responsible. You can’t reach the ball with
your glove you kind of automatically reach with your bare hand (21:00) and they were afraid that
if I line drived or something like that that I would get my hand torn open again, it was still pretty
tender. I went to therapy like 3, 4 times a week just to be able to go to spring training. The doctor
said that most people would still be kind of carrying their hand in a sling, and I said, well I have
to play ball. But any way they did call me up towards the end of the season. They had other
injuries and of course my hand was a little better. So I went back and played a few games in ’51.
Interviewer: “And who did you play for?”
Battle Creek. Battle Creek drafted me after the 1950 season. I played second base there also. So
anyway that as in ’52, after leaving my team in 1950 it’s a little bit more difficult now and the
ball, to throw the ball and to grip a bat when some of the muscles don’t work. So I wasn’t feeling
as well, but I did go back in ’52. I played. Two weeks before the end of the season I was sliding
into second, Fort Wayne, twisted my ankle and Joe Fox [?] my manager carried me off the field.
So I was done for the ’52 season. So in ’53 when I got the call back I just didn’t go back. I got
another job. So then I was disappointed in myself because I knew how well I played the first year
and now I’m not batting any good, I guess fielding was ok but bat hand was suffering, and I
figured that really I was just keeping somebody else from playing and they should have a chance
(23:00) and of course not knowing it was the end of 1954 anyway it was the end of the season.
So after that you’re supposed to sit out five years before you go back to amateur softball after
playing in the professionals. But because of my injury one of the softball teams got my reinstated
after two years so I was able to go back and play fast pitch in softball.
Interviewer: “Did you go back to Lincoln Park for that or did you go somewhere else?”
Well Lincoln Park for, well you know I went back home and lived for a while, but I played all
over Michigan practically. Over eight or ten different teams throughout the year so we won a
state class A championship one year, and class B one year, class C. So then I played softball,
now softball I played whatever position, whatever they wanted, catching or outfield or infield.
Wherever they gave me I would play so.
(24:09)
Interviewer: “Now when you were playing softball on these teams, did people know that
you had played professional baseball?”
Probably not. I mean you know it wasn’t a well known thing. Even at work I didn’t really tell
them that I had played ball, that’s not true everybody played ball. So when the movie came out
�they asked why didn’t you tell us? I says because I did tell you, you just weren’t listening. But
that was my quite experience.
Interviewer: “Now after you left the league, did you stay in touch with any of the players or
any of the friends you had made?”
Oh yeah, yeah, I had a real good friend Jo (Joanne) McComb from Pennsylvania. And we visited
back in forth (25:00) for oh years. You know I would go there and she would come to my house
and meet my folks and meet her folks, stay in touch, and stay in touch with a lot of the others.
But not quite as close as that.
Interviewer: “Now as the League’s, the former players began to get there together and
create a players association, this kind of stuff before the Penny Marshall movie came out,
were you connected with that? Were you involved in any reunions or anything like that?”
Oh yeah, there was you know the first one. There was probably maybe two that I’ve might’ve
missed all through the years and that was probably because I was taking care of my father, so but
like I said all but probably two.
Interviewer: “And did you, were you involved with any of the things that are around,
connected with the movie?”
(25:57)
Yeah we went to Smokey Illinois for 1991 for try outs about sixty some were there and it was
about forty three, forty five went out of Cooperstown for the filming of the movie and so I was
there. We had a fan for the other movie, we’d stop and take a picture and walk in the hall of
fame. To give credit when we were at our reunion game I was the one that slid it home. Shirley
Burkovich was trying to tag me out but I was safe and she was a little mad but then I was playing
left field at one point and I had to help out on a rundown play between second and third, they
didn’t throw me the ball but I was running back and forth and when they zoomed on the bench I
was the first one that they zoomed in on and hand out players. We were there in Cooperstown for
eleven days for that five minutes at the end. So we know and appreciate why movies cost so
much putting us all up and everything like that, for that five minutes.
(27:10)
Interviewer: “Ok, you mentioned going to Smokey for try outs. Now you were already a
player, who was trying out there?”
Well, they wanted someone that was active enough and in good enough health to be able to do
some of these things and we were kind of like helping the actresses you know showing them
trying to show them how to throw the ball, how to catch the ball, throw it and things like that. So
when they said they didn’t want somebody they couldn’t move them around.
Interviewer: “And how did that go? How well did the actresses learn the job?”
�Well some of them, pretty well. I mean a couple of them were already pretty athletic. Betty and
Rosy O’Donnell (28:01). Madonna, she needed a little more work and some of the others. She
had her little dance steps kind of tone and all but they said she was one of the hardest working
ones and she got banged up and got hit the head with the ball, she was batting and different
things like that. And so she, I think, personal opinion as long as she wasn’t the star in the movie
she was ok. And we were a little apprehensive when we found out she was going to be in the
movie and Penny Marshall assured us that she would do good and it would be ok. Debra Winger
was actually supposed to play the part of Geena Davis and we don’t know why Debra Winger
backed out. We heard rumors that it was because Madonna was going to be in it. But you know
that was just a rumor, who knows? Could have been just a conflict with her schedule, it was a
great movie (29:04).
Interviewer: “Were you happy how the movie came out?”
Yeah I figured it was probably about 85% accurate. There was you know some Hollywood in
there you know, we certainly didn’t treat the chaperones like that poor lady and managers didn’t
come drunk or you know into the dressing room unless everyone was fully dressed and there
were allowed to come in or we would go out there so, but that was they had to make it funny and
that it was. But Penny Marshall, she was great and so were the actresses. Some of them actually
come to our reunions out there in California. There were about five of them last night we were
out in California so it’s really, it’s really nice.
Interviewer: “Kind of an unusual thing for a movie. Most movies don’t have that, quite
that amount of standing power or effect on things.”
(30:03)
Yeah.
Interviewer: “Now also, as you started to go into the reunions you got involved in actually
recording short interviews with the other players. Tell me a little bit about that.”
Well I always had my camera with me and I snapped pictures so the association asked if I would
be willing to I guess the board had talked about you know to start to preserve history. And they
asked me if I could do a few interviews and I was like “Yeah I always have my camera with
me”. So I started doing about 5 to 8 interview of all the ladies, and I’ve got about 184 of them
done now. They are about 5 to 8 minutes kind of, you know not as lengthy as we are doing here
but about how we got started, who they played for, their managers, the chaperones, and kind of
what they’ve done since and things like that. The short version maybe of the what’s going on
now.
(31:07)
Interviewer: “Sure. But it’s also very valuable because you got started a lot earlier before
we or other people did, so you’ve got stories of people that aren’t recorded anywhere else.”
Yeah because a lot of them are gone now. I do have short interviews and sorts. 31:22
�Interviewer: “And as we move forward with this project we will track down physically
where they are located and that information will go up on our website and so our project
here, but basically so we’ll make sure that people if they find us can also locate where those
are because they are going want to see as much as they can certainly. So alright…
Well if they can’t, I mean I’ve got copies of them. Of course they are on VHS and I’m not sure,
the longer I’m there they will deteriorate but…
Interviewer: “We’ll make sure that all that is digitized by somebody so we’ll still have it
certainly. Now as you look over your time while you were actually playing what do you
think the effect of that experience was on you? What did you take out of it or learn from it
they stayed with you?”
(32:07)
Well a lot of it would be like friendships I made. And you know it taught you to not be not be
afraid to be out in public, playing in front of 2,000 people who aren’t bashful and people. Of
course the discipline was always there but that always helps too. And just…almost everything
you know. Without that I don’t know where half of us would have been. It gave us the
opportunity to be able to go on to school, a lot of them did. I never did, my parents couldn’t
afford it so I wasn’t able to attend or continue but there are others that really had beautiful
opportunities to be doctors and teachers. It was a wonderful experience and you can’t even put
into words.
(33:09)
Interviewer: “What did you end up doing? Did you have a particular career? Or did you
just do different jobs?”
Well I worked at the Michigan Bell for 35 years. I was central office supervisor. And that was
inside the central office where the wiring and everything, way back before all this technology.
Ladders about two stories high and we would be running wires about a block long and dragging
them inside, there was a guy connecting them outside people’s houses soldering and having a
tool pouch on I was the supervisor of the ladies who did that so…
Interviewer: “Did it help you just to go out there and be a supervisor having worked with a
lot of people?”
Yeah I think so yeah. Just being out there I mean being on a ball field on a base is kind of like
directing traffic half the time you know and you just kind of take charge a little bit you know, I
mean play towards the outfield, you call a play and tell them where to throw the ball and this and
that, you are just kind of out there taking charge. Yeah so I believed that helped a lot.
(34:22)
Interviewer: “Alright, now you played a lot of softball. Did you do any coaching at any
time?”
�Yeah I did I coached a couple times the Wyandottes, some younger girls. And I coached one of
our teams that had a well class C I think championship and after that I kind just played so…
Interviewer: “Alright, and did you kind of follow the growth of women’s sports? Title IX?
Just adding more teams and things in the ’70’s and ‘80’s?”
(34:58)
Yeah I did quite a bit. In fact I played been playing slow pitch up until this year up in Warfield. I
was their pitcher and I kept telling my young kids as long as I can catch it or dodge it, I’ll play it.
But this year I was so busy with our reunion and fundraising and going to meetings and this and
that of course I still bowl and golf, I just really didn’t have time to play ball this year so. The
first year I haven’t played.
Interviewer: “Alright, now back to when you were actually playing. Did you think of the
league being this pioneering or significant or was it just playing ball?”
You know, it was just playing ball at first but I mean when everything else comes out the movie
and everything people keep telling you, you know thank you for this and that you know, then it
kind of registers. But originally I was doing what I loved to do (36:00) and you were getting
paid for it like a job so that didn’t really register until things just kept getting bigger and bigger
and getting fan mail from all over the country, kids and not just kids adults you know. Veterans
and stuff like that write wanting autographs, it’s just…it’s just awesome, it’s amazing. It just
blows my mind that people are still so interested in wanting all this stuff, our autographs and
pictures I just think it’s great. I just hope it never dies.
Interviewer: “Well we are doing our best to make sure that it doesn’t. Alright, you actually
got a good story and have done a good job telling it to us. Thanks for coming in and talking
to us today.”
Thank you. 36:47
�
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Grand Valley State University. History Department
Description
An account of the resource
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, during World War II to fill the void left by the departure of most of the best male baseball players for military service. Players were recruited from across the country, and the league was successful enough to be able to continue on after the war. The league had teams based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and operated between 1943 and 1954. The 1954 season ended with only the Fort Wayne, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Rockford teams remaining. The League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball. Many of the players went on to successful careers, and the league itself provided an important precedent for later efforts to promote women's sports.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-58)</a>
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Sports for women
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives
Oral history
Baseball players--Minnesota
Baseball players--Indiana
Baseball players--Wisconsin
Baseball players--Michigan
Baseball players--Illinois
Baseball for women--United States
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401
Identifier
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RHC-58
Format
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video/mp4
application/pdf
Type
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Moving Image
Text
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Date
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2017-10-02
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Smither, James
Boring, Frank
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-58_MMoore0575BB
Title
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Moore, Mary (Interview transcript and video), 2010
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Moore, Mary
Description
An account of the resource
Mary Moore was born in 1932 and grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan. She played ball with the boys in vacant lots in her neighborhood growing up, and met some of the Detroit Tiger players who lived in the area. She was recruited into the AAGPBL in 1950, and played second base that season for the Springfield Sallies barnstorming team. Their season included games played at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., and at Yankee Stadium. She was drafted by the Battle Creek Belles for the 1951 season, but an offseason injury kept her from playing that year. She returned to the league in 1952, only to have another injury cut short her playing career. After baseball, she worked for Michigan Bell for 35 years and continued to play and coach softball. When the league began holding reunions, she recorded short video interviews with 184 former players, coaches and chaperones, which are now archived with the league's collection in South Bend, Indiana.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Smither, James (Interviewer)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Video recordings
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives
Baseball for women--United States
Baseball
Sports for women
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Baseball players--Michigan
Baseball players--Illinois
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2010-08-07
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
video/mp4