We Were the All-American Girls: Interviews with Players of the AAGPBL, 1943–1954 by Jim Sargent (review)
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We Were the All-American Girls is the second book by author Jim Sargent on the aagpbl and is a compilation of interviews with former players exploring different aspects of the league and its history. The foreword, provided by league historian Merrie A. Fidler, relates Sargent’s personal discovery of the league and the remarkable women who made it unique. Always interested in the time period and general sport history, Sargent met Helen “Gig” Smith, a former outfielder in the league, at a card show in Virginia and became interested in the league’s history. Gig then put Sargent in contact with All-Star pitcher Jean Faut. His first work, published in 2011, explored the history and players of the South Bend Blue Sox. For We Are the All-American Girls, Sargent included many Blue Sox players previously interviewed as well as players from other teams for a well-rounded history of the league. By keeping the interviews intact, he provides readers with fresh information directly from the ladies who pioneered women’s baseball.
In the preface, the author details his purpose for presenting the interviews as a collection, rather than as an edited history like most books on the league’s history. This book helps researchers of the league or of the time period and fans of the movie A League of Their Own discover the women and true history of the All-American League. “It is my hope that this book, which presents the women’s stories in their own words, will flesh out that story for the readers eager to know what really happened, and when, and to whom” (3). A brief introduction by David Hillman, former library director at Virginia Western Community College, illustrates many of the similarities and differences between the players in the league. These girls came to the league as different as possible, amateurs and professionals, farmers and city dwellers, Canadians, Cubans, and Americans. But they all loved the game and played it well.
A history of the league, laid out chronologically, gives a wonderful picture of structure, rules, revisions, expansions, and reduction of the league. The interviews are divided into three parts: “The Early Years, 1943–1945,” “The Postwar Years, 1946–1949,” and “The Last Years, 1950–1954.” The reader must use the divisions very generally, as the interviews, particularly of veteran players, cover many seasons and do not fit into just one specific period.
Before each interview, the author provides a brief biographical sketch of the player including her personal background, physical description, previous [End Page 152] experience, statistics, and short anecdotes. In these bios, the author falls short of the book’s potential to provide a comprehensive and engaging reference on the league. The bios are often taken verbatim from the interviews that follow, creating a pattern of redundancy that plagues the entire book. Taking information from the interviews to fill in the bios not only is redundant, but it robs the women of a chance to tell their story without interference, going against the author’s statement of purpose. It would have been better to use additional resources to fill in these bios, rather than repeating information multiple times for each interview throughout the entire book.
The interviews themselves are informative, providing a wonderful new resource for scholars and casual researchers alike. Even those who have studied the league extensively will find new information contained in the memories and stories of the former players. Personal anecdotes provide a real look at life for these women as professional baseball players as well as at their lives before and after baseball. The interviews provide detailed accounts of the changes to league structure, diamond and ball size, and recruitment strategies throughout the league’s history. The players’ interviews also provide a nice look at the different managers of the league and their different managing styles, personalities, and backgrounds. Whenever an anecdote or fact is in doubt...
