The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by Anika Orrock (review)

Many baseball fans were first introduced to the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by watching Penny Marshall's 1992 film A League of Their Own. In subsequent years, there have been league histories written, player biographies published, at least one encyclopedia released, an oral history compiled, and multiple scholarly articles written about the league and its place in baseball history.

While many of these books are well-written and offer significant contributions to baseball studies, Anika Orrock's The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League is a work of art in both the literary and visual senses.

The book is part history, part interviews, part cultural snapshot, part art exhibit, and all fun. Beginning with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Orrock narrates how chewing gum icon Philip Wrigley's idea to establish a league made up entirely of women players came to life. But rather than revisiting anecdotes told elsewhere, Orrock offers collections of quotes (some only a sentence long) to narrate the league's history, the challenges the women faced, their thoughts on their playing careers, and their perception of the league's legacy.

As enjoyable as, if not more than, the anecdotes from the women themselves is the accompanying artwork. Orrock's whimsical style is on every page, allowing readers to follow the story without ever reading a word. The illustrations look like something off the pages of the New Yorker: they capture the time period of the 1940s and 1950s, including fashions of the day, the action found on the field, and the league's iconic uniform styles. Rather than interrupting the narrative flow, as often happens in books that rely so heavily on pictures, the drawings only serve to enhance the text.

The strength of the book's storytelling lies in Orrock's use of the words of her interviewees. While many of the women were in the league for several years, others played for only a season, providing a panorama of player perspectives. The story is woven together with excerpts from the league rulebook, newspaper accounts from cities across the country, newsreel commentary, and even commentary from some of the players' husbands. Unlike a traditionally written history book, Orrock's Incredible Women lets readers open to any page to find individual quotes that address playing, the expectations for players to remain "lady-like," how fans responded to the league, and other assorted topics.

Much like Marshall's iconic movie, the book concludes with several quotes from players about their legacy and the impact the league had on women's sports in the United States. In the afterword, the author explores challenges women who want to play baseball today face, interviewing baseball pioneers Ila Borders and Justine Siegal as well as current players Malaika Underwood and Beth Greenwood to continue the story of women in the game.

The book includes a series of black and white photos from the league interspersed with more of Orrock's drawings. The pairing of the drawings with photographs serves as a bridge between the artistic world from the eyes of the author to the images captured during the league's existence.

While some fans of the game might argue there are no new facts about the league's basic history, this book does a tremendous job of providing a mosaic of perspectives from those who knew the league best: the players themselves. The struggles against traditional stereotypes, expectations imposed by the league itself, grind of playing a grueling schedule under extreme conditions, and camaraderie that developed amongst the women all leap off the page thanks to the seamless combination of pictures and prose.

The players' fond memories of their time in the AAGPBL and Orrock's love of their stories is what drives this brief, but thorough, history. In fact, the book might best be summed up by contributing voice and former player Jean...