HHC hosting ‘A League of Their Own’ artifacts

The 1992 film “A League Of Their Own” starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks has delighted generations with its tale of a wartime American women’s baseball league. The truth of that league, it turns out, is just as compelling as what’s seen on the screen.

The Heinz History Center in the Strip District now displays a cotton dress uniform — from the Smithsonian Museum of American History — that belonged to Cincinnati native Betsy Jochum. Jochum played for five years in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the real-life inspiration for the film, as a member of the South Bend Blue Sox.

The uniform is part of the History Center’s current exhibition, “A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh,” which explores the stories of historical and present- day women in Southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League began in 1943, and Jochum was one of the original 60 players that first season.

“When we were planning this exhibit, we reached out to them knowing that this was in their collection,” said Anne Madarasz, director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum and chief historian at the Heinz History Center, about acquiring the loaned artifact from the Smithsonian.

The uniform will be on display until the close of the “A Woman’s Place” exhibition on Oct. 6.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League also has close ties to this region.

“We found 15 of them from Western Pennsylvania. We actually have a book in the exhibit where you can meet those 15 women,” Madarasz said. “It’s great to hear and be able to build the collection and build the stories of these pioneering women athletes.”

How true to life is “A League Of Their Own”?

“I think it tells some of the stories that are really important. I think one of the things that this uniform recognizes is they weren’t wearing what you would expect baseball players to wear. … Imagine that you’re sliding into second base and you’re wearing that dress,” she said.

She added that there were men who scouted and coached for the league, much like Tom Hanks’ character in the film.

“There is this sense of projecting this image of great baseball players, talented athletes, but also ladies. That comes in the uniform, that comes in the name of some of the teams,” she said. There also were rules for behavior and comportment on and off the field for all of the players.

“I think one of the bigger stories is, this is a small cohort of women, 600 women. But this gives them opportunities they might never have had. There wasn’t an opportunity, for the most part, beyond intramurals and neighborhoods, to play organized athletics at the time. There wasn’t an opportunity for a lot of these women to travel, to gain the kind of self-esteem and confidence that comes from performing in front of an audience and being well-received. I think the interesting thing to me, as a historian, is the effect that being involved and having this opportunity — as short-lived as it was — on these women and their own lives.”

Jochum was a multi-sport athlete as a child in Cincinnati. After high school, she went to business school and then worked at the office of a dairy. She was scouted by the league and played for the South Bend Blue Sox for her entire career. In that time, she played in the outfield and also as a pitcher. She led the league in hits in 1943 and 1944 with a .296 average.

“On the offseason, she would go back to Cincinnati and work her job at the dairy in the office,” Madarasz said. Her pay stub is on display in the exhibit.

After her five-year career, she was encouraged to ask for more money and was traded instead. After that, she decided to retire from the league.

“She continued to work an office job until she saved enough money and went to college. She got a degree in physical education and spent her career as a middle school physical education teacher in South Bend, where she still lives today. She’s 103 years old,” Madarasz said.

Sports are only one aspect of the exhibit, but Madarasz thinks that it’s an important part, especially with the attention that women’s sports have gained of late, from the WNBA to the Olympics.