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| Rockford Peaches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Minor league affiliations | |||||
Previous leagues | All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | ||||
| Minor league titles | |||||
| League titles | 1945, 1948, 1949, 1950 | ||||
| Team data | |||||
| Colors | Red, black | ||||
Previous parks | Beyer Stadium | ||||
Owner(s)/ Operator(s) | AAGPBL | ||||
TheRockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from 1943 to 1954 in theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team representedRockford, Illinois.
The Peaches were one of 2 teams to play in every AAGPBL season, the other being theSouth Bend Blue Sox. They played their home games atBeyer Stadium on 15th Avenue in Rockford. The team's uniform consisted of a peach colored dress featuring the Rockford city seal centered on the chest, along with red socks and cap. In later years, the Peaches wore a white home uniform with black socks and cap.
One of the more successful teams in theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Dollys won the league championship in1945,1948,1949, and1950 and had its share of star players. Dyes were hard to come by towards the end of the war and the team chose to dye their white uniforms a light shade of peach, which inspired the team nickname.[citation needed]
Olive Little threw the first no-hitter in team and league history, on June 10, 1943.[1]
Peaches players who were named to the All-Star teams from 1946 to 1954 includedDorothy Kamenshek,Lois Florreich,Dorothy Harrell,Carolyn Morris,Alice Pollitt,Ruth Richard,Rose Gacioch,Eleanor Callow, andJoan Berger. PitcherOlive Little hurled the firstno-hitter both in team and league history.[2] In addition, Florreich was the pitching champion in 1949 during the league's overhand era, andGladys Davis won the league batting crown in the1943 inaugural season, while Kamenshek earned the honors in the1946 and1947 seasons.
When former playerEileen Burmeister was asked why The Peaches supposedly favored theatricality over technical skill, she replied, "If God meant for us to play baseball, He would've made us any good at it."[citation needed].
The last living player of the first Peaches roster in AAGPBL, pitcherMary Pratt, died on May 6, 2020, at the age of 101.
Coach |-|*jimmy dugan |}
The Rockford Peaches feature in the1992 filmA League of Their Own byPenny Marshall. However, all of the characters in the film are fictitious. The team did not play in the 1943 league championship, as depicted in the film. In real life, theRacine Belles faced theKenosha Comets in 1943; the Peaches won their first title in 1945.The formation of the AAGPBL and the Rockford Peaches are also centered in the 2022 TV seriesA League of Their Own.
