Rockford Gets Berth In Loop
All-American Girls Softball Team To Come Here
Rockford has been definitely picked as one of the four cities assigned a berth in the All-American Girls Softball league, it was announced last night by league officials. Racine and Kenosha in Wisconsin, Rockford in Illinois and South Bend in Indiana are the four cities that have been given league franchises.
The league is being backed by Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, and Branch Rickey, vice president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The league has been provided with capital of $100,000 by Wrigley and its president is Ken Sells, former Rockford boy who has been assistant to the Cubs general manager Jimmy Gallagher.
Open on May 30
The league will start play on Sunday, May 30 with Kenosha and South Bend at home, Racine playing at Kenosha and the Rockford team at South Bend. The Rockford and Racine openings will be played on Saturday, June 5. The league will close Sept. 1 with a schedule of 108 games to be played by each team.
League officials state that they have secured a lease from the Rockford board of education for the use of the high school stadium for all home games for the Rockford team. Games will be played afternoon and at night.
The league was organized for the purpose of providing recreation and relaxation to defense workers and for that reason Rockford, Racine, Kenosha and South Bend, all big manufacturing cities engaged mostly in war work, were selected for the league.
A total of seventy-five girl softball stars from all parts of the United States and four Canadian provinces have been signed up for league plays and all are scheduled to arrive in Chicago to start trial workouts Monday at Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs.
Four managers have been signed to manage the league teams and they will conduct the trial workouts. Either May 24 or 25 these four managers will select the players to comprise the four teams, sixty girl softball stars, fifteen to each team, to be selected.
Will Pick Teams
The managers have been told to pick the four teams as nearly equal as to playing ability as possible and not until the personnel of the four teams has been announced will the managers know which team they are to manage. The four managers engaged by the league heads have all had experience managing professional men's baseball teams.
The team that is assigned to Rockford will come here May 26 with its manager and will work out at the stadium for three days before leaving for the league opening at South Bend. Rockford softball fans have been invited to watch the workouts of the Rockford team, the time of the drills to be announced later.
The players will all be outfitted in the same costumes as worn by the women tennis stars in national meets. The four cities in the league will be canvassed by league officials to find out the best starting times for the games that will benefit the most war workers in the various industries.
No comments:
Post a Comment