AAGPBL League Play - 1943
The League Office assigned managers, players and chaperones to teams. It was their intent to balance the talent on each city's team to make league play highly competitive. Players were often traded in mid-season to maintain that balance. League play officially began on May 30, 1943 with South Bend playing in Rockford and Kenosha playing in Racine. A total of 108 games were played in the regular season, which ran from mid-May to the first of September. The team to win the most games during the regular season was declared the pennant winner. The top teams then competed in a series of play-off games to determine the League Champion. At the end of the 1943 season, the Kenosha Comets played a 5-game series against the Racine Belles for the Championship. Racine won and became the first World Champions of the All-American Girls Baseball League.
Assessment of the first year of play was encouraging. The teams were well received by fans in the four sponsoring cities. Attendance was tracked at 176,612 fans for the 1943 season. National League officials, the press and baseball fans across the country were amazed at how well the women played ball and by the enthusiasm and support the teams received in their host cities. Several factors contributed to this success. Most of the nation was involved in one way or another in the war effort. Women, who were formerly homemakers, left their homes to support the war by taking jobs in factories that were converted into making munitions and other military machinery. This change in the traditional occupation of women made the environment much friendlier for accepting women as professional ball players. Another factor was the limits the war placed on the American people. Some foods, luxury items, tires and gasoline were rationed. People were forced to spend their leisure time close to home.
Going to the ballpark was a popular form of entertainment. Wrigley also managed to capitalize on the patriotic mood of the country. America's young men were off fighting for our country, dreaming of the girls they left behind. Playing on the Theme of "All-American Girl," he promoted the image that the players were symbols of "the girl next door" in spikes. At the beginning of each game, the two teams formed a "V" for Victory from home plate down the first and third baselines followed by the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. The players played an even greater part in displaying patriotism by playing exhibition games to support the Red Cross and the armed forces, as well as visiting wounded veterans at Army Hospitals. Talent for the league was abundant, and it was soon evident that the women's high caliber of play was going to be the main drawing card for the fans.
