Remembering a Star

Earlier this week my friend posted on Facebook that Doris “Sammye” Sams, one of players who served as an inspiration for the movie “A League of Their Own,” passed away.  While I will admit that I had no clue who she was or what a major impact she had on the game, I will admit that it was a sad event.

As Nicole Uliasz mentioned in her post Breaking Down the Barriers a few weeks ago, it was sad that while women such as Sammye fought to break gender barriers in sports during World War II, this barrier still exists today.  It was also disappointing that as a girl who grew up wishing I could have a chance to play in a league such as the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (minus the dress as a uniform), I had no real idea who Sams was and no knowledge of her impressive career.  According to the AAGPBL website, during her eight year career Sammye was a six-time all-star, two-time Player of the Year, pitched one no-hitter, and won both the batting championship and was named the home run champion once.

While it is unfortunate that it took her passing away for us to learn/be reminded of just how talented of a baseball player Sammye and all the other women who played in the AAGPBL were, I am happy that this time and this league has been thrust into the spotlight.  Hopefully now, more people will take time to learn more about the impressive stats and accomplishments that these women compiled during the 12 years the league existed.  I know that I for one have already spent some time looking at the AAGPBL website, and I look forward to learning more about the 600 plus women who had the unique opportunity to play in this league.  Also, I know that the next time we have our baseball round table or the men at my lunch table start talking about stats and impressive acts accumulated by MLB players, I will be able to share information about athletes such as Sammye to get them thinking.  After all, since we work at an all-girls school and many of these men have daughters, it would be great to get them talking about these women and how for a period of time the gender barrier was broken in professional baseball.

So, I encourage you to go have a hot dog, peanuts, or CrackerJacks, watch “A League of Their Own,” and research about these wonderful ladies who deserve to be acknowledged as much as any of the All-Stars of today.

References:

Doris Sams Retrieved from http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/profiles/sams-doris/140