Professional women baseball players visit NLR

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR - If you've seen the movie "A League of Their Own," you know the Hollywood version of the true story of the women who played professional baseball during and right after World War II.

Saturday, three women who played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League spoke in North Little Rock and shared some of their amazing stories with us.

"Being the tom girl that I was, at that year, they wanted to take me to try out," recalls Dolly Brumfield.

In 1946, Brumfield's mother pulled her out of school to try out for professional baseball. Brumfield could not join the team though. She was only 13 and too young.

The next year, she got called out to spring training in Cuba and quickly became a sensation on the diamond as part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. It was brought to life on the big screen by Geena Davis and Tom Hanks in the movie "A League of Their Own."

"My first year, I played in South Bend, Indiana and met the girls from all over the world at that particular time to see my teammates from California and Pennsylvania and Michigan and places like that. It was quite an education for a young girl," said Brumfield.

Saturday, Brumfield, along with Sue Kidd and Mary Lou Caden, screened the Hollywood hit in North Little Rock.

"I enjoy watching it again. It bring back a lot of memories. Of course, I spent almost two weeks in Cooperstown being a part of the ending of that movie. So, I know that the movie stars, somebody like Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, and Lori Petty, they had some skill, but the majority of them did not have any skill. I mean, you almost had to hit the bat for them to hit the ball," says Kidd.

Kidd played baseball until 1954 and went on to play basketball.

"I would have liked to have another 5-10 years, but it wasn't to be, and I'm very thankful for the time that I had," she adds.

Caden got into baseball because of her seven older brothers and made the other girls jealous of all the attention she got from the guys.

"In high school, I never had problems talking to the boys because we talked sports. I helped a lot of them especially when we got to trig, I loved math, and all the girls would think what's she got?" Caden said.

Now, Caden looks back at what she accomplished and wishes for more quality in men's and women's sports.

"I wish so much more could be done because like little girls can't play hardball. They have to go right into softball after what is that? T-ball or something that they play. That's not fair. They should be able to play same as Little League Boys," says Caden.

You can check out the "Linedrives and Lipstick" display at the main library in North Little Rock through March 18.