This summer, Historica Canada traveled to Saskatchewan to produce a 60-second vignette on Mary “Bonnie” Baker, a 1940s professional baseball player from Regina. This Heritage Minute is also produced by Danny Rockett Productions and Barbershop Films, a Saskatchewan production company, with funding support from Creative Saskatchewan and in-kind equipment support from William F. White International. It focuses on her playing in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The well-known heritage pieces are showcased on different platforms such as television, cinema, and online as a tool to learn quick snippets of Canadian history. One of the most popular is about Indigenous long-distance runner Tom Longboat.
In May, I continued my conversation with Maureen Ulrich, whom you may have read about in my June 19th (2023) post. If not, I invite you to scroll back and read “Double Take.” Maureen was asked to be a consultant based on her research of Baker for her play Diamond Girls. I had a wonderful conversation about her experience working with the Historica team.
Maureen and I talked about its production, Baker, and other Saskatchewan women who traveled down south to play ball. Their legacy and the impact of the AAGPBL on female sports are an important history lesson and a catalyst to stir conversations about where female professional sports stand today.
AAGPBL Beginnings and the Canadian Connection
The AAGPBL imported female players from Canada starting in 1943. As the brainchild of Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley, he saw an opportunity to fill the professional sports gap when men served overseas in World War II. This allowed women to take the reins in athletics and compete on a national platform. Initially playing a hybrid of softball with some regulation baseball rules, the league transitioned to full-regulation baseball, with overhand pitching permitted starting in 1948. At its peak, the games attracted close to a million fans.
During its eleven-year stint from 1943 to 1954, 68 women from Canada were in the AAGPBL, representing more than 10% of its pool of players. (Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame) Saskatchewan was a hotbed of talent, contributing the majority:
Mildred Warwick McAuley (Regina), Catherine Bennett (Regina), Lee Surkowski Delmonico (Moose Jaw), Marguerite Jones Davies (Regina), Arleene Johnson Noga (Ogema), Janet Anderson Perkin (Regina), Daisy Knezovich Junor (Regina), Elsie Wingrove Earl (Saskatoon), Christine Jewitt Beckett (Regina), Terry Donahue (Moose Jaw), June Emerson (Moose Jaw), Betty Petryna Allen (Regina), Julie Sabo Dusanko (Regina), Lucella McLean Ross (Lloydminster), Muriel Coben (Saskatoon), Ruby Knezovich Martz (Regina), Thelma Grambo Hundeby, Hazel Measner Wildfong (Holdfast), Ethel McCreary (Regina), Terry Donahue (Melavel), Velma Abbott (Regina), Genevieve George McFaul (Regina) and Genevieve’s sister Mary “Bonnie” George Baker (Regina), who is our most famous export.
Mary “Bonnie” Baker
Baker is one of the most recognized AAGPBL players due partly to her highly publicized 1945 Life magazine photo cover. Snapped up by scout Hubert “Hub” Bishop, her talent as a great defensive catcher and second base player was quickly apparent. Baker had fond memories of that time “It was lots of fun, I liked the girls, and I liked my teammates. It was the best part of my life.” (The Leader-Post, May 30th, 1998, Sat · Page 32) She and her teammates were given the opportunity that many women still struggle to enter – to play professional sports. Helping to break that barrier, the AAGPBL raised women’s profiles when they were expected to stay home and look after their families.
As professional ball players, they were able to make a living playing the sport they loved. Daisy Junor, who played four seasons in the league, remembers, “It paid us. I was working in Regina and getting about $16 a week. Down there, I was getting $75 a week with all my expenses paid….” (The Leader-Post, May 30th, 1998, Sat · Page 32)
With a good salary, opportunities opened for them, such as furthering their education and giving them the ability to support themselves and their families. This was unheard of back in the 1940s. The particular gender roles dictated that men went into the world to make a living, be the breadwinner and head of the household. The Second World War quickly reversed those roles when the men went to Europe to serve and fight.
This certainly happened with Baker when her husband was sent across the sea. She worked as a clerk at Regina’s local Army & Navy, and this is where she decided to join the company softball team. They were called the Army & Navy Bombers. Baker was discovered at one of these games and sent to the United States to play with the AAGPBL.
As a catcher with the South Bend Blue Sox in Indiana and the Kalamazoo Lassies in Michigan, she was one of the dominant players in the league. Baker was one of only a handful of players whose batting average almost hit the .300 mark. She played with the Blue Sox until 1949, and between 1950 and 1952, she moved between the Kalamazoo Lassies in Michigan and the Blue Sox. After, she returned to Regina to continue her love of softball, baseball, and other sports as a coach and mentor.
Baker adding to her success, became the first female sportscaster in Canada in 1964. Baker was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and, in 2018, into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. In the 1990s, she was one of the inspirations for the Geena Davis role in the major motion film A League of Their Own.
Maureen Ulrich & Historica Canada
Ulrich is pleased with Historica Canada’s commitment to make the Heritage Minute on Baker as authentic as possible. Using a hybrid of research and lived experiences, she, Baker’s daughter “Chick,” and Merrie Fidler, who wrote a thesis and book about the AAGPBL, consulted with the production team to bring the story to life.
It wasn’t without its challenges. The piece was filmed in Ogema, SK, which still boasts a heritage 1920s grandstand that would have been a common sight in the early 20th Century ball diamonds. Thinking again about authenticity, Ulrich questioned whether Baker would have played in the small community with the Army & Navy Bombers. In addition, this was also the “turf” of Arleene Johnson, who played for the Muskegon Lassies and Fort Wayne Daisies, and Ulrich didn’t want Baker’s story to overshadow Johnson’s impact on softball/baseball.
However, she commended the production team for choosing a local ladies’ ball team from Pangman to fill in as extras. To bring it home, a family member of Arleene Johnson-Noga stepped up to the plate to portray her. Mallory Tendler’s Great Aunt Norma married Arleene’s brother Dewey. She shares a remarkable resemblance to Johnson-Noga. (Discover Moose Jaw, June 17 2023) One of Mary’s team-mates in the Heritage Minute has connections to Ulrich’s Diamond Girls which ran from 2017-2018 in Saskatchewan. Amanda Trapp played Ulrich’s all 21 characters in the play.
Historica Canada asked her to be on set during the filming, but other previous commitments pulled her away. Ulrich was heartbroken and “had to let it go.”
When asked about the legacy of Baker and all the Saskatchewan female players, she refers to the state of female sports today. With the success of the AAGPBL almost 80 years ago, why have we not been able to achieve anything like it again? If we look at the visibility of women’s sports, why is it broadcast less than men’s? Why can’t women make a livable wage playing sports as they did in the 1940s?
It was proven with the over a million devotees of the AAGPBL that female athletes are viewed as skilled, dedicated, and passionate. They had the fan base to support them and the league. It’s time to start looking at how this can happen once again.
The Heritage Minutes premier is happening this fall in Ogema. Maureen and I will be there to celebrate and cheer on the story. Let’s see where things go from there.
– Robyn
Post Script -For those who want to dive deeper into the story, here are a few interesting links and Saskatchewan AAGPBL Highlights compiled by attheplate.com baseball historian Rich Necker.
Interesting links:
https://www.historicacanada.ca/productions/minutes
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-bonnie-baker
Saskatchewan AAGPBL Highlights by Rich Necker
-Lasting 12 seasons, the AAGPBL was a pitching-dominant league, with only a handful of batters ever reaching or surpassing the .300 mark.
-The vast majority of Saskatchewan players suited up during the early years of the circuit (World War 2 and the immediate post-war years in the forties).
1943
-Catcher Mary “Bonnie” (nee George) Baker (Regina) of the South Bend Blue Sox is selected to the initial AAGPBL all-star team.
-Millie Warwick (Regina) set an AAPGBL record by recording ten assists at third base in a single game for the Rockford Peaches. She also hit safely in 13 consecutive games to set an AAGPBL record that was broken two years later. She had three professional hockey-playing brothers, two of whom skated in the NHL.
1944
-Catherine Bennett (Regina) posted a 14 – 9 pitching record with the South Bend Blue Sox.
-Lee Surkowski (Moose Jaw), playing for the South Bend Blue Sox, led all centre fielders in fielding average and double plays.
-Regina’s Marguerite Jones, dividing the season between the Minneapolis Millerettes and Rockford Peaches, walked 24 times and swiped 25 bases.
1945
-Hot-corner specialist Arleene (nee Noga) Johnson (Ogema to Regina) starred defensively at third base for the Fort Wayne Daisies.
1946
-South Bend’s Mary “Bonnie” Baker (Regina) finished with the second-highest batting average in 1946, tallying 63 runs on 92 base hits and, once again, was a league all-star.
-During the fifties and sixties, Regina product outfielder-pitcher Janet Anderson (married name Perkin) of the 1946 Kenosha Comets would demonstrate her abilities as an all-round athlete by skipping three different Saskatchewan Ladies Curling Champions.
-Another Queen City softballer-turned-baseballer, Daisy Junor, an accomplished bowler and golfer, had a productive rookie season with the South Bend Blue Sox, posting career-highs in games played (99), runs (30), hits (60), RBI’s (22) and stolen bases (41) while ranking tenth among all outfielders with 17 assists.
1947
-Arleene Noga (Ogema/Regina), now playing for the league-champion Muskegon Lassies, was the top fielder at third base for the second consecutive year in what would eventually become a three-season reign as the circuit’s defensive queen at that position.
-Elsie Wingrove (Saskatoon) was a 1947 league champion Grand Rapids Chicks member.
1948
-For the second consecutive year, spring training for all AAGPBL players, including Regina products Bonnie Baker of the South Bend Blue Sox, Baker’s younger sister Genevieve George of the Muskegon Lassies, Christine Jewitt of the Kenosha Comets, Daisy Junor of the Springfield Sallies, and Arleene Noga (Regina via Ogema) of the Muskegan Lassies was held in Havana Cuba.
-Jewitt had her best statistical season in 1948 with 97 hits and 50 stolen bases while tying for seventh in the loop with the most home runs, three.
-Other Saskatchewan-born-and-bred baseballers in attendance for pre-season workouts in the Cuban capital were Melaval/Moose Jaw recruit Terry Donahue of the Peoria Red Wings as well as Moose Jaw diamondeers Terry Emerson of the Springfield Sallies and Lee Surkowski of the Fort Wayne Daisies.
-Almost one million fans witnessed league fixtures during the 1948 campaign.
1949
-Diminutive infielder Betty Petryna (Regina), who had two brothers playing for the Regina Red Sox of the Saskatchewan Baseball League, set an all-time AAGPBL record with 12 assists in one game for the Fort Wayne Daisies.
1950
-Mary “Bonnie” Baker (Regina) served as playing-manager of the 1950 Kalamazoo Lassies, becoming the only woman in league history to do so.
Home Runs & Dirt Roads 
[…] Home Runs and Dirt Roads – The AAGPBL and the Saskatchewan connections which inspired the latest Heritage Minute […]
LikeLike