# Rockford Peaches

The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from 1943 to 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois.
The Peaches were one of 2 teams to play in every AAGPBL season, the other being the South Bend Blue Sox. They played their home games at Beyer Stadium on 15th Avenue in Rockford. The team's uniform consisted of a peach colored dress featuring the Rockford city seal centered on the chest, along with red socks and cap. In later years, the Peaches wore a white home uniform with black socks and cap.

## History

One of the more successful teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Dollys won the league championship in 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950 and had its share of star players. Dyes were hard to come by towards the end of the war and the team chose to dye their white uniforms a light shade of peach, which inspired the team nickname.
Olive Little threw the first no-hitter in team and league history, on June 10, 1943.
Peaches players who were named to the All-Star teams from 1946 to 1954 included Dorothy Kamenshek, Lois Florreich, Dorothy Harrell, Carolyn Morris, Alice Pollitt, Ruth Richard, Rose Gacioch, Eleanor Callow, and Joan Berger. Pitcher Olive Little hurled the first no-hitter both in team and league history. In addition, Florreich was the pitching champion in 1949 during the league's overhand era, and Gladys Davis won the league batting crown in the 1943 inaugural season, while Kamenshek earned the honors in the 1946 and 1947 seasons.
When former player Eileen Burmeister was asked why The Peaches supposedly favored theatricality over technical skill, she replied, "If God meant for us to play baseball, He would've made us any good at it.".
The last living player of the first Peaches roster in AAGPBL, pitcher Mary Pratt, died on May 6, 2020, at the age of 101.

## All-time roster

    Bold denotes members of the inaugural roster
* Velma Abbott
* Melba Alspaugh
* Amy Applegren
* Ange Armato
* Beverly Armstrong
* Charlene Barnett
* Joan Berger
* Rita Briggs
* Christine Bruce
* Jean Buckley
* Lorraine Bunton
* Shirley Burkovich
* Eileen Burmeister
* Aldine Calacurcio
* Eleanor Callow
* Mary Carey
* Betty Carveth
* Bea Chester
* Jean Cione
* Muriel Coben
* Clara Cook
* Donna Cook
* Dorothy Cook
* Betty Jane Cornett
* Dorothy Cramer
* Louella Daetweiler
* Barbara Anne Davis
* Gladys Davis
* Mildred Deegan
* Wanita Dokish
* Cartha Doyle
* Beverly Dustrude
* Louise Erickson
* Elizabeth Farrow
* Dorothy Ferguson
* Helen Filarski
* Alva Jo Fischer
* Lorraine Fisher
* Lois Florreich
* Anita Foss
* Betty Jane Fritz
* Rose Gacioch
* June Gilmore
* Thelma Golden
* Annie Gosbee
* Dorothy Green
* Carol Habben
* Audrey Haine
* Dorothy Harrell
* Josephine Hasham
* Ruby Heafner
* Lillian Hlavaty
* Margaret Holgerson
* Marjorie Hood
* Lillian Jackson
* Donna Jogerst
* Marguerite Jones
* Marilyn Jones
* Margaret Jurgensmeier
* Dorothy Kamenshek
* Joan Kaufman
* Jacquelyn Kelley
* Adeline Kerrar
* Marguerite Kerrigan
* Nancy King
* Irene Kotowicz
* Dolores Lee
* Josephine Lenard
* Barbara Liebrich
* Olive Little
* Claire Lobrovich
* Jean Lovell
* Shirley Luhtala
* Betty Luna
* Gloria McCloskey
* Ethel McCreary
* Marie Mansfield
* Hazel Measner
* Naomi Meier
* Berith Melin
* Bernice Metesch
* Ruth Miller
* Anne "Annie" (Mihelich) Henry
* Betty Moczynski
* Dorothy Moon
* Mary Moore
* Carolyn Morris
* Doris Nelson
* Helen Nelson
* Helen Nicol
* Helen Nordquist
* Cynthia Normine
* Anna Mae O'Dowd
* Pauline Oravets
* Shirley Palesh
* Suzanne Parsons
* Barbara Payne
* Migdalia Pérez
* Marjorie Peters
* Betty Jean Peterson
* Hattie Peterson
* Alice Pollitt
* Mary Pratt
* Donna Reid
* Ruth Richard
* Ruth Ries
* Kay Rohrer
* Jenny Romatowski
* Irene Ruhnke
* Margaret Russo
* Sarah Jane Sands
* Dorothy Sawyer
* Edna Scheer
* Marilyn Schmidt
* Violet Schmidt
* Minnie Simons
* Josephine Skokan
* Helen Smith
* Mae Starch
* Jackie Stallings
* Elma Steck
* Margaret Stefani
* Lee Surkowski
* Rella Swamp
* Georgia Terkowski
* Barbara Thompson
* Gene Travis
* Betty Tucker
* Joan Tysver
* Virginia Ventura
* Zonia Vialat
* Helen Waddell
* Betty Warfel
* Mildred Warwick
* Rossey Weeks
* Marie Wegman
* Helen Westerman
* Margaret Wigiser
* Hazel Wildfong
* Janet Wiley
* Vilma Williams
* Verna Wilson
* Lorraine Wuethrich
* Betty Yahr

## Managers

| * Eddie Stumpf | 1943 |
| * Jack Kloza | 1944 |
| * Bill Allington | 1945 1946 |
| * William Edwards | 1947 |
| * Bill Allington | 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 |
| * Johnny Rawlings | 1953 1954 |

## A League of Their Own

The Rockford Peaches feature in the 1992 film A League of Their Own by Penny Marshall. However, all of the characters in the film are fictitious. The team did not play in the 1943 league championship, as depicted in the film. In real life, the Racine Belles faced the Kenosha Comets in 1943; the Peaches won their first title in 1945. The formation of the AAGPBL and the Rockford Peaches are also centered in the 2022 TV series A League of Their Own.