During the weekend, I took a break from the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild annual conference to go for a walk (a break from crowded rooms full of people and a break from sitting). Walking in an unfamiliar city is tricky, because a block can separate commercial downtown with plenty of traffic from an unsafe area. But as I wandered in the direction of a large collection of buildings that turned out to be the U of R campus, I came across the park where Mary Geraldine Baker was scouted for professional softball in 1943.
Mary “Bonnie” Baker played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. “Pretty Bonnie Baker” is widely regarded as the basis for Geena Davis’s character in A League of Their Own. She was a catcher, a media darling, and an all-star player whose sister also made the league.
She promised her husband she would quit when he returned from fighting overseas, which she did, but apparently her despondency made enough of an impression that he relented and told her to continue playing ball.
Baker played 930 games in the pro league over nine seasons, appeared on the popular television program “What’s My Line?”, and was named the league’s all-star catcher in 1946. She was the only woman, as well as the only player in the league, to manage a team before the league barred women from managing.
Back home following her professional baseball career, she led the Regina softball team to provincial and Western Canadian titles. She was introduced as Canada’s first woman sportscaster after being hired as sports director of radio station CKRM. She also became a noted bowler and curler, and managed the Wheat City Curling Club for 25 years.
While I’m not a sports player, or even much of a fan, I am in awe of brave women who demonstrate what’s possible when you reject limitations others impose.
This quote was particularly impactful to me as I embark on a writing career generally regarded as demoralizing and economically unrewarding but also a labour of love: “I knew I was on my way to what I’d dreamed of.”
