IL Worcester Red Sox

"Give the Girls a Chance:" Maybelle Blair Visits Polar Park to Highlight Progress of Women in Baseball

Published on August 26, 2025 under International League (IL)
Worcester Red Sox News Release


At a spry 98 years old, women's baseball legend Maybelle Blair brought stories, humorous anecdotes, and some heat as she headlined the July 19 installment of the Great Polar Park Writers Series.

Born in 1927, Blair grew up in a baseball-loving family, owning one baseball wrapped in horsehide. One day, while playing softball, a man approached Blair and asked whether she wanted to play professional baseball.

"There is no way there's a woman playing baseball," Blair said to the man.

The man replied, "Yes, there is. There is a league in the Midwest."

While excited, Blair thought her mother would never let her leave the house, let alone travel to the Midwest to play baseball. She went back to her house with the man to talk to her parents.

When the man began speaking with Blair's parents, her mother said, "There is no way my daughter's leaving this house."

The conversation went on for nearly 30 minutes, and the man said, "Mrs. Blair, don't you realize we're going to pay her $55 a week?"

Blair's mother said to her husband, "George, go crank up the car!"

Maybelle Blair was on the next train to Chicago to begin her baseball career in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

Blair played for the Peoria Redwings in 1948 as a right-handed pitcher. She moved to Chicago the next year to play professional softball for the Chicago Cardinals.

While playing, Blair said it was a "treat" to meet fellow ballplayers, such as Megan Cavanaugh, as she thought she was the only girl in the room who played the game.

"I thought I was a lone ranger," Blair said. "And then, finally, I had all these friends."

After the 1949 season, Blair retired from the game and began a 37-year career at Northrop Corporation in California as a chauffeur. She later became the third female manager in the company's history, and recalled driving Ronald Reagan, then-Governor of California, early in her career.

"You chauffeured Ronald Reagan, with him never knowing that he was in the presence of a former great player and a future baseball pioneer?" WooSox President Dr. Charles Steinberg asked.

"I know, but he wasn't too bright then," Blair said with the audience erupting in laughter.

One of Blair's best friends while living in California was Annabelle Lee, the aunt of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

"She was a remarkable ball player, a great first baseman," Blair said. "She could really play."

Earlier this year, Kat D. Williams, president of the International Women's Baseball Center in Rockford, Illinois, published All the Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair.

"I still can't believe it at 98 [years old]," Blair said. "There was no way a girl could ever have any such dream in my day."

One of Blair's career highlights was working with stars such as Madonna, Tom Hanks, and Geena Davis as they would tell the story of "All the Way May" in the 1992 film, A League of Their Own. Madonna, who played Blair in the film, was a "trooper" who took advice, according to Blair.

"Nobody knew there was a league until that movie came out," Blair said. "[Through] the movie, everybody learned about women's baseball ... and thank God they did."

For decades after the AAGPBL was dissolved, Blair has advocated for women to have another league of their own. And that dream is now coming true, as the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL) hosts tryouts at Nationals Park from August 22 to 25.

"That's been my goal and my dream, and believe me, the dream is starting to come true," Blair said. "We're going to have a league of our own again."

Steinberg has long described Blair as having a pioneering spirit.

"Pioneering is a lonely road, and you are pioneering a way that is returning professional women's baseball," Steinberg said. "The next Jackie Robinson will be Jacqueline Robinson, and you're watching it happen. I think we all owe you this debt of gratitude for that pioneering spirit."

Blair added that she would never give up baseball, as an athlete on the field nor as an advocate for the game around the world.

"As long as I live and breathe, my feet will be with baseball," Blair said. "I believe in my dreams all over again."

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International League Stories from August 26, 2025


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