AUGUST 22, 1948

“The red-hot mamas of the national pastime”

That’s what our writer called the women athletes of the All-American Girls’ Baseball League, who began playing during World War II. Our cover athlete, Dottie Schroeder, was in a league of her own, heralded as the “fastest-moving shortstop” for the Fort Wayne Daisies. The 1992 movie A League of Their Own, based on Dottie’s exploits and those of other women hardballers, would feature Madonna, Geena Davis and Rosie O’Donnell on the distaff diamond, and a new TV series has recently premiered on Prime Video.