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Melissa Harris-Perry: 30 years ago, A League of Their Own hit movie theaters with a star-studded cast, including Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Tom Hanks. It told the story of the all-women's baseball team, the Rockford Peaches.

Jimmy Dugan: Are you crying? Why are you crying? There's no crying. There's no crying in baseball.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Now, A League of Their Own is being rebooted as a new series on Amazon Prime.

Carson Shaw: Oh, she can hit too. These girls are really good.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Before the Rockford Peaches were immortalized on screen, they were a real-life baseball team made up of real women ballplayers of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Kat Williams: My name is Kat Williams. I am a professor of women's sport history at Marshall University and the president of the International Women's Baseball Center.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Kat Williams has dedicated much of her work to celebrating and preserving the stories of these women. She's written a book on the league and is working to help build a new International Women's Baseball Center in Rockford, Illinois, across from the stadium where the real Rockford Peaches played.

Kat Williams: The All-American Girls Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, who many people recognize from Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs. He and some other owners started the women's league at the beginning of World War II. A lot of men, particularly men of 20s, 30s, joined the military. Philip Wrigley and some of the owners realized that there were a lot of minor league ballparks sitting empty that baseball was in a little bit of jeopardy. They came up with the idea of creating a women's league.

Announcer: An all-American pastime, baseball brings out the All-American Girl Baseball League for spring training at Alexandria, Virginia. Two teams are working out, the Fort Wayne Daisies and the Racine Belles getting in shape for an opening-day doubleheader. Okay, gals, play ball.

Melissa Harris-Perry: The league formed with four teams in 1943 and the pitchers threw underhanded softball style. As popularity grew, they added more teams up to 15 and the play evolved too. They began pitching the ball sidearm and then eventually full overhand. Teams set scouts across the country to find ballplayers and the athletes came to play from far and wide, the Midwest, California, Canada, some even from Cuba.

Kat Williams: Gosh, they were from farms. They were from middle-class families. They were from everywhere. They were like girls today. Girls and women today, they loved the game. They wanted to play the game and there were virtually no opportunities for them to play and get paid for it and very few opportunities for them to play at a high level.

Melissa Harris-Perry: The league operated between 1943 and 1954. In that time, it opened doors for about 600 women, giving them access not just to the professional ball field but also to a more level playing field.

Kat Williams: Many of these women were very poor. Not all of them, of course, but many of them were. They made $65 to $95, $85 a week. In many cases, that was double what their fathers made. That money playing professional sports gave them, first of all, a sense of confidence and independence and belonging and importance. That's what sport does for everyone and that's what it does for girls and women today. It gave them that independence that comes from being financially independent.

Many of those women put themselves through college. They put their siblings through college. They became doctors and lawyers and principals and teachers and pilots. They became all kinds of things because not only did they make the money to get that training and to do those things, but they saw a little bit of the country. They saw a little bit of the world. They saw a little bit of different society and culture and it changed them. It changed them forever. Having access to sports still does that for girls and women.

Melissa Harris-Perry: That's not to say, the league was a home run from the start. The women were not immune to critics, challenges, and outright sexism.

Kat Williams: There were skeptics. Girls can't play ball. If they do, the skill level is not as good as men, "Why would we want to watch that?" In many cases early on, it became a spectacle. I think people initially, "Oh, these women and they're wearing dresses and they're going to try to play ball."

Announcer: Yes, they play a grand brand of ball. Bats and balls conform to Major League standards, but one concession is the reduction of the distance between bases from 90 to 72 feet. After all, girls run slower than men, except when they're running after men, strike.

Kat Williams: Well, very quickly, people realized, "Hey, wait a minute, these are good athletes. I think that elevated their status a little bit. Of course, there was intense sexism.

Announcer: These typically American girls may play ball with masculine magnificence, but off the field, they perform with traditional feminine finesse.

Kat Williams: They had to wear dresses. They had to wear their makeup, the scenes in the movie where you got to fix your hair, you got to learn to cross your legs a certain way. They were not allowed off the team bus if they were in pants or shorts. We may be looking at, well, some overt act of sexism. That's what that is. That's built-in. That's inherent in these rules. They had to look like "the all-American girl." That, of course, at its core is sexism.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Despite the challenges they faced, these women proved to be truly in a league of their own. Professor Williams maintains that they were trailblazers who helped usher in some critical changes for sports.

Kat Williams: Often I asked, "What do you think is the legacy of the league?" Many of those women said to me, "We were the bridge to Title IX." Title IX is absolutely one of the most important pieces of legislation in the lives of American women. I put it up there with the ratification of the 19th Amendment that finally gave women the right to vote. I think Title IX is absolutely crucial to the well-being of girls and women in this country. The women from the league, they believe very strongly that they were part of making that happen. Believe me, if you ever met them, you wouldn't argue with them.

Melissa Harris-Perry: What about the legacy of A League of Their Own? Professor Williams recounts the effect it had on her when she saw it back in 1992.

Kat Williams: Well, I sat there and I laughed like everyone else. I cried and I cheered and the credits start rolling and Madonna keeps singing. I could not hold it in. I was overwhelmed. When the lights came up, I looked around the room and there were about 10 other women sitting in that theater. None of us could leave. It's like we were just shown a piece of our lives, a piece of our own history that we never knew existed. The impact was enormous.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Professor Williams has similar hopes for the new TV series reboot, also called A League of Their Own, for which she served as a historical consultant. She says the series explores new depths.

Kat Williams: They're looking at issues of race and sexuality and real things that have an effect on real people. I believe this TV show will have a similar impact on young women watching it that the movie had on my generation.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Thank you to Kat Williams, professor of women's history at Marshall University and the president of the International Women's Baseball Center. We need to take a quick break. When we come back in the Takeaway, we'll hear from 95-year-old Maybelle Blair, a living legend and a player for the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Maybelle Blair: We went out there and show them that, "Hey, we can throw a ball as good as anybody. We can catch a ball, we can run, and we can hit." The fans really loved it.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Welcome back to The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. We've been hearing about A League of Their Own. It was a 1992 film. Now, it's received a reboot as a series on Amazon Prime.

Max: I could get away with so much if I was a man. No one would pressure me to have kids or a husband or, well, anything.

Bertie: Do you think it's that easy?

Max: Well, no, but at least I could play ball.

Melissa Harris-Perry: The movie is inspired by the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. which ran from 1943 until 1954. 95-year-old Maybelle Blair was a pitcher for the Peoria Redwings.

Maybelle Blair: Oh, my gosh, I started playing baseball when I was about six months old, I think. My whole family is baseball nuts. It was a very cheap thing to do in my day because it was in Depression time. That's all I do was play baseball. My father had a team with all of his brothers and his cousins, so they traveled all over Texas playing baseball. That's all I grew up with. That's all I really know was how to play baseball.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Can you tell me why it was so important for girls and women to play baseball?

Maybelle Blair: Well, it's so important that it was such great exercise. It was great to be able to be on a team and be with other people that love the same sport that you do. It taught us so much. It taught us how to get along with people, how to win and lose, take the good with the bad. It was fantastic.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Talk to me about why baseball was so important during World War II. Why did it matter for you all to play in the league?

Maybelle Blair: Well, it was so important. The reason why President Roosevelt wanted to keep baseball going for men and all the great ballplayers had to go into service and fight the war for us. He wanted to keep it going. He got with Mr. Wrigley. Mr. Wrigley and President Roosevelt, they formed a league of their own to keep Major League Baseball going. That's why it's so important.

Melissa Harris-Perry: How was it received at the time? Were people excited to see young women playing?

Maybelle Blair: Well, it was a shock for them that women could play baseball and they couldn't believe it at first. We went out there and showed them that, "Hey, we could throw a ball as good as anybody. We could catch a ball, we can run, and we can hit." It was wonderful and the fans really loved it.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I know that you are living your best life at 95. You presented at the ESPYs. You were on Twitter. Any chance you might be going back to play ball for another team?

Maybelle Blair: [laughs] Don't I wish. I'll tell you, it's lucky I get around at 95, but I'm so thrilled. What I'm trying to do now is build a home for the girls like the boys do in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Rockford, Illinois where Rockford Peaches played. We're trying to build an activity center there for our International Women's Baseball Center, where it will be for all women from all over the United States and the world.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Very recently, you came out publicly for the first time. Why was this the right time for you to do that?

Maybelle Blair: Oh, my gosh. Well, I was sitting there up on the stage at Trabuco and I looked at Will and Abby. I knew that they were gay and everything and everything was working out for them. Here I am at 95 getting mold in my body in the closet and it dogged on me, "Hey, Maybelle, I think maybe your family will accept you," and I'm hoping so. If there's any little girl or any little boy I could help by coming out and telling them that, hey, they're not alone, that it's all right. I'm going to do it. I just blurted it out and I'm so happy. You don't have to hide. I hid for 75, 85 years. This is actually, basically, the first time I've ever come out.

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Maybelle Blair: You just don't know how relieved I am now that I told the world and that, hey, it's okay to be gay. We're still human beings. We've still got hearts and we loved. It doesn't matter. We're still people. Anyway, we shouldn't be ostracized because we can't help what we are. God may be like I am. I have been this way all my life.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I love that you can still have these brand new experiences at 95, that you're still learning and growing, still becoming who you want to be. What has been the most exciting part of your 90s?

Maybelle Blair: To being able to tell my story and to live it again and give everybody a chance to be who they are. People should be able to say that I am so and so and be proud of it and not hide in a closet like I had to for all these years. It's been a big relief in my heart to be able to do this.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I understand you also worked as a consultant for the new TV series, A League of Their Own. Can you tell us about that?

Maybelle Blair: Oh, my gosh, it has been the most wonderful time of my life, part of it because we are being able to tell the story that Penny Marshall couldn't tell in the 1992s because they were so frowning on us for gay people. What we're doing is trying to tell the real story that actually happened in the league besides that. That never will replace the original League of Their Own, but this is such a wonderful story. I think the people should see it and see what actually took place and what we went through.

Melissa Harris-Perry: We recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Can you tell me how you see women's sports today and what you hope to see in the future?

Maybelle Blair: Oh, my gosh, this is what I had hoped for all my life. It means so much to the women. It has opened the doors for them to be able to go to college and to get the benefits of college that the boys were able to do. Every time I see an athlete come up and they accomplished so much now that they're going to be great athletes when they get out of college like the boys, but they've become CEOs.

They have become, well, just something like you. If it wasn't for Title IX, you wouldn't be where you are today. These are the things that have opened the whole world up for women. It just makes my heart sing every time I read where a woman has accomplished something like she's written a great book or she has become a CEO or a great doctor or anything like this. These are the things that make me so happy.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Do you have a favorite baseball team in the majors who you root for or even a minor league team?

Maybelle Blair: Oh, yes. I have three top teams right today and one is the Los Angeles Dodgers naturally and the Angels. That's where I live. The Boston Red Sox, they started a fantasy camp for women, in fact, there. They have invited me to their fantasy camps. It's wonderful. These women get the biggest kick going down to Fort Myers every year and playing baseball. There's about 40 or 60 of them that show up. They treat the women just like the boys do in spring training. They pretended like they're spring training to go out to their teams. That's so much fun.

Melissa Harris-Perry: My last question, do you have one piece of advice that you might give to a young girl today about following her dreams?

Maybelle Blair: Oh, for God's sakes. If you have a dream, never, never give it up. Follow it because even if it looks like it's unattainable, it will be attainable if you keep trying hard enough and it will happen.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Maybelle Blair, former player for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Maybelle Blair: Well, thank you very much for having me and for being able to tell our story. I hope it helps a lot of our young girls.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: Before I go, let me shout out this fantastic Team Takeaway. First up, a special thank you to our intern, Callie Teitelbaum, who leaves our show today. Callie, you've been amazing and you'll be missed. Our producers are Katerina Barton, Ryan Wilde, Mary Steffenhagen, Deborah Goldstein, and Ugonna Okpalaoka. Our executive assistant is David Gebel, our digital producer is Zach Bynum, and our line producer is Jackie Martin.

Our broadcast engineer is Vince Fairchild and Jay Cowit is our director and editor. They both sound-designed the show as well. Shyam Sunder was our board-op this week. Our senior producers are Shanta Covington and Ethan Oberman and our executive producer is Wonbo Woo. Thanks so much for spending a part of your day with us. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry and this is The Takeaway.

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