WordUp by Chad Gramling

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My wife, daughter and I recently attended the 2006 Triple-A All-Star baseball game in Toledo, Ohio. In addition to the game, we attended the Fan Fest, which included dozens of activities, mostly geared toward kids. There was a stage where the players were presented to the public, batting cages, speed pitch booths, instructional clinics and a whole lot more. It really was well done.

There were also a lot of mascots. If you don’t know, I love mascots! They are an often overlooked and under appreciated facet of all sporting events. And, while it is my belief that mascots are more centrally connected with baseball than any other sport, it’s an argument better saved for a different time.

I bring up mascots, because there were also some individuals portraying legendary baseball figures. For instance, one guy was walking around in an old New York Yankees uniform and lugging a big baseball bat. Obviously, he we portraying Babe Ruth. I place these roles in a different realm than mascots.

Mascots are fun, animated, lively and intended to help you enjoy the event. Impersonators fill a different void. Whereas mascots help fans ENJOY the game, impersonators are meant to CONNECT fans to the game. It’s the next best thing to having your picture taken with the actual individual or star.

For this reason, I am going to coin the phrase, Personifiers. I don’t think they are impersonators because they are meant to personify more than just the individual star. They are personifying an entire sport or era.

In addition to the Great Bambino, there were two young ladies at the Fan Fest who were dressed in replica Rockford Peaches uniforms. The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) who played in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The league was formed largely by Phillip K. Wrigley who worried that baseball interest would suffer during the war while many of the game’s stars were serving their country.

So, while the league was formed purely with business interests in mind, it later went on to represent much more. Many are familiar with the movie A League of Their Own, which starred Tom Hanks, Madonna, Gena Davis, Lori Petty and others. The movie was the result of Kelly Candaele’s documentary of the same name.

I first began developing an interest in the AAGPBL while doing research for the book I am currently working on, Baseball in Fort Wayne. I have been learning more about the Fort Wayne Daisies AAGPBL team over the last several weeks and months and continually find myself marveling at what the women of this league accomplished and represent.

At the time, I am sure most of the girls had little idea that they were making history. The idea that a woman leave the home and do something else – let alone professional sports – was preposterous. But the girls did it anyway. And they did it well. As the years have gone on, many of the girls have been elected to local and national baseball halls of fame and are continually being recognized as innovators.

For this reason, it was very important to me that my daughter, Daphne, have her picture taken with the two Rockford Peaches while we were at the Fan Fest. I wisely stayed out of the picture; knowing that my wife might have issues if I were to do such a thing.

But the bigger reason that I stayed out of the photo is because my daughter need to be included with the young ladies who were being sent out to personify the AAGPBL league. As my daughter grows up and begins to develop her own self image, I want her to feel as though she is connected to such figures. When I tell her about the league and the girls, I want her to realize that she to can go out into this world and be an innovator. I want her to know that she can go on to do great things.

She has the potential – and I know first hand that when she sets her mind to something, she’ll stop at nothing to accomplish it.

That’s what it will take to personify greatness.