Girls baseball past meets its present at Thillens

As the only girl in her neighborhood, Eileen Gascon knew exactly how to fit in.

"I played baseball," said Gascon, who spent her formative years on Chicago's North Side in the 1930s and '40s. "If you wanted to have someone to play with, you had to play what the boys were playing -- and that was baseball."

Before long, Gascon was hooked, and she lived for the days her policeman uncle worked the gates at Cubs games.

"We didn't have the money back then to get into the games," Gascon said. "So when he worked the gates, I would always be around. And he would be like, 'All right, now get on in there. Skedaddle.' For about two years, I saw every home game that he worked. That was pretty exciting to a 10- or 11-year-old."

Little did Gascon know that her experience with professional baseball was about to get even better.

Gascon, an Elk Grove Village resident for the past 40 years, was plucked out of her neighborhood by a scout and played three years (1949-51) in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was the inspiration for the hit movie "A League of Their Own."

Wednesday, Gascon, a third baseman and center fielder known as "Ginger" when she played for the Springfield Sallies, was at historic Thillens Stadium in Chicago watching a modern-day version of baseball-loving girls getting to have something all their own.

She was signing autographs as the Chicago Pioneers, a team of 12- to 15-year-old girls, played an intrasquad baseball game before mostly family and friends.

It was believed to be the first all-girls baseball game played at Thillens Stadium, constructed nearly 70 years ago to host youth and Little League games.

But making history isn't new for the Pioneers, who have pulled in 45 girls from around Chicago and the Midwest since launching in 2006. This summer they joined the North Shore Baseball League, where they are believed to be the first all-girls team in U.S. history to play in an all-boys baseball league.

The Pioneers went 1-15 in their first season but took great satisfaction in their 1 win -- and even more in just getting to play.

"It was fun playing against the boys, and it was a lot of fun to beat them that one time and see their expressions," said 12-year-old Carly Callans, a second baseman-outfielder from Wilmette. "It kind of showed that we are just as good and that we can play baseball, too."

But the Pioneers -- organized by Skokie resident Mary Jo Stegeman, the mother of a daughter who used to love playing baseball -- aren't trying to prove a point. More than anything, they're playing baseball because they love it. Plain and simple.

"It's just a faster game; you play on a bigger field. I just think it's more competitive, said 12-year-old Irina Kovach, who drove about an hour from New Carlisle, Ind., to play at Thillens. "I just like baseball a lot more."

Even at her age, Kovach seems to appreciate that she finally has a choice.

Most of the Pioneers played Little League with boys when they were younger. As they got older, they were encouraged to play softball instead.

Baseball for girls hasn't really been in vogue since the AAGPBL folded in 1954.

"We were a novelty at the time, something that was started at a specific time, for a specific reason -- to keep interest up in baseball during World War II," said Gascon, who claims that the best players in the AAGPBL were paid as much as $125 a week while factory workers of that era took home about $40.

"(The Pioneers) comes from someone caring to get baseball for girls started again, to give girls who have an interest in this an opportunity. What we've seen since Title IX came about is that if you give girls an opportunity of any kind, they'll play."

For more information about the Pioneers, who will be playing another all-girls baseball game Wednesday at Thillens Stadium, visit www.chicagopioneers.com.

As for the AAGPBL, visit www.aagpbl.org. Gascon believes that of the 600 who were in the league, about 250 to 300 still are living.

This year's reunion will be in October in Rockford, home of the Rockford Peaches, who were featured prominently in "A League of Their Own."

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