Tournament Features Elite Female Baseball Players as the Original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Passes the Torchto A New Generation of Female Athletes

The Legends of Woman’s Baseball in America announces the inaugural All-American Woman’s Baseball Classic Tournament to be held at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida from November 19-22, 2022. The multi-day event will include a free baseball clinic for girls ages 5-18 coached by former MLB players and a championship female coaching team, on Monday, November 21. Pro-level tournament competition will begin on Saturday, November 19^th between four teams, each wearing replica colors of jerseys worn by the 1943 All- Americans. The event will culminate on Tuesday, November 22 with a championship tournament and awards ceremony.

Our legacy sponsor Misdee Wrigley Miller, the granddaughter of Phillip K. Wrigley, founder of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), will throw out the first pitch of the championship game in his honor on Tuesday, November 22^nd.

Sixty of the nation’s elite woman athletes, many of whom are members of the prestigious Women’s Baseball World Cup, will showcase this generation’s major league-level talent while recognizing the women who paved the way before them. The tournament will pay homage to the League’s history by using the names of the original four teams – Peaches, Blue Sox, Belles, and Comets.

Baseball is America’s pastime, yet it has passed women by. We believe that’s about to change. Timing is ripe to shine a light on equality, diversity, access, and inclusion. Every girl should have the opportunity to play baseball.

Making history in women’s sports, the AAGPBL stepped onto the field to continue the nation’s national pastime during World War II. They played throughout the 1940s and ‘50s, paving the way for women across all professional sports. Their passion for baseball is honored by the Diamond Dreams Exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the beloved – and now classic – film, ALeagueofTheirOwn.

American Girls Baseball (AGB), an affiliate of AAGPBL, is the driving force behind the movement to expand baseball for women. Sue Zipay, a player for the legendary Rockford Peaches and AGB’s founder and president, has made it her life’s mission to champion this sport for women. She dreams of seeing millions of fans following the sport once more, as they did under Wrigley in the late 1940s.

Sue Zipay Quote “We’re so excited to finally see this meaningful and exciting event come to fruition. We have planned several days filled with great competition and family fun, and hope everyone will join us. Come and meet our fantastic players and the All-American players, too. Go to https://americangirlsbaseball.org/ for schedule information and to reserve your tickets now at www.orioles.com/agb.”

ABOUT ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association (AAGPBL PA) is an active, non-profit organization established to research, collect, document, preserve, and promote the history of the AAGPBL; to provide opportunities for social interaction of the membership; to disseminate historical, factual, and educational information regarding the League and its personnel, and to promote and support modern woman’s baseball. “We do not stop playing because we are old, but we grow old because we stop playing.”

ABOUT AMERICAN GIRLS BASEBALL
American Girls Baseball was created as an affiliate organization of the AAGPBL in 2019 to continue the legacy and purpose of this prestigious woman’s professional league. AGB’s mission is to develop, manage, market, and promote training and instructional programs for girls and women in the game of baseball, all the while providing opportunities for competitive play and fair compensation in sport. For more information, go to americangirlsbaseball.org.

Media Contact:    AGBMediaInfo@gmail.com