The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a women’s professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. While the league was active, it did not produce any official baseball cards of its players. Decades later a company called Pacific Trading Cards produced a series of cards featuring images and bios of the women who played in the league, known for their affiliation with particular teams such as the Rockford Peaches.
The Rockford Peaches were a renowned AAGPBL franchise based in Rockford, Illinois that were even depicted in the 1992 film A League of Their Own. They won championships in 1945, 1948 and 1949. Some of the most famous Peaches included Dorothy Kamenshek, Helen Callaghan, Joanne Weaver, and Maxene Smith who all went on to roles in the movie. While not produced during the league’s operation, these vintage-style Pacific cards honored these pioneering female athletes decades later.
Released in 1992 shortly after the film, the cards portrayed the players in period-accurate uniforms on the field and included stats and biographical information on the back. A total of 144 cards were produced across three series featuring different players and themes. The fronts depicted black-and-white photographic images with a color team logo in the foreground, attempting to capture the aesthetic of vintage baseball cards from the time period. They are not true contemporary replicas since imagery of women playing baseball was not something seen on cards during the 1940s-50s.
Some key aspects of the Rockford Peaches cards include honoring some of the franchise’s most notable players like Kamenshek, the team’s player-manager. Known as “Dottie” to fans, she appeared in multiple cards and led the Peaches to three titles. Other standouts featured included Callaghan, an outstanding pitcher who won 30 or more games in multiple seasons, as well as Weaver and Smith who famously portrayed Dottie Hinson and Mae Mordabito in the film. Stats on the cards noted career pitching wins and batting stats specific to a player’s time with the Peaches.
In addition to individual player cards, themes in the series highlighted memorable seasons and roster cards. Cards paid tribute to the championship years of 1945, 1948 and 1949 with photos of celebrating teams and recaps of their title-winning performances. Roster cards grouped photos of full teams and provided season-by-season stats. While not official issues contemporary to the league, these Pacific cards have becomePrized collectibles honoring the legacy of the pioneering Peaches and other AAGPBL players decades after they blazed trails as professional athletes.
When released in the early 1990s, the cards brought renewed widespread recognition of the long-forgotten All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, capitalizing on the popularity of A League of Their Own. They remain the only baseball cards ever produced featuring the women who competed in the circuit. While not true vintage contemporaneous issues, they authentically depict the players in period uniforms and include textual stats and bios on the reverse. For fans and historians of the league, the Rockford Peaches cards from Pacific Trading Cards are treasured pieces of sports memorabilia that honor pioneering female athletes during a time when professional opportunities for women in sports were extremely limited. Though low print runs make examples scarce to find today, they sit proudly in collections as the sole baseball cards celebrating the historic all-women league and Rockford’s famed franchise.
While no official baseball cards were released during the actual operation of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Pacific Trading Cards produced in the 1990s have become extremely valuable collectibles honoring the legacy of teams like the renowned Rockford Peaches decades later. Featuring pioneering athletes like Kamenshek, Callaghan, Weaver and Smith who broke barriers for women in sports, the nostalgic vintage-style cards capturing them in uniform have ensured these trailblazing figures are commemorated through the popular collectible culture of baseball cards.
