1948 Chicago Colleens Front row, L-R: Doris Tetzlaff, Charlene Barnett, Betty Whiting, Marilyn Olinger, Beulah Anne Georges. Eileen Albright, Rita Briggs. Second row, L-R: Donna Cook, Betty Tucker, Dave Bancroft (manager), Mirtha Marrero, Migdalia Pérez. Back row, L-R: Kathryn Vonderau, Josephine Kabick, Eleanor Callow, Dolores Wilson, Dorice Reid, Margaret Johnson (chaperone).
The Chicago Colleens were a women's professional baseball team who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1948 to 1951, evolving into a development team. The team was based Chicago, Illinois and played their home games at Shewbridge Field.
History
The Colleens joined the strong Eastern Division in the 1948 season and were managed by former Major League playerDave Bancroft. The team was the worst in the league, getting roughed up as a last-place expansion club with a 47–76 record, ending twenty nine and a half games out of the first place spot in the division. The only team to do worse, the Springfield Sallies of the Western Division, ended 41–84 in last place, 35.5 games out of 1st place. Both teams lost their franchises by the end of that season.
From 1949 through 1950, the Colleens and the Sallies became rookie development teams that played exclusively exhibition games. Their tours included contests at Griffith Stadium and Yankee Stadium. The team dissolved entirely by 1951.
AAGPBL executive Mitch Skupien, who later managed in the league, served as the general manager for both touring teams.
The team's 1948 games were broadcast regularly on television station WBKB in Chicago.[1]
The ballpark
The Colleens played at Shewbridge Field. The ballpark was located at the corner of South Morgan and West 74th Streets on the South Side of Chicago, now part of the campus of the Stagg School of Excellence.[2]
^"About". Stagg School of Excellence. Retrieved June 7, 2018. Stagg School of Excellence opened in December of 1966. The original building contained 28 classrooms, a lunchroom, and an assembly hall/gymnasium. The school was built on the site of the old Shewbridge athletic field, which was formerly owned by Leo High School.
