Historian, Dr. Kat Williams and her book All the Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair

Join us for an exhilarating conversation with Lara Griffin, RPL podcast host, and historian Dr. Kat Williams. Women's baseball has been a lifelong passion for Kat, beginning when she was a girl playing in the streets and fields around her home. This dedication led her to author three books on women who have been a part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). In this episode, she discusses her latest work, All the Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair, showcasing her commitment to women's sports and her mission to uncover these hidden stories.

Tune in for this meaningful conversation and mark your calendar for the upcoming event! The Rockford Public Library will host a book launch party on March 21 at the Nordlof Center. Don't miss the opportunity to meet Dr. Williams, purchase your copy of All the Way, and discover Maybelle's incredible journey!

For more information about the Rockford Public Library visit:

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Intro and Outro music is A Short Walk With You by Purrple Cat

You can find it here: Purrple Cat - A Short Walk With You - Free Music Archive 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, I hope they get a sense of what a character she is. I mean, she is, as I say, she's 98 years old. Uh she is actually going to be here in Rockford on the 21st when we launch this book here in Rockford. Um she has worked her whole life from nothing. I mean beyond poor as a kid. That was during the Depression. So, you know, her family, like every other family, was hit hard. But she constantly was part of baseball, part of the game, played competitive baseball, also professional softball. And so what I want people to see is that this is a woman who absolutely has turned her life into helping to create opportunities for girls and women.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

She is a distinguished historian specializing in U.S. women's history and the history of sports. She is a former professor of history at Marshall University in West Virginia. Dr. Williams has authored several significant works: The All-American Girls After the AAG PBL, How Playing Pro Ball Shaped Their Lives, Isabel Lefty Alvarez, The Improbable Life of a Cuban-American Baseball Star, and All the Way, The Life of Baseball Trailblazer, Mabel Blair. Beyond her academic contributions, Dr. Williams is deeply committed to preserving and promoting women's baseball history. She is the CEO and a founding member of the International Women's Baseball Center, otherwise known as the IWBC, an organization dedicated to celebrating and advancing women's participation in baseball. Through her teaching, scholarship, and advocacy, Dr. Williams has played a pivotal role in highlighting the achievements and experiences of women in sports. So congratulations on the upcoming publication of your book, All the Way. Thank you. So All the Way is your second biography of a player from A G P B L. That is a mouthful, yes. Yes. And so and you also wrote the is about Isabel Lefty Alvarez. So why is it so important to tell these stories and of these women?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Right. Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me. This is um it's very exciting to talk about this book. This book has been a labor of love and a long time coming. Maybelle Blair is also a very dear friend of about 25 years, um, as was Left the Alvarez. Um and so s the answer to your question is is, you know, multifaceted. Um I first met many of the women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 2003 when I attended uh their 60th anniversary reunion. Um and immediately I was I was overwhelmed, I was in awe, I I just they became just important people in my life. Um Lefty uh story is as a Cuban immigrant, she came to the United States at age 15 alone, wow, spoke no English and played professional baseball. And um her father was a supporter of Batista in Cuba, and her brother fought with Castro.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

And that gives you an idea of the kind of life we're talking about. So Maybelle's life was not quite like that, but if you read the book, you'll find it was full of all kinds of other adventures. And so it's important to tell their stories as human beings. Their stories as this is their life, this is what they did, but through every single piece there is a thread, and that thread is baseball sport, what it did for them, how it helped them, how it helped them to overcome uh difficulties. In Lefty's case, uh coming to the United States at age 15, and and what uh playing that sport and having that team connection.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

What year is this like?

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Um she came to the U.S. in 48. Okay. Uh 1948. And um and so the the All-American Girls League was in existence from 1943 to 1954. So um, and then Maybell played in 1948. But for both of them, as I say, that thread is sport. And it was for me as a kid growing up, and it was a literally, quite literally a lifeline for me. Um, and uh those stories resonate for me. And when I speak to, if I speak to a group of students, for example, or uh uh some uh teams or whatever, I start to tell my story or I start to talk about their stories and the the role of sport and the role of baseball in their lives and helping them, it's like little light bulbs going off all around the room.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, I get it, I get it.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Um and so that's why it's to tell their story as b baseball figures, but it's not just one of those biographies where here are your batting, here's your batting average, here are your stats, and I was great second baseman or I was a great pitcher or what it's it's almost the baseball uh itself uh is almost secondary. And and so if if folks read the Maybelle Blair book, you'll find that um she spent her entire life, she's 98 years old, and she's still going strong. Her entire life is about creating baseball opportunities for girls, first for herself and the girls that she grew up with, and now it's for girls playing the game today. And the same was true for Lefty. Lefty died a few years ago.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Um so that is a very long-winded answer to your question, but um, it's not just a simple answer.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Yeah. So let's give some context to Mabel Blair. Like, how is she significant to Rockford?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Well, she is significant to Rockford uh in that um she was one of the founding members of the International Women's Baseball Center. Um we were founded in 2014, and and literally sitting around a table at her house in California over pizza and beer, uh, we all threw in about 20 bucks and we created the IWBC because we knew there was a gaping hole, there was a place where somebody needed to step up. In 2016, um uh someone contacted us and said, Hey, you all have any interest in some old property across the street from Buyer Stadium in Rockford, Illinois? And we're like, uh sure. So we came here on a very cold, cold day in November of uh 2015. And from that day until this, uh Rockford has opened its arms to the IWBC and to Maybelle Blair. And she also, she was not a Rockford Peach, but she played for Peoria Red Wings and played against the Rockford Peaches. She very famously says, Oh, I hated the Rockford Peaches. And I said, Yeah, because they always beat you. And she said, yes. So that is her connection to Rockford for uh neither of us live here, have lived here, but we have that historical connection with the Peaches. And then also, you know, we've made this the home of the IWBC, so it is an extremely important um place to us personally and professionally.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

And so why did you make it the home of the IWBC?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Well, you know, when we first um created the organization, we didn't necessarily have in mind, oh, we need to have a place in this location or that location. But when we were contacted and someone said, Oh, there's a place across the there's some property across the street from Bayer Stadium, we all looked at one another and went, Oh my God, it has to be Rockford. You know, we just weren't thinking. And so it was one, it was divine intervention, or however you want to think about it. It was somebody said, Here's a possibility, and we got here and we became more and more familiar with not just the beaches, but Rockford is known as the cradle of baseball. And there was the Forest City Nine. There are connections to Ross Barnes and connections to Spaulding, the of Spaulding Sporting Goods. This town has a deep, deep connection to baseball. Wow. It's a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Right?

SPEAKER_03 9:16

I had no idea.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, most people don't, right? Um, so it's it for all of those reasons. And we have on on occasion, we have been asked, would you consider building it X someplace else? And I said, not as long as there is a breath in me. Now, the rest of our board may disagree with me, but that's my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

So with Maybelle, how how was she as an interview subject?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Oh my God. Well, you know, you need to meet Maybelle Blair. I don't even know how to explain Maybelle Blair. Um she was she was more than just an interview subject. Uh we uh we first met in 2004, and this is a opening story of the book. Um it was my second reunion of the AAG PBL, and I'm standing in a lobby surrounded by all these former ball players, and they're chatting and laughing and talking. And I'm standing there like, and as you can tell, I'm not generally sort of shy, but I was standing there like a wallflower, you know, almost afraid to speak to these women. And they're all talking and laughing, and all of a sudden, there's an escalator right in the center of the lobby of the hotel. And coming down the escalator was this vivacious, laughing, gray-haired, sunglasses-wearing woman, and everybody's hollering up to her, hey Maybelle, how didn't they get you out of the casino? You know, just all kinds of and I looked up and there, and it was Maybelle Blair. I didn't know her. And she came down and immediately was, you know, engaged in telling stories or whatever. And um they got, they were finished talking, and then a bunch of them walked off. They were going to the to the hotel bar, and she turned around and looked at me and she said, Are you coming? And I said, Sure. And I've been following her ever since. Um she is a very, very dear friend. Um, but uh her story and her uh dedication to women and girls in sports is um is second to none and it's contagious.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Aaron Ross Powell So what do you think why is it important for women, girls to be involved in sports?

SPEAKER_01 11:40

How much time do we have on that? Um first of all, it is important um and on a very fundamental level um that there's the physical and health-related um uh benefits of it. But for most girls, most people that's kind of secondary. Um but you learn a lot of lessons by playing sports. You learn about teamwork, you learn about winning and losing, and you gain confidence, and it's empowering. Um the one of the statistics that I think guides me still is that of um all the women in the upper echelon positions of Fortune 500 companies, 87% played organized sports. Oh, that is not a coincidence.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah. And it's it's also uh Title IX was passed in 1972, um, which meant that that uh girls and women had to have opper equal opportunities um in sports, and that that it it it does other things as well, but sports is that's mostly the thing that people associate with Title IX. Um after the uh passage of Title IX, girls' participation in sports, and I'm talking girls, not women, um, rose 800%. Wow. And then the important number connected to that, teenage pregnancy went down drastically. Wow. Yeah. It's it's uh there and you know we can spout all the statistics, but it's the stuff that I see every single day. It's the stuff I experienced as a kid, as a girl growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, quite literally, very poor, and pre-Title IX, I had an undiagnosed learning disability. I couldn't read till I was in the third grade. I might as well have had bully me tattooed across my forehead. School was terrible. It was awful, it was painful. And then I got home and I went out into the street and I played baseball with the boys. And right then, those same boys making fun of me, they didn't make fun of me then because I was a good ball player. Yeah, in fact, I was some sought after. And so there was a moment, there was a marker where I was good. I was good at something. And so it was like a placeholder that allowed me to be good, feel good, until I could figure out how to be good elsewhere. And I think that's true for a lot of girls. And so that's the important part, right? And and Maybell gets that too. I mean, most of us do. And um, and so it's again, it's not about whether or not that player is going to become professional or play in the World Cup or play, you know, but it's about what it does for those kids. Um and it is it is my life, life work to to make sure that a lot of kids don't have to go through what I went through. And I think you would find if you asked Maybelle, she'd say the same thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Yeah, it's so interesting. Like I I love sports. Uh I played tennis in high school. Oh, good. Yeah. So I was I actually I was on the varsity team. Good for you. So for me, like what you were saying makes a lot of sense. And just like how it like focuses, your focus is different. It's and it's builds resilience. Absolutely. And your your hope, like the competition, yeah. It's such a nice form of competition and the team building. Yes. And I think that's something we don't have enough of. No, I think that's right.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I think that's right. And it's and and whether you would agree or not, it seems to me from an outsider looking at you that that played a big role in the being you being the successful woman you are today. And I think that just giving girls that opportunity. It's not gonna be for everyone. It's not gonna work the same way for everyone. Um it's not gonna become their lifelong passion, maybe, but it will have an impact. And and then there's also every single thing I do um has a foundation of fairness. And for me, it's also just about fairness.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Okay. Um back to Mabel. Yeah. Uh what do you hope readers take away from the book on Maybelle?

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Well, I hope they get a sense of what a character she is. I mean, she is, as I say, she's 98 years old. Uh she is actually gonna be here in Rockford on the 21st when we launch this book here in Rockford. Um she has worked her whole life from nothing. I mean, beyond poor as a kid. That was during the Depression. So, you know, her family, like every other family, was hit hard. But she constantly was part of baseball, part of the game, played competitive baseball, also professional softball. And so, what I want people to see is that this is a woman who absolutely uh has turned her life into helping to create opportunities for girls and women. And mostly on a on a baseball diamond, but not just that. Um, and so she is uh the biggest supporter and cheerleader of girls and women playing baseball today. And many of the girls and women playing today will tell you we could fill this room full of those young women who would tell you, Maybelle Blair is my hero. They get it. They see we all stand on her shoulders. And it's not just her. She'd be the first to tell you, Kat, I didn't do this by myself. But but I want people to get a sense of who she is as a person. She is hysterically funny, for one thing. The other thing is, she's not had the easiest life. Um, she was um in the closet until um just a couple of years ago. At age 97, or I'm sorry, 95, she came out on the Tribeca Film Festival stage. That has how she lived through the red scare of the 1950s, bar rates of the 1950s. And now here she is at 98 years old, she's not over, she's not only a um a star in the world of women's sports, but now there's there are generations of girls and women and young boys who can say, Oh my God, she had to live like that for 95 years.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

And now she's willing to step up and say, you know what, don't don't do that. Don't live like that. Be yourself, be who you are, be you. And um, that to me is one of the most important messages.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

And you had mentioned the um base Well, let me think about this. How about um can you tell us more about women's professional baseball? And sure. Like, well, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

There are um we do not have professional baseball in this country. Okay. We have a national team, um, the USA women's national team, but that is not considered professional. Um it's kind of think about the Olympics. You know, it's that it's that kind of uh competition. Now, there are some countries around the world who do have professional leagues. Uh Japan is the single best uh women's baseball program in the world. Okay. Some other countries might disagree with me, but in my opinion, um and and so and Australia, uh some other countries have professional women's baseball, but there are national teams in 35 countries, including the U.S. Um now every three years, uh something the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the WBSC, um uh puts on a women's baseball world cup.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Um and now most of the people in the U.S. don't think of baseball tournaments as being cups, but this is an international um organization, and the WBSC um hosts all baseball and softball world cups, all ages, both men and women. Um and we have, we, the IWBC, in partnership with Go Rockford, uh, the Park District, uh, the Rivets, Rockford University, we have um submitted a bid to host the Women's Baseball World Cup here in Rockford. Uh the first stage, group stages would be in the summer of 26, and the finals would be in the summer of 27. We would be bringing 12 different countries um to play baseball here in Rockford, what we call the cradle of women's baseball. And so that is huge. It is so huge. And we won't know for another month or so if our bid is successful. Um but I wanted point out that Justine Siegel, who is a founder of an organization called Baseball for All, um and also just an incredibly important character uh in uh player in in the world of women's baseball. Um is a partner with uh um some other folks in creating a new women's pro baseball league that is hopefully going to start next year, and that is professional.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Uh I know. I'm I'm very proud to say I'm on the advisory council. I'm not really advising them of anything. I think I, you know, but I am happy to be included. Um so that would be professional baseball in the U.S. And it would be the first time since the Peaches played in the 1940s.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Wow. And would that have like in every state possible?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

No, they will start out small. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: What they're hoping to do is right now start out with a sort of group of teams in the Northeast, because that's where they have contacts. Okay. I am trying to convince them, however, that you really can't have a women's pro team without having a team in Rockford.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

So I don't know, you know, the again, it's not as if I have any real pull, right? But I I am uh I think the Midwest is uh is ripe for the for that kind of thing. So um that would be professional baseball. The World Cup is not considered professional baseball, but it is the best women's baseball on the planet. And we are very likely to get it right here at Rockford.

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Wow, that's awesome. I'm like really excited for that to happen. Oh, me too.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Believe me, me too. Me too.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

So I will keep my ears perked and my eyes open.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

You will hear me screaming. We will we will have press releases rolling out all over the place. And um and so, like I said, we it may it may be a month, it may be six weeks, something like that. But we'll know fairly soon, and we'll make sure that uh um, you know, that we get the word out. Okay. Because we're gonna be calling on all you listeners out there to be volunteers.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Um and is there anything else you'd like to mention that we haven't like covered today?

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Uh about the book? Yeah, about the book. Well, the the thing is, um this book took me, even though I've known Maybelle since um, you know, what seems like forever, um it took me a long time to write. And and when you see it, you're gonna be like, Cat, how long did it take you that long? It's a little book. Um but but uh that was kind of the point. We wanted the book to be accessible. Um the publisher was very clear, you know, you may be a historian, but I don't want a 500-page biography with, you know, a hundred footnotes. Um it is accessible, it is a good story, and you would be you will be introduced to one of the single most important figures in the history of women's baseball through this book. And it is mostly her voice. I I add context, obviously, but it is mostly her voice and and and her stories. And so I hope that folks will read it and and take in the information. Um the book, as I said, is a labor of love for me. Um and it took me a while to write it, in part because um I didn't feel uh worthy of writing it. I didn't feel like I could do justice to the story of Maybelle Blair. Um and you know, maybe I have, maybe I haven't. Uh that's for readers to decide. But um I I think it tells her story in a way that shows determination and grit and and and truly what a remarkable woman she is.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

I love that. And I love that you are platforming like women's stories. Oh, yeah. Because there isn't a lot of her story. There's a lot of his story.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

That's exactly right. Yes. As a professional historian, I can tell you that is right. That is right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

So I really I hope you'll write more books.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Well, actually, we have already a contract for the next one.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

Oh, cool. Can you share?

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Well, I can only say that it is also a biography, but it is about a woman named Edith Houghton. Okay. She was not part of the All Americans.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Um but um yeah, as soon as we get this one on the shelves, I'll start writing that one.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Okay. Well, thank you. Yeah. So we have ordered your book and it should be available for checkout as soon as it comes out.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

So we are very excited um to host your book launch party. So um yeah, so and I just asked you this, but about which book what your next book is going to be about, which is exciting.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Yeah. Um so I just want to thank you today for coming in. And so to our listeners, uh Kat's book is All the Way, The Life of Baseball Trailblazer, Maybelle Blair, comes out on March 18th. So RPL is hosting a book launch party in the J.R. Sullivan Theater on Friday, March 21st from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. And we are planning on Maybell attending. Yes, we are. And Kat will talk about her book, ask uh Maybelle some questions, and then we will have a reception with refreshments. Her book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Absolutely. Yes. Will it be um will you be doing an audible or you know, I'm not sure of that. Um that is kind of generally if the publisher wants that. Okay. You know, and I haven't inquired. So um I would like to do that. I think it's important to have that option. Yeah. So uh, but we're not sure. There it it obviously on Kindle, um, but um, you know, I'm a I'm an old-fashioned girl. I want to have the the hard copy in my hand, so I'm pretty excited about getting that into the hands of people.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

I appreciate it.