Linedrives and Lipstick: the Untold Story of Women's Baseball June 21, 2009

This exhibition takes a look at the history of women in baseball dating back to the 1860s. While women's baseball is largely regarded in pop culture as a short-lived curiosity of the 1940s, 'Linedrives and Lipstick' shows how the love for America's pastime knows no gender barrier. "A game of physical skill and mathematical beauty, baseball beat in the hearts of young women and could scarcely wait to manifest itself," says essayist Barbara Gregorich. "To the girls and women themselves, it was the real thing." Get to know players like Jackie Mitchell who, in a 1931 exhibition game, struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and Sophie Kurys of the South Bend Blue Sox, who to this day holds the record for the stolen bases in one season for any league: 201 steals in 203 attempts in 1946. Don't miss the stories, characters and memorabilia in this exhibition organized and toured by the Mid-America Arts Alliance.