Sports Photo Archives - LIFE

Meet the Real Women Who Inspired A League of Their Own

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 09:30:00 +0000

When Philip K. Wrigley spearheaded the effort to remedy professional baseball’s wartime decline with a women’s league, one question dogged the league’s founders: what, exactly, to call it. It wasn’t technically softball. The ball was smaller, the bases farther apart and stealing bases forbidden in softball was permitted. But it wasn’t baseball, either: the ball was larger and the bases, closer. They settled on a compromise: The All-American Girls Professional Ball League.

The league that would later inspire the 1992 movie A League of Their Own and the enduring exclamation, “There’s no crying in baseball!” had just kicked off its third season when LIFE featured it in a photo essay in 1945. The six teams, all based in the Midwest, were comprised of nearly 100 women between the ages of 16 and 27 who played for $50 to $85 per week. Eight were married and three had children. Nearly half a million spectators were expected to turn out over the course of that season, shelling out $0.74 for a seat to watch the Rockford Peaches face the South Bend Blue Sox and the Grand Rapid Chicks take on the Racine Belles.

As exciting as it was to watch women slide and steal and scuff their knees, the league was a product of its time, and its strict rules of conduct reflected this. As LIFE reported in its story, “League rules establish she must always wear feminine attire, cannot smoke or drink in public, cannot have dates except with “old friends” and then only with the approval of the ever-present team chaperone.”

But as demure as the players may have been off the field, they were serious athletes as soon as the first pitch was thrown. Blue Sox Catcher Mary “Bonnie” Baker could throw 345 feet. Lefty pitcher Annabelle Lee threw a perfect game. And Sophie Kurys stole 1,114 bases during her ten-year career. The appeal of players” athleticism kept the league going for more than a decade, with attendance peaking in the late 1940s at 910,000 fans. But the league’s decentralization, a dearth of qualified players and the rise of televised major league games eventually led to its demise, with players retiring their gloves after the close of the 1954 season.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Catcher May “Bonnie” Baker of the South Bend Blue Sox, 1945; she had five brothers, four sisters, all of them catchers on Canadian ball teams.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pitcher Carolyn Morris of Rockford Peaches, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Outfielder Faye Dancer, Fort Wayne Daisies, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945. She served as an adviser for the 1992 movie A League of Their Own and was a model for Geena Davis’ character.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pitcher Annabelle Lee, Fort Wayne Daisies southpaw, of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Her nephew, Bill Lee of Major League Baseball, credited her with teaching him how to pitch.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The All-American Girls Professional Bsaeball League, 1945

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Anastasia Batikis, a Racine Belles’ outfielder, in action in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Laegue, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Penny O’Brian, Fort Wayne Daisies rookie infielder in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Faye Dancer of the Fort Wayne Daisies paid the price for sliding while wearing a league-mandated skirt in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gear from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members from all six teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League posed for a group portrait, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Behind the Scenes: When Arthur Ashe Made History

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 14:17:13 +0000

When Ashe defeated Tom Okker of the Netherlands on Sept. 9, 1968, he became the first African-American man to win a Grand Slam tennis title. The match was not only historic; it was dramatic as well. The 25-year-old Richmond, Va., native served 26 aces throughout the match, 15 of them to win the first set, which went all the way up to 14-12. (Tiebreakers were introduced in 1970.)

Even so, the record $14,000 prize money for the match went to Okker, who was the last professional player standing that year; Ashe got a $20 per diem as an amateur. But things were changing for Ashe by year’s end, he would be ranked the No. 1 tennis player by the United States Lawn Tennis Association as well as for the world around him. Fifty years later, Ashe’s win stands out as not only a milestone in tennis history, but also a milestone in the civil rights movement.

One of the many people watching tennis history be made that year was longtime TIME and LIFE photographer John G. Zimmerman, whose images from that day were included in LIFE’s cover story the following week, about Ashe’s achievement but many of Zimmerman’s pictures were never published in the magazine. The new book Crossing the Line: Arthur Ashe at the 1968 U.S. Open, from which the images above are drawn, brings together those pictures 50 years later. The book includes hundreds that have never before been seen publicly, some of which are included in the gallery above.

Zimmerman shadowed Ashe during much of the 36 hours in before, during and after the U.S. Open that year. The pictures show the surprisingly ordinary events that led up to his extraordinary achievement, such as the solitary subway ride from his hotel in Midtown Manhattan to the match in Forest Hills.

The Sept. 20, 1968, cover of LIFE magazine would describe his style of keeping it cool on the court as “icy elegance.” But he didn’t hold back at all when it came to talking about the impact of his playing within the larger fight for racial equality.

“I can make my protest heard by winning,” he told LIFE. “People don’t listen to losers.”

And win he did. By the time Ashe died in 1993, after contracting HIV from a blood transfusion following heart bypass surgery, he had won 33 singles titles and 14 doubles titles. When he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Bill Clinton remarked that Ashe had an “inner strength and outward dignity” that “marked his game every bit as much as that dazzling crosscourt backhand.”

Arthur Ashe hits a running forehand during his 5 set victory over Tom Okker in the 1968 US Open men’s final.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Crowd watches the U.S. Open men’s final, 1968.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Arthur Ashe, US Open, 1968.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Ashe volleys with Okker.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Arthur Ashe, U.S. Open, 1968.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Ashe with his father after the win.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Ashe’s post-victory press conference, 1968.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Ashe shakes hands with a fan in New York City, the day after winning the U.S. Open.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Ashe rides the New York City subway, unrecognized the day after winning the US Open.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

Arthur Ashe and Harry Belafonte, Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas, Sept. 10, 1968.

Photo by John G. Zimmerman.

American Davis Cup team members Bob Lutz (left), Stan Smith (center) and Ashe aboard a flight to Las Vegas for Davis Cup exhibition play, September 10, 1968. Earlier in the day, Smith and Lutz won their first Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open, defeating Davis Cup teammate Ashe and his partner, Andrés Gimeno, in the final.

Photo by John G. Zimmerman.

Ashe in the men’s locker room, West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, N.Y.

Photo by John G. ZImmerman

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The ‘Peril and Ecstasy’ of Surfing,1963

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 08:30:27 +0000

In May of 1963, as the surf craze swept the U.S. and popular images of surfers tempted newcomers into the water in the days before wetsuits were common, LIFE magazine had a message its readers: Surfing was fun but it wasn’t all fun and games. It was also dangerous, especially when it came to the waves off the North Shore of Oahu.

The magazine explained to unfamiliar readers how the sport worked there: “The men who ride the big ones in Hawaii actually ski down the shoulder of a wave away from the curl… They call the first breathtaking schuss ‘taking the drop.’ Their boards accelerate up to 35 mph so rapidly that they kick up waves like speedboats. And a merciless mauling awaits the unfortunate who doesn’t complete his ride. He is driven downward by the appalling maelstrom, tossed around, sucked back down and frequently, after fighting up for a desperate gulp of air, hammered down again by the next wave.”

And yet a brave group of surfers sought out the big waves anyway, for what LIFE called the “peril and ecstasy” of the sport’s toughest waves. Enabled by new innovations in balsa wood surfboards that had opened new vistas to surfers in the 1940s, the surfers returned again and again, despite the risks.

Looking at these photos by George Silk, it’s not hard to see what drew the surfers back to the water. Some experienced, what surfer Fred Van Dyke described to Silk as, “the greatest feeling the world.”

Nick Beck of Honolulu caught a wave on his light board.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A pair of riders, cutting frothy furrows in the wall of a wild 18-footer, seemed headed on a collision course at Sunset Beach.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Surfer Rick Grigg caught a ride at Banzai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, 1963.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A teenage girl rode the surf, 1963.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hawaii, 1963.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Preston Leavey, paddling frantically to get on a wave and begin his ride. A camera, was bolted to the front of the board and recorded the glitter of refracted light from the spray.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Before riding in on great waves surfers had to fight their way out past foaming barriers.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

At Sunset Beach, a surfer rode a thundering 15-footer.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hawaii surfers, 1963.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Joe Kaohi maneuvered desperately to cling to his board as he tried to ride into the tunnel of a wave at Banzai Beach.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hawaii surfer, 1963.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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When Champions of Women’s Diving Were Called ‘Athletes Second, Girls First’

Thu, 18 Aug 2016 08:00:08 +0000

The 1959 swimming and diving championships of the Amateur Athletic Union, which were held in Palm Beach, Fla., didn’t exactly look like the diving events that you would see at a national competition today.

Even though the event was supposed to be the indoor championships, it was held outside due to the heat. And the 200 or so girls and young women of the AAU wore the same modest one-piece bathing suits that can be seen in many poolside photos from the 1950s, not the sleek and modern suit today’s divers wear. Finally, perhaps unsurprisingly for 1959, much of the attention they garnered at least in the pages of LIFE magazine focused a great deal on the looks of the “pretty plungers,” rather than their skill. The burnt cork that they applied below their eyes, to minimize the glare off the water, was compared to eyeshadow.

They could not, LIFE noted dismissively, “disguise the fact that they were athletes second, girls first.”

The pictures that ran alongside the story were black and white, and provided no information about who won or what the events even were. But the photographer, Peter Stackpole, also captured these vivid color images of the divers in action. And, seeing them now, it’s clear that LIFE’s unnamed writer didn’t quite get the point. Decades later, we can’t know how central athleticism was to any of these women’s identities, but they were athletes, no hedging required. Though Stackpole did not record who among his subjects proved victorious, his photos provide evidence that a gravity-defying dive could be as impressive then as it is today.

Women’s diving champions in Florida, 1959.

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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The Best of LIFE: Summer Olympics

Fri, 05 Aug 2016 08:00:57 +0000

Great sports photography is an art of its own, and there are few chances to practice that art like the Olympics. As the world’s athletes gather to compete, so too do the photographers who capture them in action.

During LIFE Magazine’s decades as a source of the world’s most iconic photography, the magazine covered its fair share of Olympics. The images produced are as varied as the sports they portray. The photographs show the quiet moments before the race begins. They show the concentration and strength needed to win and the joy of knowing you might have done so. They show the graceful, almost abstract, forms of bodies in motion, and the iconic moments when athletes become legends.

Here’s a look back at some of the best LIFE Magazine photography from the summer Olympics.

LIFE magazine Olympic covers through the years.

LIFE Magazine

Jamaican athlete Herb McKenley standing on a track at the 1948 summer Olympics in London.

William Sumits The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Competitors diving into pool during swimming events at the 1948 summer Olympics in London.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US decathlon winner Robert B. Mathias waiting for turn at pole vault at the 1948 summer Olympics in London.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Czech track and field gold medalist Emil Zatopek leading pack during the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, Finland.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Cycling at the 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finaland.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Athletes competing in the 10,000-meter walk at the 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert B. Mathias attempting the pole vault at 1952 summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Gunhild Larking, Sweden’s entry for the high jump, clearing the high bar during the 1956 summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fencers competing in the 1956 summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US Runner Wilma Rudolph winning women’s 100-meter race at the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome.

Mark Kauffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

German Armin Harry (C) during men’s 100-meter dash event at the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. platform diver Frank Gorman competing in the 1964 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Art Rickerby The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U. S. swimmers competing during the 1964 summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Art Rickerby The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American track stars Tommie Smith (C) and John Carlos (R) standing on podium after winning gold and bronze Olympic medals, respectively, raising black-gloved fists, in support of civil rights/black power, while Australian silver medalist Peter Norman stands by at the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US swimmer Mark Spitz training for the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

Co Rentmeester The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US wrestler eventual gold medal winner Wayne Wells (top) overpowered West German Adolf Seger in freestyle welterweight elimination match at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

Co Rentmeester The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

US track athlete Steve Prefontaine running a race at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

Co Rentmeester The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. gymnast Ludmila Turishcheva in action on the vault at during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Kenyan track star Kipchoge Keino finishing ahead of teammate Ben Jipcho (574) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Yoga’s 20th-Century Evolution, in Classic Photographs

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 08:00:48 +0000

A comprehensive survey by Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance found that more than 36 million Americans practice yoga, with those people spending a combined $16 billion a year on accessories, classes and other yoga expenses. In addition, 80 million people who had never done yoga said they thought chances were good that they’d give it a shot.

That means things have changed considerably since the early 20th century, when the practice first began to move into the American spiritual and athletic mainstream. But, from LIFE Magazine’s very first years in the 1930s, the publication and its photographers were chronicling that growth.

In 1937, the magazine followed the news that a Yale scholar from India had examined the science behind yoga, which was explained to readers as a mystic Hindu practice that let the expert, through muscular control, detach from mind and body to allow the “higher world-soul” to join with him. “Whatever the religious result of yogic exercises may be,” the magazine reported, “they undoubtedly have therapeutic value, help general bodily health.” A few years later, in the article from which the first slide above is drawn, the magazine profiled the “lithe young devotees of an ancient and honorable religion” whom photographer Wallace Kirkland had met on a trip to India. In the decades that followed, with the help of celebrities such as violinist Yehudi Menuhin and participants in the truth-seeking of the 1960s and ’70s, the magazine stopped having to explain what yoga meant to readers.

As for the reason behind the practice’s popularity, perhaps it came down to the explanation offered by Tom Law, the “yoga guerrilla” profiled by LIFE in 1970: “Yoga gets me reconnected,” he said. “As soon as I get into the position it begins to happen for me. The center of the earth becomes located in my stomach, my head is in the stars, and yet I am here too. Yoga really works, which is why I think it will be popular.”

Boy twisting himself into a yoga position, 1940.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Folk singer John Jacob Niles performing elbow-standing exercise, adapted from yoga, to relax. 1943.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hindu man practicing yoga, 1949.

Eliot Elisofon The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ballet dancer and actress Ricki Soma arching backward as her father Tony Soma and other family members take various Yoga positions, 1947.

Lisa Larsen The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Sir Paul Duke on the BBC TV show, “Laughter and Life” showing yoga exercises, 1949.

William Sumits The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Violinist Yehudi Menuhin observing Yogi Vithaldas, 1953.

Wallace Kirkland The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A Hindu swami performing yoga on a Ganges riverbank, 1953.

James Burke The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Teenagers practicing yoga, 1953.

Nina Leen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Douglas Madsen, sometime sculptor, clothes and jewelry designer, teaching yoga to neighbors in Big Sur, 1959.

J. R. Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Practicing yoga in Central Park, 1961.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American women at Rancho La Puerta learning yoga exercises, 1962.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Entertainer Mitzi Gaynor performing yoga, 1962.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women practicing yoga at the Every Woman’s Village, 1966.

Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tom Law, during his yoga meditations in desert, 1969.

Michael Mauney The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Yoga psychedelic trip, 1970.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Actress Eva Longoria in a yoga pose on the January 21, 2005 cover of LIFE Magazine. (Photo by Andrew Southam/LIFE Picture Collection)

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