Immortalized in the film A League of Their Own, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League debuted in 1943 as a way to fill ballpark seats while Major League Baseball suspended operations during World War II. Any fan expecting to see a watered-down version of the game was in for quite a surprise. The women on the field proved every bit as tough and competitive as their male counterparts, running with abandon, diving for catches, and sliding fearlessly, all while wearing short skirts. This WORK chronicles the history of the league as seen through the players, management, and experiences of the South Bend Blue Sox--one of only two teams to exist for the league's entire 11-season existence. Although few players saw themselves as revolutionaries, these daring heroines helped pave the way toward greater freedom of choice for the generations of women who followed.

The Detroit Tigers gave a memorable performance in the pennant race against the New York Yankees in 1961, the American League's first expansion season. Starting faster, the Tigers held first place for more than half the season, until the Yankees caught up in late July. They met in a climactic three-game series at Yankee Stadium. The Bronx Bombers swept all three, winning the pennant for the eleventh time in 13 seasons. But the 18 games the Tigers and Yankees played against each other were some of the most exciting contests of '61. The Yankees' saga is well known but the Tigers' tale has largely been ignored. This book chronicles the season highlights, such as the home run duel between Roger Maris, who slugged a record 61, and Mickey Mantle, who hit a personal best 54. Other outstanding performances were given by the Tigers' Norm Cash, who led the league with a .361 average, and Rocky Colavito, who hit 45 home runs.

Here are 42 interviews with women who competed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Each interview is a separate chapter featuring data about the player, a short bio of her athletic career, and the player's recollections. A brief history covers the many changes as the League evolved from underhand pitching with a 12-inch ball in 1943 to overhand pitching, adopted in 1948, through the circuit's league's final year, 1954, when a regulation baseball was introduced. The interviews range from 1995 to 2012 and reveal details of particular games, highlights of individual careers, the camaraderie of teammates, opponents and fans, and the impact the League made on their lives. Several players recall how the 1992 movie A League of Their Own brought the historic All-American League back to life almost 40 years after the final game.

Jim Sargent's book, Too Poor to Move, But Always Rich, offers the reader a chance to experience the unfolding of the twentieth century as lived by his parents, the Norwegian and the Honyocker. This devoted couple struggled through decades of phenomenal change on a dry-land Montana ranch. Raising sheep, farming with horse-drawn machinery, facing sickness and death, dealing with cantankerous animals, braving blizzards, coping with dust and drought, then bogging down in gumbo, they endured all of the pathos and rejoiced in the profound satisfactions that rewarded their steadfast efforts to survive. During the terrible drought and depression of the 1930s, many western ranch families abandoned the land, but for those who stuck it out, exceptional inner strength emerged. Though they sacrificed deeply, and worked harder than anyone today can imagine, they also found ways to laugh, to have fun, to raise happy, healthy children, and to live their values of honesty, fairness, trust, and thrift. Sargent, an avid history buff, has inherited his parents' love of the land, their wit and wisdom, and their love of telling a good story.