Rockford To Celebrate 'A League Of Their Own' With 'Largest Girls Baseball Tournament In U.S. History'

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 24, 2017 4:04PM

'A League of Their Own'

The greater Chicago region apparently does not go small when it comes to celebrating 25th anniversaries of beloved regionally-tied films.

In a tip of the cap to the classic 1992 women's-baseball comedy A League of Their Own, the nonprofit Baseball for All is staging a huge national tournament at the same Rockford, IL ballpark site where the real-life team that inspired the film—the Rockford Peaces—played, back in the 1940s and '50s. With hundreds of girls from across the country, the League-nodding tourney is "expected to be the largest girls baseball tournament in U.S. history," according to organizers.

This comes less than four weeks after Wayne's World fanatics set the Guinness World Record for "Most People Head Banging Simultaneously," in Aurora, on July 4.

“Having girls play on Beyer Stadium is continuing the glory the film so well captured," Baseball for All founder Justine Siegal told the Rockford Register-Star. “The girls gain power when they realize they’re part of a long line of history of girls and women playing baseball. Playing at Beyer Stadium is going to be like magic."

The Nationals get underway on July 27, with an opening ceremony at 6 p.m., and continue through July 31.

The Rockford Peaches played at Beyer Stadium as part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, between 1943 to 1954. The old stadium was torn down, but the field was re-dedicated in 2010 and now serves as home base for the Rockford Starfires, the city's contemporary women's baseball squad. A League of Their Own didn't actually film in Rockford, although it did utilize several Chicago locations.

[H/T Fox 2]