- Announcer: Come on, make it fun!
Put it in here, you can do it!
- Jacqueline Mattson Baumgartner: Once I played professional baseball,
I would have given anything to continue to play that.
Playing was a joy.
Playing was my inner joy.
The league first started in 1943 and it lasted until 1954.
There was a lot of camaraderie, there was a lot of togetherness.
The first time that I put that uniform on,
it was like, "I'm gonna play ball in this?"
I mean, it was a big skirt.
So I took tucks; I took two in the front and two in the back.
My first game I caught,
there was a pitcher who threw what we call a screwball.
I was nervous and excited at the same time.
After about the third inning,
I started to realize, "Hey, we're playing a good game,
and she's pitching very well, and isn't this great?" [laughs]
[dreamy music]