The Rebels emerged as one of the most competitive women’s teams of the late 1970s and early ’80s, playing in park district leagues as well as countless tournaments on Chicago’s North and South Sides. One of the most memorable moments in team history occurred in the Women’s National Softball Tournament in 1977. When the tournament […]
Sixteen-inch softball has always been a game that cut across racial, cultural and socioeconomic barriers. What mattered most was how you played the game. During its twenty-seven years together, the Commonwealth Edison corporate team stood as a shining example of this trait. It was a team comprised of office workers, electricians, meter readers, union employees
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In the late 1970s, a chance meeting at a recently opened North Side bar led to the creation of McSchnapps, a women’s neighborhood team that would win many championships during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s and create lifelong friendships along the way. During their heyday, McSchnapps played at Touhy, Paul Revere, Wells, Lake Shore, and
If you were a softball player or simply a young person growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, you had probably heard of Butch McGuire’s. Softball players knew of McGuire’s as a powerful team not to be taken lightly; non-players knew of it as one of the best bars of its time. Managed by
If you played big time softball during the 1980s, odds are you played the Takers at various times during your season. And win or lose, you probably gained a deep respect for the type of softball they played. Like the Stooges and Taggers and a dozen other teams that were competitive but not always championship
The Sulky Inn Favorites began as a true Cinderella story when a team sponsored by Ray’s Pizza and coached by Roy Logan, Ray Martino and John Szczecina and dressed in t-shirts, bib overalls, and tennis shoes played at Hart Park in Blue Island. The older teams began chanting E-I-E-I-O when they saw their “uniforms.” But
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Long before cable television, internet, and air conditioning occupied our modern world, Chicagoans beat the summer’s heat by walking outside, sitting on the front porch, or watching a new sport that was sweeping Chicago : 16-inch softball. In 1937 North Shore Congregation of Chicago defeated Federal Auto Supply 9 to 2 in the first inter-city
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What do you get when you take female players from five different softball teams, add some colorful coaches, and mix in some banquet circuit rap and stepping? Well, you get the softball team Mixed Company. Pam Black and Popati Wing are given the credit of naming this eclectic group of ball players. They were a
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Starting in 1957 at Audubon Playground, near Addison and Damen, the Dwarfs began a softball legacy that would span four generations, and rank them as one of 16″ softballs most successful and historic teams. Few teams can boast their 1,322 wins against 333 losses for a .799 winning percentage. During their six decades the Dwarfs
Women softball players of the 70″s and 80″s will always remember the red, white and blue uniforms of the Burr Oak Angels, as the colors of one of women’s softball’s legendary teams. With Bill Broukal at the helm and some of the top women players of the time on the field, the Angels dominated parks
