Umpire training facility and so much more could accompany Rockford women's baseball museum

Kelsie Whitmore fielded a ball hit to the alley in right-center near the freshly painted green wall in Beyer Stadium, the same ground where the Rockford Peaches once played.

Whitmore, an outfielder and pitcher for the U.S. Women's National Baseball Team, spun and fired a bullet from the wall into the infield, hitting her cutoff woman's glove with a loud thwack. It was a sight and sound that delighted former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Maybelle Blair.

"Look at that!" Blair, 96, said. "Look at that arm! They can throw, they can hit and they can run. Wait until batting practice tomorrow, they will be hitting some out of here!"

Blair was an honored guest as the women's U.S. National Team visited Rockford last week for an open practice and exhibition game as the team prepares for the World Baseball Softball Confederation Women's Baseball World Cup.

It was a meeting of generations of women in baseball as the best women players in the United States practiced with Blair and young girls including children from the Lil Peaches baseball team looking on.

"You are looking at history right now, at the present and you are looking at the future," said Kat Williams, CEO of the International Women's Baseball Center. "And it's all coming together on that field. If that doesn’t make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, nothing is gonna."

'This is the cradle of women's baseball'

Team USA's visit promotes women playing baseball — which remains rare in the United States where girls are typically steered toward fastpitch softball.

But Blair said it is also a boost for the International Women's Baseball Center's efforts to establish a women's baseball museum, activity center, baseball hall of fame and umpire training facility in Rockford. Beyer Stadium would be incorporated into an active outdoor museum campus which is envisioned as something far more than a bunch of dusty items behind a glass case.

The organization has landed the services of world-famous Belvidere architect Jeanne Gang for what is estimated to be a $15 million project and is soon to launch a capital campaign. Gang's involvement is expected to help attract international attention and donations.

More: Gang's all in: World-renown architect will design Women's Baseball Museum in Rockford

But it is Blair who is the undisputed ambassador of women and girls baseball, even if it forces her to sometimes wear Rockford Peaches gear — a team she despised while playing for the rival Peoria Redwings in 1948.

"I hated the Peaches," Blair said. "Absolutely hated the Peaches. But when you talk about women's baseball, the first thing they think about is the Rockford Peaches. Which is true. Where else should the International Women's Baseball Center and museum for women's baseball be, but here in Rockford, Illinois where the Peaches played? This is the cradle of women's baseball."

Struggle for women's baseball

The Rockford Peaches, who were members of the All-American Girls Baseball League in the 1940s and 1950s and who are forever immortalized in the 1992 film "A League of Their Own," called Beyer Stadium home for more than a decade.

Women on the National Team are now continuing a fight for more opportunities to play baseball started decades ago by the women who played at Beyer Stadium in the wake of World War II. There remain few opportunities for most of the women on the team to play baseball year-round. A few play on men's teams either professionally or at colleges, Whitmore said.

Whitmore was a reluctant standout softball player for California State University where she would rather have been playing baseball. She was named Team USA's Sportswoman of the Year in 2022. She said it was an honor to represent the United States as part of Team USA on the same field where the Rockford Peaches once were four-time champions of a professional women's league.

"What is cool about playing for the National Team is that we are playing for something bigger than just trying to put up numbers to get our stats up and get to the next level."

Plans for something bigger

While the U.S. Women's National Baseball Team is playing for something bigger, plans for a women's museum at Beyer Stadium remain large.

The ground floor design of the museum includes exhibit space and a courtyard, a cafe, fieldhouse, activity room, gym/community room, lockers and showers, a stretching room and restrooms.

The upper level will feature more exhibit space, event space, a lounge, batting cages, a meeting room, board room, restrooms and solar panels.

Plans are also in the works to build an outdoor museum or memorial on the north end of Beyer Stadium.

How would they stack up?

Blair said Team USA could win the World Cup this year, but said Japan is likely the team's biggest threat. She said while most of the American women play softball for at least some of the year with some notable exceptions, the Japanese women's team plays baseball all year.

But Blair said she wasn't sure what the answer is to the most important question: Could the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League have defeated today's Team USA?

"I tell you, these girls are very, very good," Blair said. "I would have liked to have played against them. I would like to know who would have won. What I have seen out here today, I don’t think there is a girl out here who would not have made the All-American Girls Baseball team during my time. Watch them throw that ball. It's amazing."

Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Team USA visit fuels Rockford women's baseball museum efforts