On This Day - "3 Gals Assigned" to the Chicks

On this day in 1944, the Milwaukee Chicks lineup was starting to come together.

After watching the players at the All-American Girls Professional Ball League's Spring Training camp in Peru, Illinois, managerMax Carey had selected his players and sat down with the other five managers (plus league representatives) to hammer out the rosters.

Here's what the Milwaukee Sentinel had to say about it.

Haggling vs. Charm!

3 Gals Assigned to Milwaukee Club

Peru, Inc., May 23—At a late hour here tonight the Milwaukee club of the All-American Girls Baseball league had been assigned three players as the pilots of the six clubs in the league haggled over player rights—all of which will be assigned by the league.

Manager Max Carey of the Milwaukee club was able to announce he had been assigned Delores Kiosowski, a lefthanded first baseman from Detroit; Shirley Schulze, outstanding centerfielder from Chicago, and Vivian Anderson of West Allis, a third sacker who was personally scouted by Jimmy Hamilton, vice president of the league and chief scout, last season.

The Milwaukee pilkot was reported battling for the contract rights to "Bullet" Wisniewski, od Detroit, considered by many critics as the outstanding softball pitcher of America and Canada.

While the pilots were haggling over player rights, seemingly forgetting the lessons in charm and drawing room behavior as taught the girls by a representative of the Ruth Tiffany school, Chicago, the girls themselves were in anxious huddles—some worried whether or not they would be signed to contracts, others concerned if training camp friendships would be disrupted by being assigned to different clubs.

Jewel Sladek, Milwaukee catcher, who was signed for the training camp session, was released today because of a sore arm.

The Milwaukee team will leave here early Thursday morning and will arrive in Milwaukee before noon.

The article doesn't carry a byline, but it certainly appears to be the work of Margot Patterson, who had been covering the AAGPBL training camp for the Sentinel. The emphasis on the players as people, and the striking image of the women huddling together, anxious about their futures, is a dead giveaway.