Mary Pratt, the last surviving member of the original 1943 Rockford Peaches, passed away on May 6 at the age of 101. The Peaches, of course, were the All American Girls Professional Baseball League team portrayed (fictionally) in the movie “A League of Their Own.” She was a lefty pitcher for the Peaches, was transferred to the Kenosha Comets during the 1944 season, played a total of 5 years and later was an AAGPBL board member. She was an alumna of Boston University with a degree in physical education. Besides teaching and playing baseball, she also officiated softball, lacrosse, field hockey, and basketball. RIP Ms Pratt.
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It is well and truly fitting that we should note and mourn the passing of great women. One hundred and one is a nice legacy of fitness of the mind and body.
Speaking of which, oddly enough, I was just notified yesterday that the great avant-garde dancer and choreographer, Jean Erdman, passed away a few days ago in Honolulu at 104. Jean had been right hand associate of Martha Graham, and a member of the “terrible trio” of off-Broadway, including choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage. She was also the widow of the great mythologist and folklorist Joseph Campbell whose work, especially The Hero with a Thousand Faces, influenced generations of poets, novelists, screenwriters and filmmakers and transformed George Lucas’ remake of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai epic The Hidden Fortress into Star Wars.
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