Several members of the old All-American Girls Professional Baseball League were on hand yesterday at Reading to throw out ceremonial first pitches. That's Ruth Hartman on the far right, who went on to become a high school teacher, softball player and nationally-known sheep breeder after finishing her baseball career. She is now the reigning queen of Baseballtown, as Reading is officially called. The AAGPBL included teams such as the Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, Fort Wayne Daisies, and Muskegan Lassies. The movie A League of Their Own was based on the women who played in this league from 1943 to 1954.Again, it was a pity that by the time for these first pitches, most fans had gone home. In Philadelphia, it was a sell-out crowd for the Phanatic's birthday yesterday, but there was a lengthy rain-delay after the first inning, with the Phillies up 2-0. By the time play resumed hours later most of the kids in attendance were gone. By the end of the second long delay, still going on at the end of Reading's game, there were fewer than 5,000 fans left to watch Roy Halladay (puh-leez) come out of the bullpen to pitch in a 6-5 Toronto win. The game should have been delayed from the start or not played at all but of course rescheduling one of these silly interleague games is a big problem. Another reason not to have interleague play at all, or at least not in moody May.
