“There is nothing like exercise and sport to make a girl a real lady.”
– Billie Hallam
Billie Hallam won the Miss Toronto beauty pageant in 1937, and her passion for the game of baseball challenged the way Torontonians thought about femininity. After accepting her title and crown at the Canadian National Exhibition, the seventeen-year-old pitcher rushed to the Beaches with a police escort to cheer on her team in a fancy gown before racing back downtown for the pageant gala at the Royal York Hotel.
