Organised during the Second World War and made famous by A League Of Their Own, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a real league that ran from 1943 to 1954.
The AAGPBL was far from “all American” – more than 10% of the players were actually from Canada. The Rockford Peaches was the league’s most successful club, and their real-life star was a Torontonian window dresser named Gladys Davis. She won the league’s first batting title in 1943, made its first All-Star team, and helped lead the Peaches to a championship.