During World War II, afraid that major league baseball would need to pause while men were overseas fighting, Philip K. Wrigley, chewing gum mogul and owner of the Chicago Cubs, spearheaded a new professional ball league, this one made up of women players. In the twelve years of All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League play, over 600 women had the chance to play professionally, earning substantial salaries and delighting fans across the Midwest. Joining me in this episode is baseball historian Dr. Leslie Heaphy, Associate Professor of History at Kent State University Stark Campus, chair of the The Women in Baseball Committee of the The Society for American Baseball Research, and editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “That Baseball Rag,” composed by Clarence Jones with lyrics by Dave Wolff; this recording by vocalist Arthur Collins, from June 12, 1913, is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is Dottie Schroeder, catcher, shouting play ball, on April 22, 1948; the image is in the public domain and is available via the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.

Discussed in this episode:

• Women’s Pro Baseball League
• Women’s Baseball World Cup
• Kelsie Whitmore
• Denae Benites
• Ashton Lansdell
• Mo'ne Davis

Additional Sources:

• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association
• “Before A League of Their Own,” by Sam Carr, National Baseball Hall of Fame.
• The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, by Anika Orrock, Chronicle Books, 2020.
• When Women Played Hardball, by Susan E. Johnson, Seal Press, 1994.
• “All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Interviews,” Grand Valley State University Libraries.

The Continental Congress voted to break from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, and approved the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, but it took weeks for the news to spread throughout the new country and even longer to reach the country they were breaking from and the countries with whom they hoped to find alliances. Along the way, people learned the news from printed broadsides, newspapers, public readings, and letters from friends. I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Emily Sneff, author of When the Declaration of Independence Was News.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Yankee Doodle,” performed by the U.S. Army Chorus, featuring MSG Michael White and SSG Matthew Bell of The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps; the composition and audio are in the public domain. The episode image is the Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence, printed in John Dunlap’s Philadelphia shop on the night of July 4, 1776; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

• “Declaration of Independence (1776),” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
• “Diary of John Adams, volume 3: Wednesday, May 15, 1776,” Adams Papers Digital Editions.
• “Virginia’s Independence Resolution, May 15, 1776,” Colonial Williamsburg.
• “Delegate Discussions: The Lee Resolution(s),” by Emily Sneff, The Declaration Resources Project, Democratic Knowledge Project, June 07, 2018.
• “Jefferson's ‘original Rough draught’ of the Declaration of Independence,” reconstructed by Julian Boyd, from: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Vol. 1, 1760-1776. Ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp 243-247.
• “The Declaration of Independence and the Pursuit of Equality,” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
• “Watch How (Slowly) News of the Declaration of Independence Spread in Real Time,” by Ben Panko, Smithsonian Magazine, July 11, 2017.
• “Rare Book of the Month: A Revolutionary Woman and the Declaration of Independence,” by Wendi Maloney, Timeless: Stories from the Library of Congress, Library of Congress Blogs, May 19, 2018.
• “Mary Katherine Goddard's Declaration of Independence,” by Mark Boonshoft, New York Public Library, June 29, 2016.

The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building loom large in the American imagination, symbolizing the conflicting ideas of liberty and empire; their meanings and characters have shifted over time as the American ethos has shifted. Joining me in this episode is writer, historian, and freelance editor, Dr. Vaneesa Cook, author of Empire and Liberty: The Tied Histories of Two American Landmarks.

Our theme song is “Frogs Legs Rag,” composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Hail to the spirit of liberty,” composed by John Philip Sousa and performed by Prince’s Orchestra in New York City on January 11, 1912; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photograph of NASA’s prototype space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905, during a flyover of New York City on Friday, April 27, 2012; the photographer was Bill Ingalls, and the government image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

• “Body of Iron, Soul of Fire: The Statue of Liberty,” by Jessie Kratz, National Archive Pieces of History, October 14, 2024.
• “Liberty Island Chronology,” Statue of Liberty, National Park Service.
• “Letter from Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904) to his mother, June 24, 1871,” Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library.
• “Édouard Laboulaye and the Statue of Liberty: Forging the Democratic Experience,” by Stephen W. Sawyer, La lettre du Collège de France, 4, 2008-2009.
• “Gov. Alfred Emanuel Smith,” National Governors Association.
• “Oral history interviews with John J. Raskob family,” Hagley Digital Archives.
• “John J. Raskob Dies of a Heart Attack,” New York Times, October 16, 1950.
• “How the Empire State Building Was Built in Record Time,” by Tim Ott, History.com, Originally published October 10, 2024 and updated November 03, 2025.