Marge Villa became one of eleven Latina ball players to be selected for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League begun by Philip Wrigley in 1943. In that era, the women needed to be skilled ball players, but skin color mattered. The Latinas who qualified were light-skinned and could pass for white.
Villa made the most of her time in the league. She was a utility player for the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Comets and was chosen as team captain for several of the years she was there.
After she left the league in 1950, she took up golf. By 1955, her name was appearing in newspapers mentioning her winning golf scores.
Table of contents
Early Life
Marge Villa was born in Montebello, California, in 1924. As a child, she played ball with her younger brother and other children in town. Many other Mexican American families lived near the Villas. Many worked on farms or in factories during the week. Sunday was a day when the community attended church and then gathered with neighbors. Residents of all ages played baseball, and it is likely that Marge’s skills grew from those games.
The Garvey Stars was a girls team in East Los Angeles. By the age of 13, Marge Villa was playing regularly for them. While many families discouraged sports for their daughters, the Villas enjoyed Marge’s interest. This added to Marge’s love of the game.
Recruited from the Garvey Stars
After a season with the Garvey Stars, Marge Villa was spotted by a scout for the semiprofessional Lionettes that played in Orange County, California. The Lionettes won the Southern California girls’ championship during Marge’s first years with the team. This brought her to the attention of the baseball league that was being formed by Philip Wrigley in Chicago.
One of the coaches flagged her to try out for the Chicago league—the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She qualified and was placed on the Kenosha Comets. Girls were paid well for the weeks of play ($45-$85 per week during the season). For more information about the league, read All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Playing for the Comets
Villa played for the Comets for five years. She could handle almost any position, so she moved from catcher to base play, and sometimes played in the outfield. She was also a strong pitcher.
Marge Villa made a name for herself during her first year with the Comets. On June 9, 1946, she drove in nine runs and collected eleven total bases, setting two single-game league records that were never surpassed.
By 1950, she had a batting average of .256 and set records for the most runs batted in in a single game.
She was also a true team player. She was always ready to help other players with mastery of any ball skills.
Baseball Travel Not Easy
Like the men, the women playing professional baseball found it wasn’t an easy life. Her story is told in an exhibit at the Smithsonian, where her Garvey Stars uniform is on display. She told a representative of the Smithsonian, “It was pretty hard to put in the bus rides and the daily practices and stuff like that. …It was almost a 16-hour job for us by the time we went to practice, and then we went home and rested a while. Then we’d come back and sometimes played a double header.”
International Travel
In 1947, the AAGPBL put together exhibition teams that traveled to promote women’s baseball. Villa was part of this group. Cuba was a logical place to visit, as Cubans are very enthusiastic about the game. Marge was the only player who spoke Spanish, so she stepped forward to be translator. Villa was also very charismatic, so people loved her.
In 1948 and 1949, she was again invited to join the league for postseason tours. This time they traveled across the Caribbean and South America.
Villa often talked about how lucky she and the team were to get to see the world.
After the League
In 1950, Marge Villa returned to California. The league was not what it was when she began, and for her, it was time to move on with her life.
When her father reminded her that she needed “to do something,” she agreed and took up golf. By 1955, her name was appearing in golf columns as a champion player.
And it was a blind date for a golf game that introduced her to her future husband. Someone asked her to take Daniel Cryan out on the golf course.
They were married in 1954.
Golf Became Her Passion
She and Daniel started a family, and Marge was at every baseball game as a fan and often as coach. This pattern continued with her grandchildren. She loved it.
But she didn’t neglect her golf game. Each year she played in an annual tournament. For 25 years, she was uncontested winner. Her daughter told the Smithsonian that she didn’t know why the other women played. It was clear that Marge Villa would likely be the winner.
Hollywood
When producer Penny Marshall opted to make A League of Their Own, a movie about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Marge Villa was hired as a technical consultant. Her baseball skills were still strong, and she was often called over to help the actors with their pitching or batting so that the movie would be realistic.
Marge Villa is a woman who made the most of her skills and opportunities, and she seems to have loved every moment of it.