I woke up this morning and watched A League of Their Own, and it hit me. Selling bubblegum in the 19

Written: October 21, 2025

I woke up this morning and watched A League of Their Own, and it hit me. Selling bubblegum in the 1940s can be directly tied to the modern WNBA.
In the movie they call the guy Harvey, but in real life it was Wrigley, the chewing gum man. I actually knew about the Rockford Peaches long before that movie. I used to sit next to my great grandpa and listen to him talk about how his sister played for the Peaches.
Wrigley didn't want the ballparks sitting empty while the men were off at war. All those outfield billboards weren't going to make a penny if the gates were closed, and the country needed something to go watch since this was before TV.
So he started the women's league. Then years later the movie came out and the rest of the world outside northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin finally heard about it.
That movie planted a seed in people's minds. It made the whole nation think, why not women's leagues? From there, you could see the path forming. U.S. women's soccer took off, and by the 2000s the national game was basketball, and the WNBA was born.
All because one gum salesman didn't want his outfield billboards going to waste.