He later said going to these meetings made him want to help others like himself.

Paul Miller died of cancer in October at the age of forty-nine.

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Dorothy Kamenshek in a photo from the National Baseball Hall of Fame

FAITH LAPIDUS: Dorothy Kamenshek was considered one of the best female players in baseball history. In nineteen forty-three, the owner of the Chicago Cubs created the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

At the age of seventeen, Kamenshek was picked to be on the Rockford Peaches team. Known as “Dottie” to her fans, she became a huge success.

She would jump over a meter in the air to catch the ball at the first base position. She was also a great hitter. She had one of the league’s top ten batting averages. Kamenshek played for the All-American Girls League for ten seasons. She was chosen to be on the All-Star team seven times in her career.

Her life influenced the role played by Geena Davis in the nineteen ninety-two movie “A League of Their Own.”

Dorothy Kamenshek was such a skillful player that a men’s minor league team from Florida once tried to buy her contract. She refused the offer.

Kamenshek retired from baseball in nineteen fifty-three. She earned a degree in physical therapy. She later worked for the Crippled Children’s Services Department in Los Angeles, California.

Dorothy Kamenshek died in May at the age of eighty-four.