All the Way

The inspiring biography of former women’s professional baseball player Maybelle Blair

Maybelle Blair’s entire life has been about baseball—women’s baseball. About playing it, preserving its history, and making it accessible to everyone. A former player for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that inspired the movie A League of Their Own, Maybelle broke down barriers for women in the sport, continues to be a mentor for young girls who seek opportunities to play, and is an inspiration for the LGBTQ+ community.

In All the Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair, Kat D. Williams tells Maybelle’s incredible story. She recounts how, as a young girl in the 1930s, Maybelle and her family built a field where they could all play. In elementary school, Maybelle convinced a teacher that they should have a girls softball team alongside the boys. As her talent grew, so did her opportunities to play at higher and higher levels, culminating with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. When her playing days were over, Maybelle became the first female director of transportation for Northrop Aircraft, was an advisor for A League of Their Own, helped found the non-profit International Women’s Baseball Center, and, at 94 years old, came out to the world.

Featuring extensive insight from interviews with Maybelle, All the Way brings to life the struggles and triumphs of female ballplayers in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, as well as the struggles they continue to face today. It also provides an honest look at the dangers mid-20th century lesbians faced and how coming out, even at 94, can be empowering.

Kat D. Williams, PhD, is professor emeritus of history at Marshall University in West Virginia. She is the author of The All-American Girls After the AAGPBL: How Playing Pro Ball Shaped Their Lives and Isabel Lefty Alvarez: The Improbable Life of a Cuban American Baseball Star. Through her teaching, scholarship, and advocacy Dr. Williams has dedicated many years to the preservation of girls’ and women’s baseball history. She continues that work as CEO and founding member of the International Women’s Baseball Center.

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