Sonny Berger

Who is Sonny Berger?

Margaret "Sonny" Eloise Berger is a former pitcher who played from 1943 through 1944 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 3 in, 129 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Her younger sister, Norma Berger, also played in the league.

The AAGPBL changed women's team sports forever. Still, the void the league filled during World War II was inspiration enough for the 1992 film A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall and starred by Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna, where was depicted what these pioneering girls endured. The Berger sisters were much like the sisters battery in the film, but Margaret and Norma never competed against each other in the league.

Born in Homestead, Florida, Sonny Berger was one of the sixty original players of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in its inaugural season. The AAGPBL was introduced in the spring of 1943, featuring young women with both athletic ability and feminine appeal. Hundreds of girls were invited to final tryouts at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. Of those, sixty were selected as the first women to play on the first four teams: the Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox. Each team had fifteen players, a manager, a business manager and a female chaperone. Most AAGPBL games were played at night, including the All-Star game of the inaugural season on July 1, 1943, which also was the first contest played under artificial illumination at Wrigley Field.