Professional baseball player Maybelle Blair hit a grand slam when she came out… at 95!
This profile is part of Queerty’s 2022 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year, in celebration of National Coming Out Day on October 11.Name: Maybelle “Mae” Blair, 95Bio: Born in 1927 (the same year Babe Ruth hit his record-breaking 60th home run), Blair enjoyed a long career in both baseball and softball, pitching for the Peoria Redwings baseball team in the late 1940s and then for several teams in the National Women’s Softball League in the early and mid 1950s.After retiring from sports, Blair continued to play an active role in promoting women’s baseball and supporting young female athletes.
Over the years, she served as the co-chair on many AAGPBL Players Association reunions, as well as on the Board of Directors and was Chair of the Fundraising Committee.She has also been actively working for many years to fundraise for an official center for the International Women’s Baseball Center to be built in Rockford, Illinois, serving as a place to celebrate the groundbreaking players depicted in Penny Marshall’s 1992 film A League of Their Own.Happy 94th Birthday to Maybelle Blair!
Maybelle played for the 1948 Peoria Redwings. #AAGPBL pic.twitter.com/E93nSdlG4w— AAGPBL Official (@AAGPBL) January 16, 2021Coming out: Blair came out as a lesbian publicly for the first time while promoting the new Amazon series A League of Their Own at the Tribeca Festival over the summer.“I think it’s a great opportunity for these young girl ball players to come [to] realize that they’re not alone, and you don’t have to hide,” she said. “I hid for 75, 85 years and this is actually basically the first time I’ve ever come out.”She added, “It was hard during my.
