She attended Christian Fenger Academy High School in Chicago and played every sport available to girls, but they were all of the playground variety, not varsity competition.

Wrigley, a chewing gum manufacturer and owner of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, materialized his idea as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball as the World War II military draft was depleting Major League rosters of first-line players.

Ann Harnett became the first girl to sign with the All-American, being followed by Claire Schillace, Edythe Perlick and Shirley Jameson.

Dapkus survived the final cut and was assigned to the Racine Belles team, where she played for eight seasons.

Dapkus earned the nickname Slugger for her power hitting abilities, helping Racine to clinch the league championship in both 1943 and 1946.

Most of her early work was clerical except for during World War II when she spraypainted airplane parts at the Pullman Aircraft factory.

[4] Eleanor Dapkus Wolf was a longtime resident of St. John, Indiana, where she died at the age of 87 from complications from breast cancer.