Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation and the Fort Wayne TinCaps unveiled a monument on Saturday honoring the women who played on the Fort Wayne Daisies.
The Daisies played in Fort Wayne from 1945 to 1954, as part of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). For most of that time, the team played at Memorial Park where, now, two new stone monuments stand.
The monuments display the name of every known Daisies player, manager and bat boy and girl. Daisies alumni Dolly Vanderlip Ozburn attended the unveiling ceremony.
Ozburn came to Fort Wayne from North Carolina at fifteen years old. She said her time with the team and in the city taught her a lot and gave her the skills to return to North Carolina as a confident young woman.
“We hope that our legacy stays and it helps many, many more women – helps your daughters, your granddaughters and your great granddaughters – to be not only better athletes, but better people,” Ozburn said.
A proclamation from Mayor Tom Henry declared June 3, 2023 Fort Wayne Daisies Day and the TinCaps gave a tribute to the team and wore Daisies-inspired jerseys at their game against the South Bend Cubs that evening.
The new memorials stand above the baseball diamond at Memorial Park where the Daisies played from 1946 to 1954.
Fort Wayne Parks and Rec and the TinCaps unveiled a new plaque commemorating every person who played for or worked with the Fort Wayne Daisies from 1945-1954. The city proclaimed today “Fort Wayne Daisies day.” Catch the story on Monday’s Morning Edition! pic.twitter.com/xbJx5bITKx
— 89.1 WBOI (@WBOI) June 3, 2023
