Baseball and BBQ Episode #126: Maybelle Blair and Shirley Burkovich, former All American Girls Professional Baseball League players who inspired the movie, A League of Their Own and Amy Mills, known as the heiress of barbecue

Maybelle Blair and Shirley Burkovich are women who loved playing baseball, were great at it, and were excited to have the opportunity to make money doing it.  If you are a fan of the movie, A League of Their Own which reintroduced America to the real-life All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) then you will enjoy listening to their wonderful stories.  Ask Maybelle how she is and she will say, “Pretty good for this old gal, and it is a good day when you wake up on this side of the grass.”  Shirley played for three AAGPBL teams from 1949-1951, one of which is the famous Rockford Peaches.  Maybelle served as inspiration for the character, Mae Mordabito aka All the Way Mae played in the film by Madonna.  Ask Maybelle how much Madonna’s character resembled her, and she will say not that much, but then Shirley pipes in affirming that the characterization fit Maybelle extremely well.  It is that back and forth good-natured ribbing that is so enjoyable and makes one appreciate the special bond they share.  At 95 and 89 years of age, they are not even close to letting up from achieving their dream of raising money for a women’s baseball museum to be built in Rockford, Illinois.  Go to https://www.internationalwomensbaseballcenter.org/donate/ to make a donation or to learn more. 

Amy Mills is known as a barbecue heiress as she is the daughter of champion pitmaster and Barbecue Hall of Fame inductee, Mike Mills, who was affectionately known as “The Legend.”  Getting to everything was impossible, but we tried to at least scratch the surface with a conversation that included stories on the books she co-authored with her dad, including James Beard Foundation award-nominated and National Barbecue Association Award of Excellence winner, Peace, Love, and Barbecue and the book, Praise the Lard.  We talked about her incredible presentation at The Welcome Conference, which is labeled on YouTube as Amy Mills-Recognizing Right.  Amy explained the three principles which apply to her business, which include the two 17th Street Barbecue restaurants and Oncue Consulting:  (1) Generosity is a recipe for success.  (2) Barbecue is a culture, not a concept.  (3) Home is the most excellent place of all.  Amy did not always want to be in the family business, but she came back, is happy she did and credits a yellow post-it note for the push.  There is even a story involving George Wendt who played Norm on the TV show Cheers.