Rockford Goes Peachy

When the Rockford IceHogs were announced as the revived franchise that was once the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in 2007, it immediately hit me that we'd be seeing Rockford Peaches crossover promotions until the cows came home. Instead, there have been numerous promotional games with very few lending themselves to the Hollywood movie that featured the Peaches and even less with the historic connection to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. At least until Friday, January 26 when the IceHogs will become members of the AAGPBL for one night!

Commemorating the 75th anniversary this summer, the Rockford IceHogs will take to the ice in 18 days wearing the following uniforms when they play the Ontario Reign!

The Rockford Peaches won four AAGPBL championships in the league's eleven-year run, so it's nice to see the IceHogs pay a little respect to the women's baseball league. On top of that, the city of Rockford, Illinois was made pretty famous thanks to Penny Marshall's movie, A League of Their Own in 1992, which featured the Rockford Peaches in the main storyline of the movie.

Honestly, I'm not sold on the colour of the uniforms above when it comes to wearing what the women wore in the AAGPBL. The Rockford Peaches wore a peach-coloured road uniform in the 1940s, and the only pink team to speak of in the AAGPBL were the Minneapolis Millerettes who played just one season in 1944. Outside of that, no other team in the eleven-year history of the AAGPBL wore pink, so why are the IceHogs wearing pink?

If anything, more teams wore gray than any other colour in the AAGPBL, and there were a significant number of yellow and gold teams that the IceHogs could have used had they wanted true majority representation. But pink? That seems to play into a female stereotype that certainly doesn't represent the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League or the women that played in it. No offence, IceHogs, but you're better than this.

I will give the team credit for honouring the 75th anniversary of one of the greatest women's leagues of all-time. They certainly didn't have to take that step if they didn't want, but they're going to be the first Rockford team to honour one of the best women's teams and certainly one of the pioneering women's leagues. That's a solid mark for the AHL to make despite their obvious colour blindness in the attempt.

With the jerseys being auctioned off after the game and a portion of the proceeds going to breast cancer initiatives and research, I guess one could say that the IceHogs, despite their failings in the uniforms, have their hearts in the right place when it comes to honouring the league's anniversary and women who played in the AAGPBL. And that's better than nothing when it comes to raising money that will save women's lives.

It may not be a homerun's effort, but the IceHogs will score with a solid base hit.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!