All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rules of play progressively extending the length of the base paths and pitching distance, while decreasing the size of the ball until the final year of play in 1954. For the first five years the circuit used a fastpitch underhand motion, shifted to sidearm in the 1947 season, and overhand pitching began in 1948. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rules of play The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a circuit that began to operate in 1943. Since the only organized ball for women in the United States was softball, the league officials created a hybrid game which included features of both fast-pitch
History of the National Hockey League (1992–present) labor unrest, completing expansion plans, and modernizing the league. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators joined the league in as part of the owners' 1990 plan to expand the NHL to 28 teams within a decade. The Lightning made NHL history when goaltender Manon Rheaume played a period of an exhibition game for them on September 23, 1992. Rheaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game. She also became the first woman to sign a professional hockey contract, doing so with the Lightning's farm team, the Atlanta Knights. One year later, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim