The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and played12 seasons starting in 1943 and ending in 1954. The Grand Rapids Chicks played from 1945 until the league folded, winning titles in 1947 and 1953. The AAAGPBL was founded by MLB executives Phillip Wigley, Branch Rickey, and Paul V. Harper, as an attempt to keep up interest in the sport while so many male players were fighting World War II.