A Competitor And Inspiration Until The End
One of the last surviving members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the inspiration for the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own," has died at the age of 96.
Louisa Georgie Payden tells WBBM her aunt, Ange Armato, was briefly with the Rockford Peaches in the late 1940s, and also played for the Kalamazoo Lassies and was a regular at reunions for the AAGPBL. "She was very special..to our whole family. A lot of people would come by (to see her) She was receiving fan mail up until the day she died. In fact we had to send some back saying she just could not sign anymore."
Payden said Armato was a golfer, a bowler, and someone who embraced every challenge. "I took care of her until the end...she was full of life. I can't say enough about her, I'm so proud of her. She loved life, period. She was special."
Armato was the last survivor in a family of eight sisters.
