Blanford Park

Margaret Gisolo was born in Blanford in 1914. Gisolo’s RBI single while playing American Legion baseball at the age of fourteen that sent the world of youth athletics spinning and helped open the door for increased acceptance of women in sports.

On June 18, 1928, Gisolo's Blanford Cubs took on the Clinton Baptists to crown the champion of Indiana's Vermillion County. In the top of the 12th, Gisolo knocked in the winning run with a single to right field. Clinton protested the loss, saying that the League was reserved for boys only. A three-man commission, including Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, eventually ruled in favor of Gisolo's Cubs.

The team eventually went on to capture the Indiana state championship and compete at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Because of Gisolo's accomplishments and the high profile of the case, thousands of girls across the country signed up for American Legion baseball.

Gisolo went on to lead an accomplished life and was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. She is also included in a permanent exhibit in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The exhibit opened in May 2006 and features a baseball autographed for Margaret in 1928 by Baseball Commissioner Landis.

AMENITIES:

• Large Shelter

• Playground

• Basketball

• 3 Ballfields

• Tennis