The classic baseball film "A League of Their Own" immortalized the life of Lavonne "Pepper" Paire-Davis, though you might not have made the connection at first. Paire-Davis, the inspiration for the character played by Geena Davis, died Saturday of natural causes at age 88. In 1992, "A League of Their Own" gave a fictionalized account of the birth of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was developed by Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley on the fear that Major League Baseball would cease playing because of World War II. The majors never stopped, but the women's league proved popular enough to stay in business from 1943 to 1954. They might have played in skirts, but the women also played to win. Their artifacts are all over the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and their place in baseball history is essential.