Marianne Poulart grew up on dairy a farm in East Greenwich. The food they grew in their own garden was enough to sustain her parents and their 11 children. Apart from farm- and homework there was a lot of baseball playing: “We had baseball equipment because my father had a team. All the neighbourhood kids came to our house to play which was convenient for us because sometimes they helped us finish up the work so we could play earlier.”
During the war years she had a victory garden, which won a $25 war bond and a camp scholarship.
With the money she bought her first pair of baseball shoes, which she also wore to school. Being the only girl who did that she got away with it because she was the only girl who played on the boys' basketball team.
When WW II started Phil Wrigley of the Chicago Cubs was certain that all the men would be drafted and the major league ballparks would be empty. In anticipation to this he started the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League in 1943.
Marianne Poulart was discovered and invited to play in the League. She became one of it’s biggest stars, hitting a record number of home-runs in the following 9 years.