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Chicago Tribune
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville Central shortstop Natalie Lau's links to baseball include ‘A League of Their Own,' history behind it
Naperville Central junior shortstop Natalie Lau has a family connection to baseball history, and that person wrote a book. She isn't related to the late Charley Lau, the former Chicago White Sox hitting coach who authored 'The Art of Hitting. 300.' Natalie Lau is the great-granddaughter of Dolly Niemiec Konwinski, who was born in Chicago in 1931 and was an infielder for several teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1948 until a car crash ended her playing career in 1952. Baseball and softball have been a family staple ever since. 'Softball's pretty much been through my lineage through the years,' Lau said. 'I think my grandma played a couple of years. My aunt maybe played like a year. My mom played in high school. She was an all-state first baseman in Michigan for her high school team. My brother used to play baseball, and now I'm playing softball.' Lau, a three-year varsity player, is doing it well. She's hitting .348 with six doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, 23 runs scored and a team-high seven stolen bases for the Redhawks (20-12, 12-3), who won a share of their first DuPage Valley Conference championship since 2015 and will play West Aurora in the Class 4A Naperville Central Regional semifinals on Wednesday. 'She's done a real nice job defensively and is hitting the ball well, runs well,' Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said. 'She really has a lot of energy in the dugout. She is one of the leaders in the dugout making noise and getting people going.' Lau said she gets that from Konwinski, who died at the age of 87 in 2018. Lau was in fifth grade at the time. 'I did get to meet her,' Lau said. 'She lived in Michigan, so when I was younger, we would go up there a lot, and we would get to see her quite often. 'But it's always been kind of hard for her and my great-grandpa to come watch me play because they have their own schedule. My travel team did get to play in Michigan last year. My great-grandma had passed, so she wasn't able to see, but my great-grandpa did.' Konwinski, who became a professional bowler, coached her son's Little League teams and umpired high school games, gave Lau valuable advice. 'She always told me to keep my head up and just try my best and always be loud, be confident and have fun with your teammates,' Lau said. 'I feel like I've taken that advice to heart a lot.' Lau's teammates agree. 'I love Natalie so much,' Naperville Central sophomore pitcher Avery Miller said. 'She's done so much for me. On the field, when something bad has happened, she always has my back. 'We love joking around together. She'll always make me laugh if I'm down. She's just a great person to be around, and I just think everyone should have their own person like that.' While the 1940s might seem like ancient history to today's teenagers, the Redhawks enjoy hearing stories about Konwinski's exploits. The AAGPBL, which was founded by former Chicago Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley in 1943 and existed until 1954, was immortalized in the 1992 movie 'A League of Their Own.' Konwinski, who wrote the book 'Summertime Dreams: Yes! Girls Can Play Baseball,' appeared as an extra and was a consultant for the film, which starred Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna. 'I think it's so cool having a teammate that's had someone that experienced that,' Miller said. 'It's just a real blast of the past. 'We usually have our conversations on the bus or in the dugout. Sometimes it'll come up, and she'll explain really cool things.' Even Nussbaum, who is in his 41st season as coach, enjoys hearing the history. He also has a family connection to the AAGPBL. 'My brother's father-in-law grew up in South Bend, and his dad used to take him to games when he was little,' Nussbaum said. 'It's a cool part of history.' For Lau, who aspires to play softball in college and study business or law, her family history is something to be treasured. 'It's a really cool, fun fact because it's something that a lot of people wouldn't know,' she said. 'It's really cool to trace the sport back through generations and generations.'
CBS News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison announces run for Congress
Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison (D-15th) announced Monday that he is running for Congress. Morrison is running in the 8th Congressional District, which primarily includes west and northwest suburban areas in Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. The district stretches from Des Plaines westward through Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg, Itasca, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Streamwood, Carpentersville, and Elgin, and also includes well as a small part of Chicago's Far Northwest Side near O'Hare International Airport — though not the airport itself. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) currently represents the district. Last week, Krishnamoorthi announced his run for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who is retiring rather than seeking reelection in 2026. Morrison "As the grandson of immigrants and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I didn't see people like me in public office," he wrote. "But I believe our government should reflect all of us, and I'm ready to fight for everyday people in Congress." Morrison added in a campaign video: "My grandparents immigrated to this country because they believed that if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead. My mother instilled the values in me of giving back to the community, and treating everyone with dignity and respect — and today, far too many people feel left behind, and that is simply not right." He touted his record as a Cook County commissioner as having fought to expand voting rights and mental health care funding, and to fight discrimination. Morrison, who grew up in Elk Grove Village, was elected to the Cook County Board in 2018. He represents the 15th District, a northwest suburban stretching from Des Plaines to Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, Barrington Hills, and the part of Elgin that falls into Cook County. Morrison was the youngest person ever elected to the board when he defeated three-term incumbent Tim Schneider, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, at age 28. He's also the first openly gay member of the board. Morrison worked as a special projects coordinator for Rep. Krishnamoorthi before being elected to the County Board. Krishnamoorthi was first elected in 2016 to the U.S. House seat in which Morrison is hoping to succeed him.
Chicago Tribune
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Why Henry Hyde's name should stay on the DuPage County courthouse
History often is complex and resistant to simple narratives. So are people. So it is a needlessly divisive mistake for DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy to push for her fellow board members to remove the name of the late Henry J. Hyde, longtime Republican congressman, from the county courthouse. The board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the issue. Hyde represented DuPage, which until recent years was a Republican power center, in Washington for more than three decades, retiring in 2007. During that time, Hyde wasn't some low-profile lifer in Congress. He was one of the House's most prominent members, even when he was serving in the minority, which is to say most of his career there. Conroy's rationale for removing Hyde's name from the court building is that the staunchly anti-abortion politician was responsible for the Hyde Amendment, the provision in federal law that for decades barred spending federal taxpayer money on abortions with exceptions for rape, incest or endangerment to the life of the mother. 'It's strictly because of the Hyde Amendment, and it's very difficult for so many women to walk into the courthouse and see (his name),' she told the Tribune. Abortion rights is an issue that only has grown more intense since Hyde died 10 months after his retirement. We understand the symbolic argument. But to strip his name from the building would be akin to removing Richard J. Daley's name from the courthouse in the heart of the Loop over a single issue — say, the police beating of protesters at the 1968 Democratic convention on his orders, the culture of corruption that the Daley machine fostered or his brutal segregationist policies. Even many ardent Daley critics wouldn't suggest doing so. Why is that? Because Daley is a singularly important figure in the history of Chicago and to rename the Daley Center or Daley Plaza would be to try to negate that history. Like Daley, Hyde was a complicated figure and far more than the name adorning a famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) piece of legislation. Memories are short, of course, but for most of his career Hyde was an intellectual heavyweight on the Republican side of the aisle. Agree or disagree, but when Hyde took the floor to speak, people listened. And for good reason. He was a thoughtful conservative. Consider this: Hyde stepped down in 1981 from the advisory board of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee after Executive Director Peter Gemma Jr. identified incumbent lawmakers the group planned to work to defeat. Hyde objected to targeting officeholders over a single issue. Much the way the DuPage board is considering doing Tuesday. Would the Democratic majority on the DuPage board consider themselves in favor of reasonable gun regulation? If so, against the consensus of his party, Hyde in 1994 voted for President Bill Clinton's ban on assault weapons, demonstrating that he could be persuaded to change his mind on a monumental issue of the day. Just three years earlier, he had voted against the same ban. Hyde reversed himself after reading detailed accounts of gun victims in Chicago, provided by Democratic Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois. 'At the end of reading this list of bloody crimes, I had to conclude these guns have no purpose but to kill a lot of people very rapidly,' Hyde said. 'It wasn't like falling off a horse on the road to Damascus. But like many things complicated and emotional, you don't dwell on them unless forced to.' Hyde's change of heart induced Illinois Rep. Bob Michel, then GOP minority leader, and dozens more Republicans to vote for the ban. Such political courage is almost impossible to imagine on today's Capitol Hill. Of course, four years later Hyde led Clinton's impeachment proceedings on behalf of the House before the Senate, leading critics to disclose Hyde's yearslong extramarital affair decades earlier and accusing him of hypocrisy. Hyde admitted to cheating on his wife but claimed Clinton's alleged wrongdoing was about Clinton's cover-up attempts rather than his actual affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The public didn't buy it, and Hyde paid a reputational price in the process. All of this is to say that Henry Hyde was complicated. Just like most people. But what is indisputable is that he was one of the most important political figures to emerge from DuPage County. Ever. His name should stay on that courthouse. Originally Published:
