Dolly Vardens (baseball team)
Dolly Vardens was a recurring name used for a number of baseball teams throughout the United States in the early decades of base ball. Most were white, male squads, though there was an all-female, African-American team from Chester PA, assembled by barber-turned-sports entrepreneur John Lang in the 1880s. However, the latter team was considered a novelty, rather than a competitive organization, who played for the entertainment of spectators.
The name was taken from a character in the novel Barnaby Rudge, by Charles Dickens.
