Archive for the ‘Female Baseball History’ Category

Women in Baseball, Late 20th Century+

Players

In June 1952 the Harrisburg Senators of the Class-B Inter-State League announced that they were going to sign 24-year-old shortstop Eleanor Engle. Before she could take the field, the league president stepped in and banned the signing of women. On the 21st Commissioner Ford Frick went one step further and formally banned the signing of women on all teams in organized baseball. The ruling stands today.

During the 1950s, righthanded pitcher Peanut Johnson, second baseman Connie Morgan and second baseman Toni Stone played for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League. Johnson went 33-8 from 1953-55. Stone replaced Hank Aaron on the Clowns in 1953 after several seasons on pro teams and even appeared in the East-West Classic. Johnson and her friend, Rita Clark, showed up at training camp and tried out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League but the African-Americans never received a reply.

Mostly, women today play softball. It is rare to find a fiercely competitive and serious female baseball player. One who qualifies is Julie Croteau. She was the first woman to play in a NCAA game when she took the field for St. Mary’s College, Maryland in March 1989. The first baseman played only one year, leaving on account of continual harassment. She would later reappear on the Coors Brewery-sponsored Colorado Silver Bullets in 1994.

The Silver Bullets were a serious, female, professional baseball team that traveled throughout the country playing male teams during the 1990s. They were managed by Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro.

Ila Borders on May 31, 1997 became one of the few women to play in a minor league game when she went to the mound in relief in the independent Northern League for the St. Paul Saints against Souix Falls. On July 26, 1998 the southpaw notched her first victory. Still pitching in ‘99, Borders appeared in fifteen games, winning one and amassing a 1.76 ERA. She retired in July 2000 with a 2-4 record in 52 games.

In the 43rd round of the 1993 amateur free agent draft 18-year-old Carey Schueler became the first woman selected by a major league team. On a lark, her father, White Sox general manager Ron Schueler picked her. She was not signed.

In October 1988 the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown unveiled a permanent exhibit that honors the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that operated from 1943-54.

Media

Major League Baseball opened its clubhouses to female reporters in 1970. The harassment was endless, including Dave Kingman mailing a live rat to one reporter. In 1979 Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, continuing his controversial rulings, threw the women out. Earlier, Mary Shane became the first woman employed on a daily basis to do play-by-play. She was hired by none other than Bill Veeck in 1977. In 2005 Suzyn Waldman with the Yankees became the first full-time female television commentator.

Front Office

Joan Payson, as 10% owner of the New York Giants, was the only stockholder to vote against the move to San Francisco. She was slated to become an owner in the aborted Continental League, William Shea’s brainchild. Shea was a New York attorney with long ties to the sporting industry that had been on a mission to bring a National League franchise back to the city after the Giants and Dodgers left in 1957. He brought in Branch Rickey to gain legitimacy for the league. The Continental League closed shop when it was assured that the majors would be expanding.

Payson became majority owner of the expansion Mets in 1962. Though having little to do with day-to-day operations, she helped lure the popular Casey Stengel out of retirement to manage the club. In 1969 she became the first female owner to win the world championship. After Payson’s death in 1975, ownership eventually funneled to her daughter Lorinda de Roulet and granddaughters Bebe and Whitney de Roulet. The team was sold to interests headed by Nelson Doubleday in 1980.

In 1981 Marge Schott became a minority owner in the Cincinnati Reds. Four years later, she gained a majority interest. It was a bumpy ride from there. Payson and Schott are the only two female majority owners that did not inherit their club.

Jean Yawkey, Red Sox, Jackie Autry of California and Joan Kroc, Padres in 1984, inherited a major league team when their husbands passed away. Ms. Yawkey served as majority owner and general partner from 1976 until her death in ‘93. Later, Wendy Selig-Prieb took over the Brewers when her father assumed the role of commissioner. She took formal control of the team when it was set up in a trust when Bud Selig was officially announced as commissioner in 1998. Ridiculously, he had been acting in the capacity for six years.

Lanny Moss became the first woman hired to run a team in organized baseball, doing so in Single-A in 1975. Kate Feeney and Phyllis Collins achieved high ranking positions in the National League in the 1990s.

On the Field

Heather Nabozny became head groundskeeper for the Tigers in 1999.

Umpires

Several women toiled in blue. Pam Postema entered an umpiring school in Florida and finished 17th in a class of 130.  Her minor league career began in the rookie leagues in 1977.  As expected, she endured endless sexual harassment.  Postema slowly worked her way up the ladder.  The last five seasons of her 13-year career were spent at the Triple-A level in the Pacific Coast League.  She worked the 1988 Hall of Fame game and several major league spring training games in 1988 and ‘89 but never made the bigs.  Despite generally good marks, she was released in 1989.  Postema sued and later settled a sexual harassment case against organized baseball.

Christine Wren oversaw games at the Rookie and Class-A levels from 1975-77. Bernice Gera began umpiring in the minors in the New York-Pennsylvania League in ‘69. Her contract was immediately rescinded by National Association president Phil Piton and she sued. Finally, Gera won her case and re-took the field on June 25, 1972 in Geneva, New York. On the field that day she made the cardinal mistake of reversing herself on a call. Gera quit after only one game admitting that she was “physically, mentally and financially drained.” She later accepted a front office job in the Mets organization.

Theresa Cox umpired in the Double-A Southern League from 1988-92. Female umpire Ria Cortesio began in the minors in 1999 and is working her way up the system. Shanna Kook found work in the minors from 2003-04.

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Women in Baseball, the Early 20^th Century

Players

Many Bloomer Girl teams traveled throughout the country in the first few decades of the 20th century. Maud Nelson was a long-time renowned organizer and the most famous of the early pitchers. Beginning her career in the 1890s, she pitched well into her 40s. Nelson became a constant on the diamonds lasting over forty years as a pitcher, third baseman, manager and entrepreneur.

Few women ballplayers gained much notoriety outside their community in the early decades of the 20th century except for Lizzie Murphy from Rhode Island, 1915-35, and Alta Weiss from Ohio. Weiss was discovered in 1907 playing catch with boys. She was quickly signed by an Ohio independent club and became the star attraction, even pitching an exhibition game at League Park in Cleveland. Her father purchased a semi-pro club and re-named it the Weiss All-Stars. They traveled throughout Ohio and Kentucky. In 1909 she left baseball to go to medical school where she graduated in 1914, naturally, the only woman in her class. Murphy played professionally against male clubs from age fifteen in 1909 to 1935. Mostly, she played for the barnstorming Boston All-Stars who often vied with and against major leaguers.

An all-female Bloomer Girl team traveled to Japan in the 1920s to play exhibition games against male college teams.

To spark fan interest and attendance, the Negro leagues fielded female ballplayers. First, Pearl Barrett saw action with the Havana Stars in 1917 and Isabel Baxter played one game at second for the Cleveland Giants in 1933. Later, the Indianapolis Clowns introduced Toni Stone and Connie Morgan as second basemen in 1953 and 1954, respectively. Peanut Johnson also pitched for the team in the latter year. Reportedly, Stone asked for a tryout with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League but was ignored.

Jackie Mitchell may have been the first woman of the century to sign a professional contract in organized baseball. In 1932 the “Barnum of Baseball,” Joe Engel, was manager of the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association. Mitchell was only 17 years old at the time but had been trained to pitch by Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance. In a publicity stunt on April 2nd she struck out a chuckling Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Engel planned to use her in regular league games but the next day Judge Landis overturned her contract claiming that organized baseball was “too strenuous” for women to play.

In Class-D ball in 1936 Sunny Dunlap pitched the entire game for the Fayetteville Bears. It may be the last appearance of a woman in organized baseball.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League kicked off during World War II. The brainchild of Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley, it lasted from 1943-54. Max Carey, among others, helped organize the league and the list of managers included Dave Bancroft, Carey, Jimmie Foxx, Bill Wambsganss and Johnny Gottselig, a hockey pro. Today, it is best remembered for the 1992 movie A League of Their Own.

Umpire

Amanda Clement was an umpire around the turn of the century. She toiled in over 300 games in six years, drawing praise from Teddy Roosevelt, among others.

Media

Leslie Scarsella, wife of Cincinnati pinch hitter Les, called play-by-play for a Reds’ game in 1939. Another pioneer was sportswriter Jeane Hofmann. Writing for the New York Journal-American in the 1940s, she incurred harassment from peers and players alike. Her job was made even more difficult as she found clubhouses and press boxes inaccessible to women.

Front Office

Helene Britton, the first woman to own a major league club, inherited the St. Louis Cardinals from her uncle Stanley Robison in 1911. Despite efforts to force her out by other National League owners, Britton stood her ground. After her marriage broke up, she assumed control over day-to-day operations from her husband, becoming the first woman to actively run a major league club. Britton sold the team in 1916. Grace Comiskey became the second female owner after the death of her husband.

Effa Manley stands out among female owners in both verve and intelligence. For years, she ran the Newark Eagles in the Negro leagues. Likewise, NAACP leader Olivia Taylor ran the Indianapolis ABCs. In the minors retail magnate Lucille Thomas purchased a Western League franchise in 1930.

Manley was co-owner of the Newark Eagles with her husband, Abe. It had been his life-long dream to own a baseball team. With his eye for talent Abe scouted up-and-coming ballplayers. Effa handled the business and public relations end of the operation. She was also a visionary and protector of the Negro leagues. This led to many clashes at executive meetings and informal gatherings.

The two met at the 1932 World Series and soon married. Abe was twenty years her senior and a professional gambler. They purchased the franchise three years later. Effa soon became a leader within the Negro National League, even helping to squelch a threatened player strike.

Manley is best known today for her outspoken condemnation of the player raids by major league executives after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. In 1947 she sold Larry Doby to Bill Veeck in Cleveland. However, she hired a lawyer when Branch Rickey of Brooklyn tried to simply take Monte Irvin without providing compensation. Rickey then offered $2,500 but was refused. Manley later sold Irvin to the Giants for $5,000. Irvin, like others, took a pay cut,$1,500, to join the majors.

J.L. Wilkinson, owner of the Kansas City Monarchs, was especially hit hard, losing Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks and Elston Howard to the major leagues without receiving a cent. Understandably, it left him bitter.

In the Field

Former Bloomer Girl Edith Houghton scouted for the Philadelphia Phillies after World War II.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Babe Didrikson may have been the finest all-around athlete of the 20th century. Her achievements would land her in the LPGA, PGA, National Track and Field and International Women’s Sports Hall of Fames. She was also inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame for basketball and various home state galleries. Among her awards, Babe was an All-American in basketball and was named six times as the Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year.

Young Mildred was the terror of her neighborhood, competing in any form of athletic competition, preferably against males. She even sparred, and won, with the boys if they said something she didn’t like. Soon, her athletic exploits gained her fame throughout Texas. By the end of 1932, the entire nation would know her name.

At the National AAU Championships that year, a tryout for the Olympics, she entered eight of the ten events. She won six of them and set four world records. The competition was set up as a team tournament. Babe, as a team by herself, accrued 30 points. The next closest group amassed only 22. A legend was born. 

At the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Babe entered three events and won two gold and one silver medal, setting two world records along the way. Specifically, she set world records with an 11.7-second 80-meter hurdle and a 143’4” javelin toss. In the high jump she tied fellow American Jean Shiley at 5’ 5.25” to set a world record. However, a committee ruled that her style was illegal and disallowed her gold medal. 

After gaining Olympic glory, Babe displayed her talents in numerous exhibitions in an array of fields. For one, she began pitching with barnstorming male teams. In New Orleans Didrikson pitched a spring training game for the Philadelphia Athletics against the Cleveland Indians in 1934. She also pitched other exhibition games with the Indians and St. Louis Cardinals and toured with the House of David barnstormers. 

Her traveling Babe Didrikson All American basketball squad at one time suited up against the Harlem Globetrotters. 

Ultimately, Babe gravitated to golf since little else offered a payday for women. With her business manager she co-founded the LPGA. (This was not a first. Back in 1926, C.C. Pyle, Red Grange‘s agent, formed the American Football League to showcase his star.) The following were her golf highlights:

-          Won 31 LPGA tournaments

-          Won 82 tournaments, amateur and professional, in an 18-year career

-          Won 13 tournaments in a row, 16 of 17 in 1946-47Won 12 majors: 3 Titleholders, 4 Western Opens, 3 U.S. Opens, a British & U.S. Amateur

-          Money leader first two years of LPGA tour, 1950-51. 

In 1945 she became the last woman of the century to play on the PGA Tour when she teed it up at the Los Angeles Open. 

The will of her character and drive to excel can best be described in her battle with cancer. After having cancer surgery and a colostomy in 1953, Babe recovered to win 7 tournaments while competing through ‘55. She died September 27, 1956 at age 45. Muhammad Ali, among others would echo her flair for the spotlight and zealous self-promotion.

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Women in Baseball, the 19th Century

Women have shown an interest in baseball from the very beginning. Some even came for the sport rather than male companionship. In turn, baseball sought women as fans for more than financial reasons. Baseball in the late 19th century was a rowdy game played by even rowdier men. Women spectators, hopefully, would keep the men in line and help clean up the sport’s image. Also, Ladies’ Days were initiated to draw a larger male crowd.

Female barnstorming teams existed as far back as the 1860s. College programs paralleled the professional ventures. This is not to say that they were accepted by mainstream America. Then, as today, such women were scorned by many. They were often derided in the press as no more than prostitutes.

Early exhibition matches would pit such teams as the “Blondes” versus the “Brunettes.” In Philadelphia in 1883 a team called the Young Ladies Baseball Club was formed. They would travel throughout the East Coast billed as an entertainment spectacle offering sideshow amusements in the same fashion as black teams of a later era.

Traveling female clubs called “Bloomer Girls” were formed throughout the country. Though these teams did not play each other, they pitted their skills against various male opponents. Most Bloomer Girl teams consisted of both male and female members. In fact, Smokey Joe Wood and Rogers Hornsby started out as Bloomer Girls. The Bloomer Girl concept was very popular, prompting unrelated teams by the same name to pop up throughout the country. The concept drew fan attention well into the 20th century.

Player

On July 5, 1898 future Hall of Famer, New York Yankee dynasty builder and part-time showman Ed Barrow allowed Lizzie Arlington (a.k.a. Lizzie Stroud) to pitch one inning for Reading in the Atlantic League. As league president, Barrow reveled in the thought of promoting the first woman to appear in organized baseball. Arlington allowed no runs on two hits as the minor league’s first female. She was a student of Boston pitcher Jack Stivetts, also known as the best hitting pitcher of the 19th century.

Front Office

Women began joining the front office of National League teams in the late 1800s. Florence Knebelkamp, sister of Louisville owner William Knebelkamp, served for years as the club’s traveling secretary. Unusual for the times, she assumed the full duties of the position, not merely hand selected chores.

On February 17, 1900 Mary Hamilton Van Derbeck gained control of the Detroit American League franchise and Bennett Park from the courts in lieu of unpaid alimony. However, her ex-husband George Van Derbeck quickly filed the required bond, regained control of the Tigers and sold the franchise prior to the American League gaining major league status, depriving her of a place in history.

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