Women have played significant roles throughout the history of professional baseball. Women have been making their mark on the sport, from players to front offices to umpires and broadcast offices. Throughout this week, check back daily for even more women in baseball, but for now, we begin with the female players who broke into professional baseball.
Lizzie Murphy
Lizzie Murphy, the Queen of Baseball, was the first woman to play professional baseball. Over her 17-year career, she played on several all-star teams and was the first person (male or female) to play on both an American and National League team.
Jackie Mitchell
Virne Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell Gilbert became one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball. At 17, she pitched for the Chattanooga Lookouts, a double A minor league team, when they played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees on April 1st, 1931. During the exhibition game, she struck out two Major League Baseball greats, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, back to back in the 1st inning. A few days later, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract with the Lookouts, declaring women were unfit to play baseball. Mitchell continued to play professionally with the House of David team. She retired in 1937 at 23 and refused to come out of retirement to join the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League when it was formed in 1943.
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was founded in 1943 to keep baseball in the public eye while many men were away at war. The first initial tryouts were held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, garnering over 200 women invitees, 60 of whom made it to the league roster. Their first game was played on May 30th, 1943.
1943, there were four teams, but it would grow to be a total of fifteen. The Rockford Peaches and the South Bend Blue Sox remained the only two teams from the league’s inception in 1943 to its inevitable demise in 1954. Other teams included:
- The Kenosha Comets (1943-1951).
- The Racine Belles (1943-1950).
- The Milwaukee Chicks (1944).
- The Minneapolis Millerettes (1944).
- The Fort Wayne Daisies (1945-1954).
- The Grand Rapids Chicks (1945-1954).
- The Muskegon Lassies (1946-1949).
- The Peoria Redwings (1946-1951).
- The Chicago Colleens (1948).
- The Springfield Sallies (1948).
- The Kalamazoo Lassies (1950-1954).
- The Battle Creek Belles (1951-1952).
- The Muskegon Belles (1953).
The Rockford Peaches, the Racine Belles, the Kenosha Comets, and the South Bend Blue Sox all appear in the blockbuster A League of Their Own, which tells a fictional account of the AAGPBL.
Mamie Johnson
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson pursued her dreams of becoming a professional baseball player by trying out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League; however, even though Major League Baseball had begun integration, the AAGPBL was not, and thus she was denied based upon the color of her skin. Not to be deterred, Mamie became the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues. In 2008, Johnson and other players in the Negro League were honored by their inclusion in the 2008 MLB First Year Draft. She was selected by the Washington Nationals, making her the first female drafted into the Major Leagues.
Ila Borders
Ila Borders, a former left-handed pitcher, became the first woman to start as a pitcher in a men’s collegiate baseball game and became one of the first female pitchers to be integrated into men’s professional baseball.
Julie Croteau
Julie Croteau was the second woman to play men’s NCAA ball at St Mary’s College in Maryland at first base. After graduating, she coached the men’s team at Western New England University as an assistant in 1993. Croteau also moved on to the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1995 to 1996 as an assistant. She became the first woman to coach an NCAA Division 1 school. Before her coaching stint in 1994, she played with the Colorado Silver Bullets. Following the 1994 season with the Bullets, she and teammate Lee Anne Ketcham joined the Maui Stingrays, a Hawaii Winter League team. Croteau and Ketcham became the first women to play in an MLB-sanctioned league.
Next Up
These ladies were pioneers in their field, paving the way for those who came after. Today, there might not be any women playing within the Major League franchise, but that doesn’t mean women are not prevalent all across the 30 MLB organizations. Tune in tomorrow to learn more about the pioneer women coaches in professional baseball!
