womenbaseball

Women's Baseball

Alta Weiss

Amanda Clement

Maud Nelson

Springfield Sallies

Women playing baseball in 1868

Women's team from the 1890s

Women playing in Illinois in 1911

1915

Arizona State University team - 1922

Vassar Resolutes - 1866

Western Bloomer Girls

One of the Bloomer Girls

Bloomers

Boston's Bloomers

Dottie Collins of the Fort Wayne Daisies

1943 Rockford Peaches

19th century baseball card

Edith Houghton

Connie Morgan

"Peanut" Johnson

Toni Stone

Jackie Mitchell

The first known baseball game was played in October of 1845 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. Within twenty years, women became active participants in what became known as the "Nnational Pastime."

In 1866, Vassar College fielded two teams. Other schools soon followed suit, but the experiment didn't last. One day a baserunner fell and hurt her leg, The students feared that the accident would bring about an end to baseball at the school, and they were right; several mothers complained that baseball was "too violent," and the teams were forced to disband. In 1880, Smith College tried again to field a women's
baseball team, but they were also forced to give up soon after.

In 1867, the Dolly Vardens, a black team from Philadelphia, became the first professional women's team. In 1875 the first professional game was played between two teams called the Blondes and the Brunettes in Springfield, Illinois. It was a professional game only insofar as money was charged for admssion. The women were not serious players, and the game was organized only as a novelty.

Beginning in 1890, a golden age for women's baseball began with the establishment of the Bloomer Girls teams, which lasted until 1934. The Bloomers offered employment, travel, and adventure for young women. The Bloomers played exhibition games against men's amateur and semi-pro teams. The teams had strict rules; all the players were to be "ladies," which meant, among other things, that no actresses were allowed to play. The name "bloomers" came from the uniforms the players wore. At first, women wore high buttoned shoes, high necklines, and long skirts and sleeves, but eventually they started to wear bloomers, which had been the invention of Amelia Bloomer, an early women's rights advocate.
One of the early stars of the Bloomer Girls was Maud Nelson, who was a starting pitcher for the Boston Bloomers. As the star attraction, she pitched every day. Later in her career she became a manager and an owner.

Outside the Bloomers organizations women were involved in other types of teams. In 1890, a women's team plated against the Danville, Illinois Browns before a crowd of 2000 on Sunday, June 2. After the game, players on both teams were arrested and fined for breaking the city's "Blue Laws."

In 1898, Lizzie Arlington became the first woman to sign a pro contract in the minor leagues. She pitched for the Reading Class A Atlantic League. She was hired because the manager thought that she would draw big crowds. When she didn't, she was let go.

In 1904, Amanda Clement, 16, became the first paid female umpire for a men's team in Iowa. She continued to umpire for six years, paying her way through college.

One of the brightest women stars was Alta Weiss, who began her semi-pro career at the age of 17, when she pitched for the Vermilion, Ohio Independents. In 1907, her first year, she even pitched in Cleveland's major league park, winning her game 7 - 6. She was so successful that her father bought the team, changing the name to the Weiss All-Stars. Although some women played baseball to further the cause of women's rights, Alta semed to play only for the love of the game. She pitched her way through college and medical school, from which she graduated in 1914. Her uniform has been sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1911, Helene Britton became the fist woman owner in baseball, owning the St. Louis Cardinals from 1911 - 1917.

In 1922, Edith Houghton, 10, began playing shortstop for the Philadelphia Bobbies. Houghton later became the first woman scout for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1946.

Lizzie Murphy, who played first base for the Boston All-Stars, had a career that lasted 17 years. In 1922, she played in a charity game against the Boston Red Sox. In 1928, she played in another charity game in the National League, making her the first person of either gender to play in all-star games in both leagues. She also later played a game in the Negro League, where she got a hit off Satchel Paige, regarded by many as the greatest pitcher of all time.

In 1931, Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned women from professional baseball after 17 year old Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game for the Chatanooga Lookouts. Landis voided Mitchell's contract, noting that baseball was "too strenuous" for women. The ban lasted until 1992.

In 1934, Babe Didrikson, one of the most versatile athletes of all time, pitched for the Cleveland Indians in spring training.

In general, though, women's baseball declined in the 1930s because of the Depression. The Bloomer Girls were finally forced out of baseball by 1934.

By the 1940s another crisis was gripping the country: World War II. With so many men, including professional ball players, off at war, attendance was again down. In 1943, Phillip Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs, established the All-American Girls Baseball League, which lasted until 1954, when it died out partly because so many major league games were beginning to be shown on television.

The league started with four teams: the Kenosha Comets, the Racine Belles, the Rockford Peaches, and the South Bend Blue Sox. In 1944, a new team, the Milwaukee Chicks, was added. The following year, another team was added: the Fort Wayne Daisies. In 1946, the league expanded to two new teams, the Muskegon Lassies and the Peoria Red Wings. The final expansion occurred in 1948 with the addition of the Chicago Colleens and the Springfield Sallies. The story of the AAGBL was told in the film A League of Their Own.

Like major league baseball, the All-American Girls Baseball League did not allow black players, so talented black players were forced to find other outlets for their talents. In 1951, Betty Chapman became the first black professional player for the Admiral Music Maids of the National Girls Baseball League out of Chicago. The NGBL was a rival to the AAGBL, lasting from 1944 - 1953. All of its teams were located in Illinois, so many players found it a preferable league because travel was easier.

In 1953, Toni Stone became the first female player in the Negro Leagues when she took over second base for the Indianapolis Clowns, replacing a young man who had just been called up to the Boston Braves. The young man was Henry Aaron, who is the all time major league leader in home runs. Stone was a good player (she once got a hit off Satchel Paige), although she was shunned by the other members of the team who liked her, but didn't believe baseball was a place for women. She played for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1954, but retired after that season.

Two other women who played for the Negro Leagues were Connie Morgan and Mamie "Peanut" Johnson. Connie Morgan replaced Toni Stone at second base for the Clowns and "Peanut" Johnson was a very successful pitcher, also for the Clowns. To read more about these remarkable players, click here.
To hear a 2003 NPR interview with Johnson, click here.
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Although Little League baseball did not officially allow girls to play until the 1970s, in 1950 a 12 year old girl, Kathryn Johnston, played for the King's Dairy team in Corning, New York. She disguised herself as a boy named Tubby, but eventually revealed to her manager that she was a girl. He allowed her to play, but the next year the rules were changed disallowing girls from Little League. The ruling held until it was challenged by 12 year old Maria Pepe of Hoboken,New Jersey in 1972. In December 1973, the courts finally decided that it was unconstitutional not to allow girls to play Little League. Girls have been playing ever since.

Maria Pepe