Did any of the Redszone gals play baseball?

[gonelong]

My mother (mid 60's) played baseball when she was a girl. Its been awhile, but I'll ask her a bit about it over Easter. I think they had a high school team.

Have any of the Redzoner gals played organized baseball in little league/pony league or with a high school team?

If so, please give us an idea of what it like.

GL

[vaticanplum]

Girls didn't play baseball when I was growing up. Softball, though, was actually the one team sport I was semi-good at. I played second base, and once got out of a pickle (a trivia bit of which I informed about everyone I met for the subsequent five years or so). I liked being at second and I had a decent eye and so walked a lot, but holy crap, I could not hit a softball to save myself. I was an anti-contact hitter.

Eventually I saw a picture or a TV spot on the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and she was wearing a skirt, and I became enraged that we did not wear skirts in softball and quit in a fit of uniform rebellion. thus ended my illustrious softball career.

[westofyou]

My wife played for 2 years.

[Chip R]

Eventually I saw a picture or a TV spot on the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and she was wearing a skirt, and I became enraged that we did not wear skirts in softball and quit in a fit of uniform rebellion. thus ended my illustrious softball career.

You were just born 60 years too late, weren't you?

[westofyou]

Eventually I saw a picture or a TV spot on the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and she was wearing a skirt, and I became enraged that we did not wear skirts in softball and quit in a fit of uniform rebellion. thus ended my illustrious softball career.

Gehrig too

A few days after the exhibition game, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Jackie Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman.

Crushed and disappointed, Jackie began barnstorming, traveling across the country pitching in exhibition games. In 1933, when she was 19, she signed on with the House of David, a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards. She traveled with them until 1937, but eventually got tired of the sideshow aspects of barnstorming -- like playing an inning while riding a donkey.

At the age of 23, she retired and went to work in her father's optometry office, although she continued to play with local teams from time to time.

"She uses an odd, side-armed delivery, and puts both speed and curve on the ball. Her greatest asset, however, is control. She can place the ball where she pleases, and her knack at guessing the weakness of a batter is uncanny .... She doesn't hope to enter the big show this season, but she believes that with careful training she may soon be the first woman to pitch in the big leagues." The Chattanooga News, March 31, 1931

"The Yankees will meet a club here that has a girl pitcher named Jackie Mitchell, who has a swell change of pace and swings a mean lipstick. I suppose that in the next town the Yankees enter they will find a squad that has a female impersonator in left field, a sword swallower at short, and a trained seal behind the plate. Times in the South are not only tough but silly." The New York Daily News, April 2, 1931

"I don't know what's going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball. Of course, they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball every day." Babe Ruth

"Cynics may contend that on the diamond as elsewhere it is place aux dames. Perhaps Miss Jackie hasn't quite enough on the ball yet to bewilder Ruth and Gehrig in a serious game. But there are no such sluggers in the Southern Association, and she may win laurels this season which cannot be ascribed to mere gallantry. The prospect grows gloomier for misogynists." The New York Times, April 4, 1931

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/mitchell_2.html

[gonelong]

Eventually I saw a picture or a TV spot on the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and she was wearing a skirt, and I became enraged that we did not wear skirts in softball and quit in a fit of uniform rebellion. thus ended my illustrious softball career.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hi...005/050402.htm

The Chattanooga News provided a scouting report on Mitchell: "She uses an odd, side-armed delivery, and puts both speed and curve on the ball. Her greatest asset, however, is control. She can place the ball where she pleases, and her knack at guessing the weakness of a batter is uncanny."

Got Ruth and Gehrig!

GL

[Yachtzee]

Girls didn't play baseball when I was growing up. Softball, though, was actually the one team sport I was semi-good at. I played second base, and once got out of a pickle (a trivia bit of which I informed about everyone I met for the subsequent five years or so). I liked being at second and I had a decent eye and so walked a lot, but holy crap, I could not hit a softball to save myself. I was an anti-contact hitter.

Eventually I saw a picture or a TV spot on the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and she was wearing a skirt, and I became enraged that we did not wear skirts in softball and quit in a fit of uniform rebellion. thus ended my illustrious softball career.

You didn't go the Amanda Wurlitzer route? We had a girl on our team growing up. She quit playing when us boys started going through puberty and started asking her out all the time.

[Red Leader]

You didn't go the Amanda Wurlitzer route? We had a girl on our team growing up. She quit playing when us boys started going through puberty and started asking her out all the time.

I'm picturing:

[pedro]

My wife played for 2 years.

Didn't she feel bad about hitting the ball?

[vaticanplum]

She is not wearing a skirt! That is not who I saw. I think maybe I saw a fictionalized draw-ring, actually.

[Caveat Emperor]

She is not wearing a skirt! That is not who I saw. I think maybe I saw a fictionalized draw-ring, actually.

Maybe thinking more about this:

[vaticanplum]

I bet that's it. The outfit looks familiar in any case.

Man, how great-looking is that? I love her little glove too.

[Caveat Emperor]

I bet that's it. The outfit looks familiar in any case.

Probably because you've seen this movie:





It does have a really classy look to it.

[vaticanplum]

I have never seen that movie. I am working on it.

[westofyou]

Helen Callaghan was a center fielder who appeared in five seasons in the AAGPBL. As a rookie with the Minneapolis Millerettes she hit .287, second in the league. She tied for 3rd in homers, was 3rd in total bases, 3rd in hits, 3rd with 81 runs amd 7th with 112 steals. The team's third basewoman was Marge Callaghan, Helen's older sister. Helen had four sons - Casey Candaele is the most famous. Another son (Kelly Candaele) went into documentary work and produced a PBS special on the AAGPBL. Penny Marshall saw it and it inspired her to create the movie "A League of Their Own."