I usually present on baseball in Southern Minnesota at least every other year as part of the History Happy Hour at the Hormel Historic Home in Austin. With this year’s theme being the 100 year anniversary of women receiving the right to vote, Holly at the Hormel Historic Home decided to toss me a curve ball asking about Women in Baseball.
Interestingly, various bloomer teams were quite active in the area in the mid to late 1890’s and early in the next century. Two of the more interesting history nuggets from a regional perspective were the hiring of Patsy Lee by the Mason City Coca Cola Cubs as a pitcher in 1934 and the inclusion of Tillie Ford (sometimes listed as “Tilliford” in box scores) on the pitching roster for the barnstorming Texas Black Spiders when they toured the Midwest in 1935.
My presentation would have taken place on May 11th but with Minnesota under a stay at home order, we modified it to be a virtual presentation with video introduction and downloadable documents. The text of my presentation is included below in this blog post. The presentation slides that were / are meant to supplement the written presentation can be downloaded from the Hormel Historic Home https://www.hormelhistorichome.org/ by clicking on presentation “slides” or I can provide a copy to you if requested.
I would be remiss in pointing out that if the topic of Women in Baseball continues to be an interest for you after reading further, the Society for American Baseball Research Women in Baseball Committee will be holding a Women in Baseball Conference in Rockford, Illinois later this year. https://sabr.org/latest/call-papers-2020-sabriwbc-women-baseball-conference
Women in Baseball
For most of us, the movie “A League of Their Own” is our introduction and pretty much our entire understanding of Women in Baseball. As we would expect from a movie featuring Tom Hanks, there are many classic lines and scenes in the movie. One of those classic moments is Jimmy Dugan’s tantrum about crying in baseball.
The movie is a fictionalized story based on the actual All American Girls Baseball League formed by Phillip Wrigley in 1943. The League actually lasted until 1955. Even though the movie tryout scene shows instructors teaching young women to throw overhand, women and girls had been playing baseball or versions of it since the game was created.
One of the earliest examples of women playing in organized baseball is a photo from Thief River Falls, Minnesota in 1893. The caption with the photo indicates the women were playing in something called the Northern League and were apparently fairly successful. Unfortunately there is no microfilm of newspapers from Thief River Falls from early 1893 to learn more about this interesting photo.
Leaping further back in time, historians have documented women playing baseball at Vassar College as far back as 1865. In fact, baseball in its earliest form was a game played literally by everyone. Students of both genders played on school grounds.
The questions then become how and when did baseball become primarily a “gentlemen’s game.” The transformation really begins with early efforts to transform baseball in to “the national game.” Between 1830 and 1860, young men in the East began organizing formal sporting clubs mirroring the structure of their workplaces with bylaws, rules and codes. As these clubs continued to organize they started to compete against each other. In order to compete against each other common rules needed to be established.
The New York Knickerbockers club called for a meeting of local clubs in 1857 to create a structure for clubs. This gathering resulted in the formation of the National Association of Base Ball Players with sixteen clubs. The NABBP grew to include one hundred member clubs by 1865 and the NABBP used that leverage and structure to formulate rule changes to differentiate the NABBP game from playground pursuits. Unfortunately the NABBP’s leverage gave it the opportunity to define who could even play in an NABBP sanctioned game ultimately allowing color and gender barriers to be raised.
At the same time, the early game of baseball was in active competition with other sports and recreation activities such as cricket, yachting and horseracing for interest and participation. In order to meet that challenge, baseball organizers had to change the perception of the game from being a childish game involving a bat and ball to an adult pursuit and more specifically a manly pursuit. Interestingly, the other challenge was the fact that baseball was regarded as anything but a gentlemen’s game with brawling, gambling and cussing a common feature of the early game. As such, the presence of women watching the game was viewed as a way of grounding of the game away from the moral excess.
As baseball continued to evolve to include professional players, baseball as an institution needed to continue to be differentiated from a game and skill level that anyone could play. As baseball continued to evolve, control of the professional game developed into ownership circles with the formation of the National League in 1876. Upon becoming professional, competition for fan dollars became even more intense as the players now expected to be paid and team owners wanted to make their own profit as well.
With that competition for fan dollars, it became necessary to establish that it was a man’s game and that the women’s game was inferior if not a denigration of women’s beauty and purity. John Montgomery Ward was one of those early players. He, among many others, re-told the history of the game but highlighted details to make it seem more gentlemanly, professional and a completely American invention. Ignoring the fact that women actually played the game extensively, he stated:
“Base-ball in its mildest form is essentially a robust game, and it would require an elastic imagination to conceive of little girls possessed of physical powers such as its play demands.”[1]
Even as the history of baseball was being re-written to eliminate women from it, there were ongoing efforts to keep women from playing the game. Debra Shattuck’s book Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers not only describes some of the early pioneers but also discusses a number of the themes or arguments that the baseball “institution” and press used to “discourage” women from even playing the game while at the same time emphasizing that the game was uniquely a man’s game:
- Allowing Women in Baseball was equal to giving them equal rights.
- Men needed to maintain special social spaces for themselves (Hold the Line, Gents)
- Athletic displays diminished the moral purity and the feminine modesty of women (Stay on the Pedestal Ladies)
- Women were unable to grasp the concepts of the game and /or were unable to physically compete in the game (Say it Ain’t So)
- If they could compete, they must be a freak of nature (It’s not me, its you)
- Arguments about whether athleticism was compatible with being feminine:
- Women were not intended to be ball players. Physical activity was dangerous to women’s reproductive health.
- A woman had to choose between being athletic and being feminine or beautiful[2]
As the theme of the year’s History Hour Programs have been Women’s Suffrage, the first justification for preventing women from participating in baseball as anything other than a spectator obviously ties in to the overall theme of the year. A number of the other themes are very similar if not identical to the reasons for not extending the right to vote to women identified by Jamie Timm in her excellent presentation on Women’s Suffrage that started the History Happy Hour season for the calendar year.
In 1895, a number of Bloomer Girl teams were circulating the country. The Bloomer reference was a reference to the loose fitting trousers in the fashion of suffragist Amelia Jenks Bloomer often worn by the players and itself a slight towards any female who would appear in public “immodestly.”
The Boston Bloomer Girl team visited Algona, Iowa in 1895. Two of the newspaper articles are included below:
These two articles illustrate a number of author Shattuck’s themes: a reference to a desperate effort to attempt to play the game, the impact of playing the game on their beauty, and denigration of the most talented as not meeting the feminine ideal.
Women’s teams generally continuing to be referred to with variations on Bloomer Girls names continued to travel the country. The power point presentation slides include two articles from the Lyle Tribune promoting a visit from the Boston Bloomer Girls in 1905. This team was likely being promoted by J.L. Wilkinson, later owner of the all-male All-Nations team and the Kansas City Monarchs. As you can see, they were travelling fairly well in their own train car and carrying everyone thing they needed to create a baseball park that would exclude the non-paying public.
Even so, some were still not impressed with their willingness to dress immodestly or compete on the field.
A few early women baseball pioneers:
Elizabeth Stride grew up in the coal mining hills of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. William Conner paid her $100 a week to pitch for professional teams. On July 2, 1898, the then 21 year old Elizabeth using the name Lizzie Arlington appeared in her first professional game pitching four innings for the Philadelphia Reserves. Three days later she entered a regular minor league game for Reading in the ninth inning. Even though she was successful in getting out of the inning, her appearance failed to increase attendance enough to justify the salary. She later signed up for a bloomer team.
Alta Weiss – was born in 1890 in Ohio. She was a natural born pitcher. Her family was vacationing in Vermillion when she played a game of catch. After seeing her ability to throw the ball the mayor of Vermillion suggested she be signed by the Vermillion Independents. She was 17 at the time. The manager of the Independents wanted nothing to do with a woman playing baseball. Alta struck out fifteen men in an exhibition game and set the crowd abuzz. The manager soon changed his mind and signed her.
She wore a blue skirt in her first semipro game. She pitched five innings giving up four hits and one run. She played first base for the rest of the game. She pitched seven more games for the Independents drawing more than thirteen thousand people with many of them brought in by special trains.
She later pitched with a semi-pro team called the Weiss All-Stars. Her high school’s commencement date was actually adjusted so as not to conflict with one of her pitching engagements. She eventually entered medical school.
Maud Nelson – Some women ball players exist as flashes of history. Maud Nelson was anything but a flash in the pan. Born in 1881, she played on early bloomer girl teams serving as pitcher or at third base. She drew rave reviews for her pitching in 1900. She was still making guest appearances with her Boston Bloomer Girls teams at age 41 in 1922. She and her husband John B. Olson became owner of the Western Bloomer Girls. She was also connected to many other bloomer teams.
The Western Bloomer Girls featuring Maud Nelson came to Minneapolis in 1916. The power point slides include an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune promoting a Bloomer Girls game to be played at Nicollet Park in Minneapolis. A couple of things to point out: Clearly there is the novelty of not only a female pitcher but a female of Native American descent no matter how crudely referred to in the article. The reference to all “fair tossers” referencing the gender as not only the fair sex but also indicating that the entire team was made up of women. A number of Bloomer teams would also use men as either a pitcher or catcher or both. Some of the more famous men to play on Bloomer teams include Smokey Joe Wood and Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby.
In 1916, there were other Bloomer Girl teams. The U.S. Bloomer Girls made a tour of southern Minnesota. A game at Austin was planned with advertising in the Austin Daily Herald. (See the “U.S. Bloomer Girls” slide for a copy of the advertisement) Unfortunately that game was rained out. That same Bloomer Girls team managed to play games at Owatonna, Preston and other towns, however.
Bloomer Girls teams continued to tour the country into at least the 1930’s. Much like the black baseball teams, they were separated from “organized” baseball. That is until a minor blip in 1931. That blip was Virne Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell. Jackie Mitchell was signed to a minor league baseball contract with the Chattanooga Lookouts by Joe Engel during March of 1931. Joe Engel was himself quite a promoter and an exhibition game against the New York Yankees was the perfect opportunity to exploit his new signee.
Jackie entered the game on April 2nd to face Babe Ruth. After a called ball on her first pitch, the Babe swung at two pitches and the fourth was called for a strike. The reward for her efforts in striking out the Great Bambino was getting to pitch against Lou Gehrig. Gehrig swung at three pitches and went back to the dugout bringing up Tony Lazzeri who drew a walk. Not many major league pitchers could lay claim to retiring Ruth and Gehrig in the same inning let alone striking them out creating the debate of whether it was reality or a promotion that continues to this day.
Jackie never got a second chance in organized baseball. Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis stepped in and voided her contract saying baseball was “too strenuous” for a woman. Landis, of course, was notorious for maintaining the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that precluded blacks from playing in organized baseball. With the banning of Jackie Mitchell from organized baseball, the “Gentlemen’s agreement” now clearly allowed only men regardless of actual gentlemanly disposition who could not be considered colored.[3]
In many ways, however, Jackie’s feat, real or not, reignited interest in women playing baseball. Another standard bearer for women in baseball was Babe Didrickson. Born in Beaumont, Texas, Babe as she became known mastered most any sport she attempted. She entered the American Athletic Union track and field competition winning five events, tying one and finishing fourth. She won two gold medals and a silver medal at the Olympics.
With few paying athletic opportunities available to women, she turned to playing on a men’s basketball team run by the House of David promoter Ray Doan. After the basketball season she agreed to a monthly contract to appear on one of the House of David baseball teams. She also pitched in exhibition games during spring training although not faring very well against major league hitting. As a barnstormer she generally pitched a few innings each game but she was likely a better hitter and was capable of playing in the field due to being such a great athlete. After “retiring” from baseball, she would dominate women’s golf until her death in 1956. I have never found a reference to her House of David team playing in Austin but did come across a reference to her playing golf in Albert Lea once.
Apparently the idea was good enough to be copied by others. Mason City’s Coca-Cola Cub club hired “Patsy Lee” to pitch for them in 1934. She came by way of the Hollywood All-Stars and would generally pitch one inning for Mason City. The power point slides include some of the advertising for a game played at Algona. The first game was rained out. On July 1, 1934, Patsy Lee and the Mason City team came to the Marcusen lot. Patsy pitched the first inning giving a no-run performance although the Austin Daily Herald felt the Austin players did her a favor by smacking into sure outs.
A year later, the barnstorming Texas Black Spiders had a female pitcher advertised as Baby Tilliford. She was sometimes referred to as Tillie Ford as well. I’ve spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out her origins and even found an article on a Faith Hassel Butcher in which she talks about pitching a couple of innings for the Black Spiders. Unfortunately her age doesn’t line up with appearing with the Spiders in 1935. Ms. “Ford” actually toured fairly extensively with the Spiders in 1935 including one appearance in Austin at the Marcusen lot where she pitching the first inning. She continued with the team all the way to their return to Mineola, Texas at the end of the season.
The article I found on Faith Butcher implies that the Black Spiders may have used a female pitcher on other occasions. I’ve found no evidence, however, that the Spiders used a female pitcher ever again in Austin.
As we move forward in time, we return to the All American Girls Baseball League. If your only exposure to women’s baseball is the movie “A League of their Own,” you see the men returning from the war and a desire to close out the league. The League actually lasted until 1954 with the Rockford Peaches being one of the more successful franchises. The Minneapolis Millerettes would become Minnesota’s only franchise in the AAGBL in 1944. The Millerettes were tied to the Minneapolis Millers and Nicollet Park with the Millers. The Millerettes could only play their home games when the Millers were on the road.
Despite a relatively strong start to the season, the Millerettes fell into last place by July 5th. With attendance in Minneapolis down and the cost of a trip to Minneapolis being one of the longest and, therefore, most expensive trips for the other teams in the League, the League opted to schedule the remainder of Millerettes’ games on the road. Not surprisingly, the Millerettes disappeared from the League at the end of the season.
It would take only a few more years for Minnesota to have an even greater mark for Women in Baseball, however. Marcenia “Toni” Stone was born in West Virginia but attended Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. At age 16, she was touring with the Twin Cities Colored Giants, a black barnstorming baseball team. She was sometimes being referred to as “Tom Boy” Stone.
She signed with the New Orleans Creoles in 1949 and toured with them into the Midwest. The Creoles visited Winona in July with Toni Stone playing one inning at second base. A portion of the pre-game promotion article and a photo of Toni Stone from the Winona newspapers is included in the power point slides.
In 1953, Toni Stone signed with the Indianapolis Clowns becoming the first woman to play in the “formal” Negro Leagues. Playing second base, she replaced a player you may have heard of: Home Run King Hank Aaron who had been signed by the Milwaukee Braves. Following her into the Negro Leagues were Mamie Peanut Johnson who was the first female pitcher to pitch in a Negro League game and Connie Morgan who would play second base when Toni moved on to the Kansas City Monarchs.
Dunning Field in St. Paul was renamed Toni Stone Field in Toni’s honor by the City of St. Paul. The Field is just south of I94 and west of Lexington near the campus of St. Paul Central High School.
Minnesota would again be part of history when the St. Paul Saints signed Ila Borders to a professional contract in 1997. She would actually make her professional debut in Sioux Falls with a packed stadium and ESPN on scene. Perhaps there was too much pressure as she hit a batter, balked and retired without retiring a batter. Eventually she would be traded to the Duluth Dukes where she would be bounced between the bullpen and starting rotation as managers struggled to find the best way to utilize her pitching abilities.
On July 24, 1998, she became the first female pitcher to record a win in pro men’s baseball in a 3–1 home victory against the Sioux Falls Canaries. A baseball from the game and the line-up cards were donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York by home plate umpire Steve Wammer.
So as we get to the end of my presentation, we may wonder why more women haven’t played in baseball. The modern reality is that early on boys are told to play baseball and girls are told to play softball. In the entire history of the Little League World Series, only 19 girls have ever played in the Little League World Series. Two of those 19 have been from Minnesota including Maddy Freking who played second base for Coon Rapids team this past summer.
Interestingly, Mo’Ne Davis who drew so much attention as pitcher in the Little League World Series in 2014 is playing softball in college. With such an acclaimed female athlete being shunted into softball it seems unlikely that women will ever be able to make the jump into affiliated baseball.
The current emphasis by major league baseball on home run hitting with launch angle essentially eliminates much of the fundamentals of bunting, situational hitting or base running on which a player like Toni Stone might have been able to excel. To counter the ability to launch home runs major league teams and pitchers have turned to faster fastballs higher in the strike zone which is exactly the opposite of how Ila Borders was able to pitch down in the strike zone with location rather than speed.
In addition, the simple lack of ability to play against male competition in baseball makes the likelihood that a female could make the jump to affiliated baseball much more unlikely. When black ballplayers like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were finally able to join the major leagues starting in 1947 they were able to perform at such high levels in affiliated baseball precisely because they had been playing under organized rules, on organized professional teams just as long if not longer than some of the white players. Unfortunately women still do not have that opportunity making it that much more unlikely that we will see a female Jackie Robinson any time soon.
[1] Debra A. Shattuck, Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers (Chicago: Univ. of Ill. Press 2017), 99 (quoting John M. Ward, Base-Ball: How to Become a Player; With the Origin, History and Explanation of the Game (Philadelphia 1888).
[2] Shattuck, 140-7.
[3] There were instances where certain male players could pass or attempted to pass as Indian instead of black. These included Jimmy Claxton who at one time pitched for Good Thunder and in later years for the Mason City Black Bats. Jimmy, who was black, signed with the Oakland Oaks claiming to be from a reservation in North Dakota and pitched in one game before being outed as black. Charlie Grant was also signed as “Tokohama” to play with the New York Giants before being discovered as black when the team travelled to Chicago. Interestingly, Cuban born players could play in the major leagues depending on their skin color – Dolf Luque could, but Jose “Black Diamond” Mendez could not.
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