The 1953 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the eleventh season of the circuit. The teams

Fort Wayne Daisies The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana that played from through as members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. History The Daisies represented Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ...

Grand Rapids Chicks The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953. History The franchise ...

Kalamazoo Lassies The Kalamazoo Lassies were a team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team represented Kalamazoo, Michigan. Home games were initially played at Lindstrom Field, but later games were played at the ...

, Muskegon Belles,

Rockford Peaches The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois. The Peaches were one of two teams to pla ...

and

South Bend Blue Sox The South Bend Blue Sox was a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented South Bend, Indiana, and played their home games at Bendix Fi ...

competed through a 110-game schedule, while the Shaugnessy playoffs featured the top four teams. This time, the postseason was reduced to a best-of-three series for both rounds. The AAGPBL had six teams in 1953, the only change in its lineup being that the Battle Creek Belles had transferred and become the Muskegon Belles. The league was still using a 10 inches ball, but some changes were made to the game to make it more competitive and exciting. The base paths were lengthened from 72 feet to 75 feet and another foot was added to pitching distance, making it 56 feet. Nevertheless, the new changes had little impact on the game, as the high

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s and low

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

's remained almost intact compared to the previous year.

Joanne Weaver Joanne "Joltin' Jo" Weaver (December 19, 1935 – March 19, 2000) was a right fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 142 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Overview profile ...

of Fort Wayne won her second batting title in a row with a .346 average, while

Jean Faut Jean Anna Faut insch/Eastman(born November 17, 1925) is an American retired starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Jean F ...

of South Bend topped the pitching list with a 1.51 ERA. No pitcher won 20 games for the first time in league history. Faut and Grand Rapids'

Eleanor Moore Eleanor Moore ''Warner(November 1, 1933 – October 4, 2022) was an American baseball pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , Moore batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Lon ...

tied for first with 17 wins, while Fort Wayne's

Betty Foss Betty "Fossey" Weaver-Foss (May 10, 1929 – February 8, 1998) was an infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 180 lb., she was a switch-hitter and threw right-hand ...

amassed 144 hits, that would eventually become a single-season record. Faut, who also led the league in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s (143) and hurled her second career

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

, was honored with the

Player of the Year Award Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is h ...

, her second in three years.''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' –

W.C. Madden W.C. Madden is a retired journalist, teacher and author who has written multiple books about baseball, including two about the AAGPBL. He has also written about the Western League and the College World Series. While much of his work is based on ba ...

. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Softcover, 294pp. Language: English. In the first round of the postseason, first place Fort Wayne faced third place Kalamazoo and second place Grand Rapids drew fourth place Rockford. After a 12-inning, 3–1 victory of Fort Wayne in the series opener, Kalamazoo pitchers

Dorothy Naum Dorothy Mary Naum (later Parker; January 5, 1928 – September 23, 2008) was a catcher, infielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 112 lb, she batted and threw right-han ...

and

Kay Blumetta Catherine Kay Blumetta 'Swish''(May 1, 1923 – April 25, 1997) was a utility who played for six different clubs in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Listed at , 150 lb., she batted and threw righ ...

silenced the powerful Daisies batters in the next two games by scores of 2–1 and 5–3, respectively. In Game 2, Naum helped herself by batting a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and

Jean Lovell Jean Lovell ��Grumpy″(November 21, 1926 – January 1, 1992) was a female catcher and pitcher who played for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Lovell batted and threw right- ...

singled in the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Lovell also drove in two runs in Game 3 to help the Lassies advance to the final round.''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' In the other series, Rockford connected 14 hits in Game 1 and pounded the Chicks, 9–2, while

Rose Gacioch Rose M. Gacioch (; August 31, 1915 – September 9, 2004) was a right fielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

victory. But

Earlene Risinger Helen Earlene Risinger (March 20, 1927 – July 29, 2008) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 6' 2", 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. One of the tallest player ...

pitched a six-hit, 2–0 shutout in the next game to tie the series. In Game 3,

Dorothy Mueller Dorothy Mueller (December 25, 1925 – June 2, 1985) was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Listed at and , she batted and threw right-handed. She was nicknamed Dottie or Sportie ...

held Rockford to eight hits in a 4–3 win to send Grand Rapids into the finals. The Chicks swept the Lassies in the final series. In Game 1, Mary Lou Studnicka gave up seven hits and fanned seven in an eight-inning win, 5–2, while

was credited with the save.

Joyce Ricketts Joyce Ricketts (April 25, 1933 – May 8, 1992) was a right fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Born in Oquawka, Illinois, Joyce Ricketts barel ...

led the attack with two

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. Risinger continued her winning ways in Game 2, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out nine en route to a 4–3 victory. Once again, Ricketts drove in two runs and Risinger even contributed to her own cause with two RBI, to whip Kalamazoo for the championship in a cold-weather, shortened seven-inning game.

Standings

Postseason

Batting statistics

Pitching statistics

All-Star Game

Sources

External links

AAGPBL Official Website

AAGPBL Records

Baseball Historian files

SABR Projects – Jim Sargent articles

YouTube videos
{{All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-American Girls Professional Baseball League seasons 1950s in women's baseball All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season