Ann S. Harnett ( Solowey, August 10, 1920 – 1974) was a female

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

who played from through in the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

. Listed at 5' 6", 139 lb., Harnett batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. She was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Career

A Chicago baseball star and the first girl to sign a contract with the league, Harnett started her career at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in 1943 with the

Kenosha Comets Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at List of defunct amusement parks#Wisc ...

, playing for them four years before joining the

Peoria Redwings The Peoria Redwings was a women's professional baseball team who joined the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1946 season and remained in the league through 1951. The team represented Peoria, Illinois, playing home games a ...

(1947). She started at

during her first two seasons; in 1945 and 1946 played primarily as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, and in 1947 moved to the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball and ...

, though she pitched occasionally coming out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

. Her most productive season came in 1943, when she led the league in

extra base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...

s (26), drove in 69 runs, and collected the best

fielding average In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, divi ...

(.891) among defenders at third base, while hitting a solid .271

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

. In the inaugural season, she also became the first third basewoman ever selected to an AAGPBL All-Star Team. But her average dropped off after the first season to .248 (1944), .202 (1945), .224 (1946) and .203 (1947). Following her baseball career, Harnett became a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

."Ann Harnett"
''

''. Retrieved April 14, 2019.Madden, W. C. (2005). ''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company. Paperback, 295 pp.

Career statistics

Batting Fielding Madden, W. C. (2008). ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book''. McFarland & Company. Paperback. 302 pp.

References

External links

*Feldman, Jay (June 10, 1985)
"All But Forgotten Now, A Women's Baseball League Once Flourished"
''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. Retrieved April 14, 2019. *de la Cretaz, Britni (May 10, 2018)
Honoring' Female Baseball Players With the Lipstick They Were Required to Wear"
''

Racked Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...

''. Retrieved April 14, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harnett, Ann 1920 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American people 20th-century American women All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Kenosha Comets players Peoria Redwings players Baseball players from Chicago Sportspeople from Massachusetts 21st-century American women