Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner
udrey(December 27, 1927 – August 31, 1984) was an
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...
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 , 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Brief profile
Audrey Wagner was one of the sixty original founding members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A two-time member of the All-Star Team, she ranks eight in the all-time list with 29 career
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 ...
s while her 55
triples rank second all-time to
Eleanor Callow
Eleanor 'Squirt' Callow (born August 8, 1927) was a left fielder who played from through for three teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Callow was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She was born in Winnipeg, Mani ...
(60). Wagner earned Player of the Year honors in 1948, and also led several offensive categories over her seven-year career in the league. She later became an All Star outfielder in each of her four seasons in the competing National Girls Baseball League of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
. Following her baseball career, she graduated as Doctor of Medicine.
Early life
Wagner was born and grew up in
Bensenville, Illinois
Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813.
First known as Tioga, it was formally establishe ...
, and began to play
sandlot ball
Sandlot ball or sandlot baseball is a competitive and athletic sports game that follows the basic rules and procedures of baseball. It is often less organized and structured, as the name alludes to a makeshift field or an empty lot.
History and ...
with the boys of her neighborhood when she was a little girl. At age 15, she attended
Bensenville Community High School, where she heard about
Philip K. Wrigley and his remarkable experiment in creating a women's professional baseball league during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Wrigley, who was in charge both of the
Wrigley Company
The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois.
Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, In ...
and the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
club, decided to found the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball. By then, the
military draft
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
was depleting Major League rosters of first-line players and attendance declined at ballparks around the country. The league started its first season in 1943 with the teams
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 ...
,
Racine Belles
The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The Belles won the league's first championship. The team played its home games at Horlick Fi ...
,
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, and each team was made up of fifteen girls. Wagner was allocated to the Kenosha Comets, where she played her entire career in the circuit.
[
]
AAGPBL career
Due to her studies at school, Wagner saw limited action until the school year ended, be it high school or college. Audrey insisted on finishing the school year before playing full-time. She entered the AAGPBL as a pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
, but Comets manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
Josh Billings
Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (April 21, 1818October 14, 1885). He was a famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States during the latter half of the 19th century. He is often compa ...
promptly moved her to the outfield because of her hitting abilities. She moved around center and right field.[Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball]
In 1943 Wagner hit .230 in 73 games, scoring 30 runs while driving in 27 more. She tied for second in triples (10) and tied for third in 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 ...
s (4). She also appeared in the league's first All-Star Game during the midseason, which was played under temporary lights at Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...
, between two teams composed of Blue Sox and Peaches players versus Comets and Belles players. It was also the first night game ever played in the venerable ballpark (July 1, 1943). The Comets had the third-best record at 56–52, but had won the second-half title, earning them a berth in the playoffs, only to be swept in three games by Racine. Helen Nicol
Helen Nicol (later Fox; May 9, 1920 – July 25, 2021) was a Canadian-American baseball pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at , , Nicol batted and threw right-handed. She was ...
, who led the AAGPBL pitchers in wins (31), 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 (220), 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 ...
(1.81) and shutout
In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball.
Shutouts are usuall ...
s (eight), inexplicably failed in the playoffs after going 0–2 with a 4.50 ERA.
Wagner dropped to .189 with 26 RBI in 1944, but still managing to score 30 runs in 90 games. It was the only time in her AAGPBL career in which she failed to hit a home run. The Comets again placed third (62–54) and made the playoffs after win the first half. They took a 3–2 lead over the expansion Milwaukee Chicks
The Milwaukee Chicks were a women's professional baseball team which played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the season. They were managed by Max Carey, former star player for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Robi ...
in the Championship Series, but Nicol lost an 11-inning pitching duel with Connie Wisniewski
Constance Wisniewski (Wiśniewski) (February 18, 1922 – May 4, 1995) was a starting pitcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 8", 147 lb., she batted left-handed an ...
in Game 7.[
Wagner rebounded slightly in 1945, batting .198 with 26 runs and 26 RBI, but she led the league with nine triples and tied for second in home runs (two) in a dominant pitching league. After becoming a full-time player in 1946, she improved her offensive statistics by hitting a .281 average and leading the league with nine home runs and a .413 ]slugging average
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, a ...
. She also led in total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, while ...
(162) and tied for the doubles lead (15), ending fourth in hits (110) and eighth in RBI (53), while her average ranked fifth. The Comets were out of contention in both years.[All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book]
In 1947 the AAGPBL moved its spring training
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...
camp to Havana, Cuba
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. . Wagner did not make the trip as school was still in session. That season she batted a solid .305 of average and again led the circuit in home runs (7), doubles (25), total bases (183) and slugging (.469). She also topped all hitters in RBI (53) and hits (119) and ended second in triples (9). Wagner, who lost the batting crown by a single point to Dorothy Kamenshek
Dorothy "Dottie" "Kammie" Kamenshek (December 21, 1925 – May 17, 2010) was an American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. She batted and threw left-handed.
Early life
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Kamenshek played outfield ...
, was named to the All-Star Team, while Kenosha did not qualify for the playoffs this time.
Wagner's hitting stayed about the same in 1948, which was good enough to win the batting title win a .312 average and by leading all-hitters with 130 hits, all career-highs. Besides this, Wagner led all outfielders with a perfect 1.000 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 ...
. She also posted career-numbers in games played (117), runs (70), RBI (56), on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
(.393), walks (56) and triples (14, one behind Eleanor Callow
Eleanor 'Squirt' Callow (born August 8, 1927) was a left fielder who played from through for three teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Callow was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She was born in Winnipeg, Mani ...
), and was the only girl to hit over .300 in that season, ending 23 points ahead of runner-up Connie Wisniewski
Constance Wisniewski (Wiśniewski) (February 18, 1922 – May 4, 1995) was a starting pitcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 8", 147 lb., she batted left-handed an ...
. In addition, Wagner tied for fourth in homers (4) and tied for eight in RBI, while hitting a hefty .446 of slugging
Slugging, also known as casual carpooling, is the practice of forming ad hoc, informal carpools for purposes of commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. A driver picks up these non-paying passengers (known as ...
. She earned 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 ...
and again made the All-Star Team. The other two All-Star outfielders were Racine's Edythe Perlick
Edythe Perlick '' die' (December 12, 1922 – February 27, 2003) was a left fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 128 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Overview profile
P ...
, who averaged .243 with two home runs and 51 RBI, and Grand Rapids' Wisniewski, who hit .289 with seven homers and 66 RBI. Meanwhile, the Comets advanced to the playoffs but were beaten by Rockford in the first round.
In 1949 Wagner slipped to .233 with 28 runs and 40 RBI in 97 games, but she hit three homers to tie Thelma Eisen
Thelma "Tiby" Eisen (May 11, 1922 – May 11, 2014) was an outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 130 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Thelma Eisen was among the t ...
and Inez Voyce for the league lead, giving her three home run titles. For the second consecutive year the Comets gained a playoff berth and were defeated in the start, this time by the expansion Muskegon Lassies
The Muskegon Lassies were one of the expansion teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1946 season, representing Muskegon, Michigan. The team played their home games at Marsh Field.
History
The 1946 Muskegon Lassies p ...
.[
]
NGBL career
Wagner moved to the Parichy Bloomer Girls of the National Girls Baseball League
The National Girls Baseball League (NGBL) was a professional women's baseball league which existed from 1944 to 1954, with teams based in Chicago, Illinois. The National Girls Baseball League started a year after the All-American Girls Professi ...
(NGBL) in 1950, because she was offered a higher salary, a signing bonus and no extensive travelling. Audrey only contemplated moving to the NGBL due to a disagreement with management. Additionally, the games were played in the Chicago area, so she would be home every night closer to school and her studies. Whereas the AAGPBL gradually evolved from softball to an almost standard hardball, with longer bases and sidearm or overhand pitching, the NGBL used a ball larger than that used in the AAGPBL, featured the traditional underhand pitching and base paths stayed shorter.
From 1950 through 1953 Wagner continued to be a solid hitter and outfielder. She helped her team to clinch the Championship Title in 1950 and made the All-Star Team in each of her four seasons in the NGBL. Her most productive season came in 1952, when she led the circuit in doubles, triples, home runs and total bases, ending second in the batting crown race with a .364 average.
Life after baseball
While playing baseball, Wagner attended Elmhurst College
Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois. It has a tradition of service-oriented learning and an affiliation with the United Church of Christ. The university changed its name from Elmhurst College on July 1, 2020.
Hist ...
where she received her bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in pre-medicine. She then went on to the University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
where she earned her Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...
degree. Following her graduation, she worked as a practicing obstetrician
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and gynecologist
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...
in the California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
area. Some of her hobbies included earning her private pilot license
A private pilot licence (PPL) or, in the United States, a private pilot certificate, is a type of pilot licence that allows the holder to act as pilot in command of an aircraft privately (not for remuneration). The licence requirements are dete ...
, photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
, and serving on the Crescent City Council in California. She was also a professional auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...
eer and enjoyed scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
.
Audrey Wagner died in a small plane accident near Rock Springs, Wyoming
Rock Springs is a city in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 23,036 at the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state of Wyoming, and the most populous city in Sweetwater County. Rock Springs is ...
, at the age of 56. She is part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...
at Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
opened in 1988, which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player. She was inducted posthumously in the Elmhurst's Bluejay Backer Hall of Fame (Class of 1950) in 2003 and in the Fenton High School Alumni Wall of Fame (Class of 1945) in 2005.
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Audrey
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
American aviators
Baseball players from Illinois
Elmhurst College alumni
University of Illinois alumni
People from Crescent City, California
People from Bensenville, Illinois
Sportspeople from Illinois
Accidental deaths in Wyoming
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
1927 births
1984 deaths
National Girls Baseball League players
20th-century American women
20th-century American people
American women aviators
American female baseball players