Beverly "Dusty" Dustrude (later Roberson; October 24, 1926 – December 1, 2008) was an American
second basewoman who played 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 ...
. She batted and threw right-handed.
Born in
Beloit, Wisconsin, Dustrude joined the
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 ...
in time to travel to
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
for the AAGPBL
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 ...
in 1947. She was used sparingly and did not return for the 1948 season.
In 1949, Dustrude formed part of the Springfield Sallies, who had joined the Chicago Colleens as touring player development teams for the league. She only played in ten games altogether.[Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball] In addition to softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
and baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
, Dustrude participated in golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
and bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
.
Dustrude was a longtime resident of Oxnard, California, where she died at the age of 82.[Jordan Mcauley. ''The Celebrity Black Book 2008'', Mega Niche Media, December 2007. Format: Paperback, 814pp. ]
She is part of ''Women in Baseball'', a permanent display based 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 ...
in 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 ...
. The exhibition was unveiled on November 5, , to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than individual baseball personalities.[
]
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dustrude, Beverly
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
Rockford Peaches players
Springfield Sallies players
Baseball players from Wisconsin
Sportspeople from Beloit, Wisconsin
Baseball players from Oxnard, California
1926 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American sportswomen