Mary Geraldine (Bonnie) Baker, ''née'' George (July 10, 1918 – December 17, 2003) was an all-star catcher 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 ...

(AAGPBL) from 1943 to 1952.Mary Baker – Profile / Obituary
''

''. Retrieved 2019-04-12.

Career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

She also served as player-manager with the

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 ...

in 1950, becoming the only woman in league history to do so. Besides, she was one of 68 Canadian players in the AAGPBL, while her sister,

Genevieve George Genevieve George (later McFaul; September 27, 1927 – March 11, 2002) was a Canadians, Canadian catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 110 lb., she batted and threw right handed.

, also played in the league for the Lassies. With the majority of major-league baseball players in the military during World War II,

Phil Wrigley Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977), often called P. K. Wrigley, was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant fa ...

owner of 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 ...

, established the AAGPBL in 1943. It continued play until 1954. The first year it played by softball rules, but the rules were gradually changed until they were nearly identical with professional baseball rules. Saskatchewan Mary Baker's eight brothers and sisters were all baseball catchers, so it stood to reason that Baker would become one too. She was scouted by a professional scout, Hub Bishop who also scouted notable Saskatchewan athletes like

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

of the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. When she joined the AAGPBL, she promised her husband, who was fighting overseas in World War II, that she would quit the game when he returned. Baker, 5'5", 135 lbs. (165 cm, 61 kg), a former model, was often chosen by the league to pose for publicity shots and act as a league spokesperson. Baker was the league's most publicized player and was referred to as "Pretty Bonnie Baker" by the press. She appeared on the popular television show ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' on August 17, 1952, and her picture also appeared in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine. She began her career with the

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 ...

in the league's first season, and stayed with the team until 1950. Although she was easily the most recognized AAGPBL player, glamour never stopped her from doing her job. In 1946 Baker had an all-star season, stealing a league-leading 94 bases, batting .286 and with a .965 fielding percentage. During the 1950 season, Baker was traded to the Kalamazoo Lassies to act as player-manager. The struggling Lassies placed last in the league with a 36–73 record. The following year the league passed a rule banning female managers. Baker skipped the 1951 season to have a daughter, Maureen (Chickie), but returned to the Lassies for one year in 1952. She was an all star in 1943 and 1946, and played in 930 games in her career. She hit .235 for her career, with 1 home run, 244 RBI and 465 runs. Her career fielding average was .953. She returned to Saskatchewan, where she led the Regina Legion softball team to the World Ladies Softball title. In 1964-65 she worked for Regina radio station

CKRM CKRM is an AM radio station in Regina, Saskatchewan, broadcasting at 620 kHz. Owned by Harvard Media, CKRM broadcasts a full service country format. Alongside music programming, CKRM is notably the flagship station of the Saskatchewan Rou ...

, as the first female sports broadcaster in Canada. She also managed the Wheat City Curling Club for 25 years. Baker appeared as a contestant on the August 17, 1952 episode of the tv

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

''. Panelist

Dorothy Kilgallen Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th birth ...

guessed that Baker was a professional baseball player.

Death and honors

Baker died of

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

at 85. Fellow AAGPBL player Arleene Noga remembers her as "a complete player with all five tools — a real competitor." In 1998 she was inducted into the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. His ...

. She is also a member of the

Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and Nor ...

and the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, and is part of the special exhibit on the AAGPBL in the

Baseball Hall of Fame 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-r ...

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 1992

Geena Davis Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

movie ''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena Dav ...

'' was a fictional account of the AAGPBL. Davis's character, Dottie Hinson, is loosely based on Bonnie Baker. In 2018, Baker was posthumously inducted into the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

References

External links

Her entry
in the ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''

at ''Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers''
Obituary
from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
TV appearance
from "What's My Line?" {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Bonnie 1918 births 2003 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Kalamazoo Lassies players South Bend Blue Sox players Baseball people from Saskatchewan Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian radio sportscasters Deaths from respiratory failure Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan Women sports announcers 20th-century American sportswomen