Dorothy Stolze 'Dottie''(May 1, 1923 – July 19, 2003) was a second basewoman who played from through for four teams of 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 , 129 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

Career

A native of Alameda, California, Stolze has been considered by many baseball historians as one of the most versatile

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 ...

s in AAGPBL history. Basically a middle infielder, she is reported to have played every position with the exception of pitcher at one time or another of her career. Stolze was discovered by former

big leaguer ''Big Leaguer'' is a 1953 American sports film, sports drama (film and television), drama film starring Edward G. Robinson and was the first film directed by Robert Aldrich. Although this story is fiction, Robinson's character in it, Hans Lobert, ...

Max Carey Maximillian George Carnarius (January 11, 1890 – May 30, 1976), known as Max George Carey, was an American professional baseball center fielder and manager. Carey played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1910 through ...

, while she was playing in a fastpitch softball league in Alameda. She entered the league in 1946 with the Muskegon Lassies, playing for them until the 1949 midseason before joining the

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 ...

(1949), Peoria Redwings (1950–1951) and Grand Rapids Chicks (1952). She started as the Lassies shortstop as soon as she arrived, and distinguished herself in her debut by hitting a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

. She hit .194 in 81 games with a career-high 34 runs batted in and also made a flashy unassisted

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

in her rookie season. Hampered by an elbow injury incurred in a car accident, Stolze started having trouble making the long throws from shortstop, and was moved to second base in 1947. Her most productive season came in 1948, when she posted career-numbers in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

(121),

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(113), runs (62) and

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s (67), while hitting a .242 average. She enjoyed another fine season with the 1950 Redwings, batting a career-high .243 with 101 hits and 32 RBI. In a seven-season career, Stolze was a .247 hitter and posted a collective fielding average of .963 with an excellent walk-to-strikeout ratio of 1.94 (367-to-189). Following her playing retirement in 1952, Stolze returned to college to get her degree and became a physical education teacher and girls' softball coach until she retired in 1991. She remained a sports fan throughout her life and regularly attended the Athletics and

Raiders Raider(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Paul Revere & the Raiders, an American rock band * "Raider", a track from the 1969 album ''Farewell Aldebaran'', by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester * "Raiders", a track from the 1987 album ''Young an ...

games in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. Stolze is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum since , when the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League were inducted into this venerable building rather than any individual player. She died in her homeland of Alameda at the age of 80.

Statistics

Batting

Fielding

Sources

*''Encyclopedia of women and baseball'' - Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Co., 2006. Format: Paperback, 438 pp. Language: English. *''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A biographical dictionary'' - W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Co., 1997. Format: Paperback, 295 pp. Language: English.

External links

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolze, Dorothy 1923 births 2003 deaths Baseball players from Alameda, California All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players 20th-century American people 21st-century American women