Dorothy "Dottie" "Kammie" Kamenshek (December 21, 1925 – May 17, 2010) was an American

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 ...

player. She batted and threw left-handed.

Early life

A native of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Kamenshek played outfield for a local

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 ...

league, and at the age of 17 she was spotted by a scout from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. After tryouts 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 ...

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

, she 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 ...

as an

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 ...

er when the league began in 1943, but was soon playing

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. She and short stop Snooky Harrell formed the league's best double-play combination. Kamenshek played in the AAGPBL for 10 seasons, and was selected as an All-Star all seven times the league established such a team. In 1946 she was the league's top batter with an

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, ...

of .316 (a single point ahead of

Audrey Wagner Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner udrey(December 27, 1927 – August 31, 1984) was an outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Brief profile ...

), and won the distinction again in 1947 with an average of .306. She

struck out 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 denot ...

only 81 times in 3,736

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

appearances. Considered one of the best

athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...

of her time, southpaw Kamenshek was even recruited for men's baseball by a team from

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. She believed the team only wanted her for

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...

and turned down the offer. Former

New York Yankee The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

Wally Pipp Walter Clement Pipp (February 17, 1893 – January 11, 1965) was an American professional baseball player. A first baseman, Pipp played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds between 1913 an ...

was so impressed with her, that he stated she was the most accomplished player he had ever seen among men or women. In the off‑seasons, Kamenshek studied

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

and

health education Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and r ...

at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

. In 1951 she was forced to reduce her playing due to back injuries, and after the 1952 season she retired permanently from the game with a career average of .292.

Education

In 1958, Kamenshek received a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. She returned to Ohio to serve as a physical therapist in Hamilton County and later moved to Los Angeles to perform the same work at the Los Angeles Crippled Children's Services Department. In 1964, she was promoted to supervisor of physical and

occupational therapy Occupational therapy (OT) is a global healthcare profession. It involves the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or ''occupations'', of individuals, groups, or communities. The field of ...

for Los Angeles County Children's Services, and later to chief of therapy services, the position she held when she retired in 1980.

Legacy

After her retirement, Kamenshek was honored by

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

with the Outstanding Management Award (1980). 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 ...

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 display opened in 1988, and is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player. The 1992 film ''

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 ...

'' introduced a new generation to the history of women's baseball.

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

played Dottie Hinson, the best ballplayer in the league, a character loosely based on Kamenshek. In 1999, ''

Sports Illustrated for Women ''Sports Illustrated Women'' (previously called ''Sports Illustrated for Women'') and also known as ''SI Women'', was a bimonthly sports magazine covering (according to its statement of purpose) "the sports that women play and what they want to fo ...

'' selected Kamenshek as the 100th greatest female athlete of the 20th century. She was inducted into the National Women's Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013

Death

Kamenshek died on May 17, 2010 at the age of 84. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in

Cathedral City, California Cathedral City, colloquially known as "Cat City", is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. Situated between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, the city has the second larg ...

. Her spouse and fellow Hall of Fame member,

Margaret Wenzell Margaret “Marge” Wenzell (May 21, 1925 – July 6, 2014) was a utility infielder/outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 134 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. A membe ...

, was buried next to her in 2014.''Resting Places''
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Biographies

*''Kammie on First'' (2014, Ohio University Press), by

Michelle Houts Michelle Houts is an American author of picture and chapter books for children. Personal life Houts lives in Celina, Ohio. Books *''Sea Glass Summer'' (2019, Candlewick Press). *''When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike''. (2016, Ohio University Press ...

, a biography for middle school children.

Sources

* * A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, by Sue Macy

References

External links

* * * *
"Dorothy Kamenshek"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamenshek, Dorothy 1925 births 2010 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Rockford Peaches players Baseball players from Ohio Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City) People from Norwood, Ohio Marquette University alumni American LGBT sportspeople LGBT baseball players 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American women