Edythe Perlick ''
die' (December 12, 1922 – February 27, 2003) was a
left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
who played from through in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 128 lb., she batted and threw
right-handed
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...
.
Overview profile
Perlick has been listed as one of the Top 20 AAGPBL Players of All Time, according to baseball researcher Sharon L. Roepke. A three-time All-Star, Perlick is often described as a multifaceted
five-tool player. She was able to hit for
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 ...
and
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
, was a smart and speedy
baserunner, and combined
fielding abilities with a strong and accurate throwing arm.
Early life
A native of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Perlick grew up in a German family in northwestern Chicago. Her father worked as an accountant. She had one sister, Jean, and a brother, Allan. At age 12, Perlick played
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
and
fast-pitch softball
Fastpitch softball, also known as fastpitch or fastball, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist.
Fast pitch is considered the most competitive for ...
in the Chicago city leagues. She later competed in softball tournaments after graduating from high school and attended teachers college for one year.
Birth of the AAGPBL
In February 1943,
Philip K. Wrigley founded the All-American Girls League. Wrigley, a
chewing gum
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its t ...
manufacturer and owner of the
Chicago Cubs 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, materialized his idea as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball as the
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 opposing ...
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.
Ann Harnett
Ann S. Harnett ( Solowey, August 10, 1920 – 1974) was a female utility player who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 139 lb., Harnett batted and threw right-handed. She was born in ...
became the first girl signed by the league for its
inaugural season, being followed by
Claire Schillace, Perlick and
Shirley Jameson
Shirley Jameson (March 29, 1918 – December 29, 1993) was an American center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 4' 10¾" (1.49 m), 104 lb. (47 k), Jameson batted right-handed a ...
.
AAGPBL career
Perlick enjoyed many firsts in her illustrious baseball career. She was one of the original 60 players in the league, and her team, the
Racine Belles, won the first AAGPBL Championship Title in 1943, defeating the
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 Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but l ...
three games to none. She also became the first left fielder to be included in the All-Star Team, a distinction that she repeated in 1947 and 1948.
In an eight-season career, Perlick was a .240 hitter in a pitching-dominated league. In her rookie season, she batted a career-best .268, which was the league's 12th highest average among regular players. She collected 481
stolen bases in her career, but perhaps her best quality was her timely
hitting in clutch situations. Usually, she led the Belles in
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
, driving in a career-high 63 runs in 1944 to set a Racine season-record, leading again led the Belles in 1945 (41), 1948 (51), 1949 (41) and 1950 (59). She averaged 49 RBI in each of her eight seasons, and her 392 career RBI ranks her sixth in the All-Time list.
In 1946, Perlick hit .230 with a career-high 88 stolen bases and belted four
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 as
cleanup hitter, helping the Belles to clinch their second Championship Title.
But at the end of 1950 the Belles lacked the financial resources to keep the club playing in
Racine, Wisconsin. Before the 1951 season, when the team moved to
Battle Creek, Michigan, Perlick, along with original Belles
Eleanor Dapkus
Eleanor V. Wolf (née Eleanore Dapkus; December 5, 1923 – June 6, 2011) was a center fielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Early years
Dapkus was born to Lithuanian parents, ...
,
Maddy English
Madeline Katherine English (February 22, 1925 – August 21, 2004) was a third basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 130 lb., English batted and threw right-handed. At age eig ...
,
Sophie Kurys
Sophie Kurys (May 14, 1925 – February 17, 2013) was a former second basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , Kurys batted and threw right-handed.
Career
A native of Flint, Mic ...
and
Joanne Winter
Joanne Emily Winter '' o' (November 24, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Early life
A native ...
, were disappointment and decided not to make the move. During eight years, the Belles were a close-knit team, always like a family away from home. Perlick and teammates thought that all would be different, like a new team, maybe a new manager and, specially, a new location. Perlick returned to Chicago and played fast-pitch softball for two years with the Admiral Music Maids 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 ...
.
Milestone
In 1980, former AAGPBL player
June Peppas
June Peppas (June 16, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a first basewoman and pitcher who played from 1948 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , she batted and threw left-handed.
Early life
Peppas was b ...
motivated a group of friends and began assembling a list of names and addresses of her former pals. Her initiative turned into a newsletter and resulted in the league's first-ever reunion in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
in 1982. Stemming from that reunion, a Players Association was formed in 1987 and many former AAGPBL players continued to enjoy reunions, which became annual events in 1998. In November 1988, Perlick, along with her former teammates and opponents, received their long overdue recognition, when the
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in
Cooperstown, New York dedicated a permanent display to the All American Girls Professional Baseball league. The association was largely responsible for the opening of the exhibition.
Private life
After being married in 1952, she also played under the name Edie Keating or Edie Perlick Keating. At age 30, she left the game, raised her daughter, Susan, and worked in Chicago for manufacturing firms
A.B. Dick Company
The A. B. Dick Company (later stylized as ABDick) was a major American manufacturer of copy machines and office supplies in the late 19th century and 20th centuries.
Founding and growth
The company was founded in 1883 in Chicago as a lumber compa ...
and
Teletype Corporation
The Teletype Corporation, a part of American Telephone and Telegraph Company's Western Electric manufacturing arm since 1930, came into being in 1928 when the Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Company changed its name to the name of its trademark equipment. ...
. She had two grandsons, Danny and Jeff. After moving to
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she worked another 25 years for
Harris Corporation, a computer systems company. She retired in 1993 and moved to
Pompano Beach, Florida, where she died at the age of 80.
[''Biographical Dictionary of American Sports'' – David L. Porter. Publisher: Greenwood Press, 2000. Format: Hardcover, 2064pp. Language: English. ]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlick, Edie
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
Baseball players from Chicago
1922 births
2003 deaths
National Girls Baseball League players
20th-century American people
21st-century American women
American female baseball players