Ellen Ahrndt (November 8, 1922 – November 8, 2009) was an American second basewoman who played briefly 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 ...

during the season. Ahrndt 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 ...

. Sometimes she is credited as Ellen Proefrock.Ellen Proefrock – Biography / Obituary
''

''. Retrieved 2019-04-10.

Early life

A native of

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

, Ahrndt was one of seven children into the family of Helen (née Patzke) and Edward Ahrndt. She grew up in a family farm in Racine, and spent her leisure time playing baseball with two of her sisters while her only brother was the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. At age 14, Ahrndt played

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 ...

in Racine and small towns around the area, and the state tournament was held in

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 attended

William Horlick High School William Horlick High School (also known as Horlick or Racine Horlick High School) is a comprehensive public four-year high school in Racine, Wisconsin with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. The school opened to students in 1928, after ...

, where she earned honors both in softball and basketball. She graduated in 1941, but did not lose interest in baseball. While playing softball, she received an invitation to come to the newly founded All-American Girls Professional Baseball League tryouts, which were to be held 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, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. With the prospect of making the $60 per week that was being paid to the members of the established teams, which was a vast sum of money by then, she decided to try her hand in the new league. She managed to win the job at second base 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 ...

for the 1944 season.

Professional career

Ahrndt saw action in just three games. Once when South Bend came to Racine to face the

Belles Belles is a small village in the Caribbean island nation of Dominica. It is located at and is a part of the country's St. Joseph administrative division. Its population is 500.Commonwealth of Dominica, ''Population and Housing Census — 200 ...

, the Blue Sox decided to honor her with a homecoming night. Th
Dumore Corporation
sponsored the event creating a ''Babe Ahrndt Night'' at the field. Nevertheless, the next season she was not offered a contract. Following her short AAGPBL stint, Ahrndt returned to Racine, where she married William Proefrock in 1947. Ahrndt died on her 87th birthday, November 8, 2009.

Facts

The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a 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 ...

since November 5, that honors those who were part of this unforgettable experience. Ahrndt, along with the rest of the AAGPBL players, is now enshrined in the venerable building at

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 ...

. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...

premiered her 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 ...

'', which was a

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

alized account of activities in the AAGPBL. Starring

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 ...

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Lori Petty Lori Petty (born October 14, 1963) is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She is noted for her roles in the films ''Point Break'' (1991), ''A League of Their Own'' (1992), ''Free Willy '' (1993), and the title role in ''Tank Girl'' ...

and

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' ...

, this film brought a rejuvenated interest to the women's baseball. Ahrndt received many writeups after the film gained cult status, being asked to speak to school children and grownups in different clubs.

Career statistics

Batting ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' –

W.C. Madden W.C. Madden is a retired journalist, teacher and author who has written multiple books about baseball, including two about the AAGPBL. He has also written about the Western League and the College World Series. While much of his work is based on ba ...

. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Softcover, 294pp.

References

Sources

The Diamond Angle interviewTaste of Home recipeJournal Times obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahrndt, Ellen 1922 births 2009 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Baseball second basemen Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Baseball players from Wisconsin People from Mount Vernon, Illinois South Bend Blue Sox players William Horlick High School alumni 20th-century American sportswomen