Jean Lovell ��Grumpy″(November 21, 1926 – January 1, 1992) was a female

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Lovell 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 Jean Dowler.

Early life

A native of

Conneaut, Ohio Conneaut ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, along Lake Erie at the mouth of Conneaut Creek northeast of Cleveland. The population was 12,841 at the 2010 Census. Conneaut is located at the far northeastern corner of the state. ...

, Lovell attended elementary school at Amboy Township. While she spent some time at

Conneaut High School Conneaut High School is a public high school in Conneaut, Ohio in the United States. It is the only high school in the Conneaut Area City Schools district which is located in the northeasternmost corner of Ohio. The Conneaut High School mascot is ...

, her family moved just east into

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and she ended up graduating from

Abington High School Abington High School is a public high school co-located with middle and pre-kindergarten schools in Abington, Massachusetts, United States. It is located at 201 Gliniewicz Way and has an enrollment of 520 students. The school's mascot is the ...

. She played high-level competitive

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 ...

after graduation, mostly in Conneaut and

Painesville Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 census. Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, Morley Libra ...

before making the jump to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Professional career

Lovell was a member of three AAGPBL Champion Teams and ended her eight-year career with 25

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, more than any catcher in the league's history and good enough to rank her 10th in the all-time list. In addition, she was selected to the 1953 All-Star Team.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book Lovell entered the AAGPBL in 1948 with 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 ...

, winning back-to-back championships with the Peaches 1948-'49 teams. While having played only 52 and 26 games in her first two professional seasons, she became a full-time player after moving to 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 th ...

, playing for them in 1950 and 1951. She was traded to 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 ...

for the second half of the 1951 season, but rejoined the Lassies in the summer of 1952, with whom she played the rest of her career, including for the 1954 champion team. In her final season, Lovell said goodbye in a meaningful way when the ball was reduced to Major League size. She posted a .286

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 21 home runs and 69

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 ...

, to reach all career goals. Those 21 longballs served to lead the league in that season, and also accounted for all but four of her 25 career home runs, which ended up being the most by any catcher in the history of the league. That season she was a member of the All-Star Team who faced the

Fort Wayne Daisies The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana that played from through as members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. History The Daisies represented Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ...

host team.''When Women Played Hardball'' - Susan E. Johnson. Publisher: Seal Press, 1994. Format: Paperback, 320 pp. Language: English. Lovell played both

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

positions, but was a much better receiver, despite playing with sore knees for a while. In addition, she had an appendectomy that limited her to 55 games during the 1952 season. At age 28, though, her professional career came to an end — as was the case for all of the players in the league — as the curtain came down on the AAGPBL as it folded.''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.

Personal life

Following her playing retirement, Lovell returned to Conneaut and married Harold Dowler in 1959. The couple lived a full, adventurous life together. Both played

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

and

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

, raised

German Shorthaired Pointer The German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) is a medium to large sized breed of pointing dog developed in the 19th century in Germany for hunting. A versatile hunting breed, being an all-purpose gun dog suitable for both land and water, they are strea ...

s, and she also rode

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s. But in her later years, she was beset by a

renal failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

, which forced her to dialysis. Eventually, she suffered complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. She died in Amboy, Ohio, at the age of 65, and is buried in Waterford Cemetery at Erie County, Pennsylvania.

Regular season statistics

Batting Fielding Pitching

Postseason statistics

Batting Fielding

Book excerpt

* Author Susan E. Johnson, a sociology professor and devoted fan of the Rockford Peaches, wrote in her 1994 book ''When Women Played Hardball'' the next commentary: ''Jean ordered an arrangement of yellow roses with her catcher’s mitt inside of it, and when they closed the lid of her casket for the final time, her catcher’s mitt went inside with her''.

Sources

External links

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell, Jean All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Baseball players from Ohio People from Conneaut, Ohio People from Fulton County, Ohio 1926 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American people Rockford Peaches players