Jenniffer A. Romatowski ��Romey″(September 13, 1927 – March 12, 2014) was an American baseball

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 ...

who played from through 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 ...

. Listed at , 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

A brief history

During

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 opposin ...

, Philip K. Wrigley founded the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball as the

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. The league made an auspicious debut, averaging about 1,000 fans per game in 1943, while attracting about 210,000 for the entire year. The circuit excelled in attendance and performing during the 1948 season, when 10 teams attracted 910,000 paid fanatics, but by 1954, attendance dropped to only 270,000, when other interests and forms of recreation began to claim the public interest, dooming the league to extinction. It was a neglected chapter of sports history, at least until

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 ...

, when

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 ...

'', 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 that brought a rejuvenated interest to the extinct league.

Early life

Born in

Wyandotte, Michigan Wyandotte ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and it is part of the coll ...

in 1927, Romatowski grew up playing sports with her brothers at a very early age. She participated in

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 wi ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, but most of the time she 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 ...

, mostly in the streets or in the prairies, until she became a member of the Wyandotte's top girls' team. In 1946, she graduated at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte and immediately joined the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

AAGPBL career

Romatowski moved around for a while, as the AAGPBL shifted players as needed to help new teams stay afloat. She entered the league in 1946 with the South Bend Blue Sox, playing for them one year before joining 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 ...

(1947). She then found herself on the move again, this time to the

Chicago Colleens The Chicago Colleens were a women's professional baseball team who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1948 to 1951, evolving into a development team. The team was based Chicago, Illinois and played their home gam ...

(1948),

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 ...

(1948),

Peoria Redwings The Peoria Redwings was a women's professional baseball team who joined the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1946 season and remained in the league through 1951. The team represented Peoria, Illinois, playing home games a ...

(1949) and South Bend Blue Sox (1950), before settling down with 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 ...

for the rest of her career (1951–1954). She was used sparingly at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

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 ...

before converting to

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

.Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball A competent backstop, known more for her defensive skills rather than for her offensive output, Romatowski possessed a strong arm with an extremely quick release of the throw, being appropriately dubbed ''Rifle Arm''. In 1952, Romatowski was selected for the All-Star Team as a replacement for

Ruth Richard Ruth Richard '' ichie' (September 20, 1928 – May 6, 2018) was an American baseball player who played as a catcher from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 134 lb., she batted left-handed and t ...

Bill Allington William Baird Allington (October 26, 1903 – August 17, 1966) was an American minor league baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" and 160 pounds, Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan ...

at the helm, faced the host South Bend Blue Sox, who were managed by

Karl Winsch Karl Edgar Winsch (February 10, 1915 – December 21, 2001) was a pitcher and manager in Minor League Baseball. Listed at , 180 lb., Winsch batted and threw right-handed. A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Karl Winsch spent two decades i ...

. For the second consecutive year Romatowski joined the All-Star squad in 1953. Her most productive season came in 1954, when she posted career-highs with a .258 average and six

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, led all outfielders with 24

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s and formed part of the Lassies team that won the championship, during what turned out to be the league's final season.

Life after baseball

Following her baseball career, Romatowski graduated from

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

with a degree in

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 then she taught physical education for nearly 30 years in the Van Dyke-Warren school system until her retirement in 1983.

Honors and awards

Since 1988 Romatowski is part of ''Women in Baseball'', a permanent display based 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 ...

, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than individual baseball personalities. In 1999 she was selected for membership in the

National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum was founded in 1973. The mission of the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame is to recognize and preserve outstanding achievement by individuals of Polish heritage in the field o ...

, becoming only the fifth female to be enshrined in the hall. Then, in 2000 she was inducted into the Eastern Michigan University Hall of Fame for her career achievements. Besides, she is one of only two women to have been inducted into the Wyandotte Sports Hall of Fame, and was also honored with membership of the Michigan Amateur Sports Hall of Fame. Romatowski was a longtime resident of

Palm Harbor, Florida Palm Harbor is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2016 American Community Survey, the CDP had a population of 60,236. Culture Palm Harbor is located north of downtown St. ...

, where she died in 2014 at the age of 86.

AAGPBL statistics

Batting Fielding ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romatowski, Jenny 1927 births 2014 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players American female field hockey players American people of Polish descent Baseball players from Michigan Eastern Michigan University alumni People from Palm Harbor, Florida People from Wyandotte, Michigan Sportspeople from Clearwater, Florida 21st-century American women