Veronica Josephine Lenard (September 2, 1921 – February 7, 2007), nicknamed "Bubblegum", was an American

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

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 5' 4", 130 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. A native of Chicago, Illinois, she grew up playing baseball with her brother and the other boys in the streets of her neighborhood. Playground ball was the next step, then into the high school league and on to a Chicago amateur girls softball team. She was in school when she learned that there was a nationwide effort to recruit women to play in a new Midwest professional softball/baseball league. Lenard attended a AAGPBL tryout and made the grade, starting a professional career that spanned ten years. A consistent line-drive hitter who used the entire field and excelled at slap bunting for base hits, she was a skillful contact hitter with a near perfect eye for the strike zone and seldom struck out. By the time her AAGPBL career ended in 1953, Lenard had driven in 351 runs to place her ninth on the career RBI list for the league, despite hitting only one home run in just over 3400

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 batt ...

s. She also collected 520

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s and walked 481 times against only 234 strikeouts for a 2.06 BB/K ratio. A natural center fielder, she possessed a strong and accurate throwing arm.Heaphy, Leslie A. & Mel Anthony May. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball'', McFarland & Company, 2006; Lenard entered the league in 1944 with the Rockford Peaches, playing for them two years before joining the Muskegon Lassies (1946-'49), Peoria Redwings (1949), Kenosha Comets (1950-'51) and

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 ...

(1952-'53). In her rookie season, she hit a .211 average and stole 68 bases, while leading the circuit with 10

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

. Her most productive season came in 1947, when she hit a career-high .261 with 38 RBI in 111 games and was selected for the All-Star team. She also made four trips to the playoffs with four teams, including for the championship winners in 1945 and 1952. Following her professional baseball career, Lenard went back to school and graduated from Chicago Teachers College, and then taught health and physical education for 25 years. Besides becoming an educator and coach, she was a strong advocate for the advancement of girls and women in sports. In 1968 she was assaulted and hit in the head, suffering eye damage that left her nearly blind. Lenard 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 ...

, opened in , which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player. Jo Lenard died in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois on February 7, 2007, aged 85.

Career statistics

Batting Fielding Madden, W.C. ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'', McFarland & Company, 2000.;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenard, Josephine All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Rockford Peaches players Muskegon Lassies players Peoria Redwings players Kenosha Comets players South Bend Blue Sox players Baseball players from Chicago 1921 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 21st-century American women