Mary Weddle ''Hines(April 26, 1934 - October 31, 2021) was a former

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 ...

and utility infielder/outfielder who played 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. Listed at , 118 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. Nicknamed ״Giggles״, Mary Weddle proved to be a valuable utility and

spot starter S sabermetrics :Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the SABR – the Society for American Baseball Research. The term was coined by Bill James, an e ...

during what turned out to be the AAGPBL final season, adding depth at both

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and outfield and pitching a complete-game one-hitter. Born in

Woodsfield, Ohio Woodsfield is a village (United States)#Ohio, village and the county seat of Monroe County, Ohio, Monroe County, Ohio, United States located 30 miles northeast of Marietta, Ohio, Marietta. The population was 2,384 at the 2010 United States Census, ...

, Weddle grew up in a farm and came from a large family of ten brothers and four sisters that had its own baseball team, the Weddle Auctioneers, while her father was a semi-professional pitcher. Weddle played shortstop for a boys baseball team in junior high, but she was not allowed to play with them in high school. She then joined a

VFW The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as United States Armed Forces, military service members fought in wars, Military campaign, campaigns, ...

softball team. She also played softball for the A-1 Queens in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

in 1953, before entering the AAGPBL with 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 ...

in 1954. Weddle posted a 3–1 record and a 3.83

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 15 pitching appearances, while hitting a .216

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, ...

with a .323

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

in 76 games. The Daisies, with

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, clinched the regular season title and defeated the

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

in the best-of-three first round, but lost 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 the ...

in the final round, three games to two. She went 5-for-24 for a .208 average in six playoff games, including one

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 ...

and five runs scored. Weddle married Lewis Hines in 1955, and had three children and five grandchildren. She later played softball for more than thirty years and coached softball at high school and middle school for nine years. She is part of ''Women in Baseball'', 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 ...

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 ...

unveiled in 1988, which is dedicated to the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Weddle died on October 31, 2021.

Career statistics

Pitching Batting Collective fielding The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weddle, Mary 1934 births 2021 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Baseball players from Ohio People from Woodsfield, Ohio