Pauline Pirok
ier-ock(October 18, 1926 – July 25, 2020) was an
infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.
Standard arrangement of positions
In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...
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' 2", 132 lb., Pirok batted and threw right-handed. She earned the nickname ''Pinky Pirok''.
Biography
A native of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_name ...
, Pirok entered the AAGPBL in 1943 with 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 List of defunct amusement parks#Wisc ...
, playing for them two and a half years before joining 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 ...
(1945–1948). For six years, she divided her playing time 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
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 ...
, making a few appearances as an emergency
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 ...
. Her most productive season came in 1943, when she hit a career-best .234
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, ...
as a 17-year-old rookie. In that same season, Pirok helped Kenosha beat the Blue Sox in a game, 10–0, collecting four hits in five at-bats, including a
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
and a
triple
Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble":
Sports
* Triple (baseball), a three-base hit
* A basketball three-point field goal
* A figure skating jump with three rotations
* In bowling terms, three strikes in a row
* ...
. In the following series against 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 ...
, which the Comets swept, she kept up her hot hitting going 4-for-10, including four of the eight runs that her team scored in the series. During two consecutive years the Comets advanced to the playoffs, but were beaten in the first round. At the end of the season, she was selected to the
All-Star Team.
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 bat ...
, but Kenosha traded her to South Bend along with Phyllis Koehn
Phyllis C. Koehn €³Sugar″(September 15, 1922 – May 28, 2007) was an American pitcher and utility who played from through for six different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 120 lb., Koehn ba ...
in return for Lois Florreich
Kathleen Lois "Flash" Florreich (April 29, 1927 – September 11, 1991) was a pitcher and utility who played from through for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 140 lb., Florreich batte ...
and Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy "Dottie" Schroeder (April 11, 1928 – December 8, 1996) was a shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 150 lb., Schroeder batted and threw right-handed. She was born in ...
. After that Pirok injured her ankle and lost the rest of the season. From 1946 to 1948, she was mostly used to fill at infield, 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 ...
and pinch hit
In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, America ...
, helping South Bend to make the playoffs in these years, but unable to reach the league finals. She was also one of two hundred players to attend the first AAGPBL spring training outside the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, which was held in 1947 in Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
at the ''Gran Stadium de La Habana''.[
Following her playing career, Pirok worked as a ]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 ...
teacher for 36 years in the Chicago Public School
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles.
...
system. After retiring, she became an avid 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 ...
er to stay active. Pirok latterly lived in Orland Park, Illinois
Orland Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, Orland Park had a population of 58,703.
Located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Chicago ...
and died in July 2020 at the age of 93.
Batting statistics
[''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League'']
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirok, Pauline
1926 births
2020 deaths
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
Baseball players from Chicago
21st-century American women