The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of 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 ...
playing from through out of
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...
. The Belles won the league's first championship. The team played its home games at
Horlick Field
Horlick Field, located on the north side of Racine, Wisconsin, in the United States, is a 5,000-seat football stadium and a baseball park enclosed within stone walls and chain fences. The land for the field was donated by William Horlick, the inv ...
.
History
In 1943, the Belles claimed the first Championship Title in the league's history. This team was characterized by strong pitching, solid defense, timely hitting and speed on the bases.
Racine won the first half with a 33–10 mark, and finished the regular season with an overall record of 55 wins and 38 losses. Mary Nesbitt led the pitching staff with a 26–13 record for a .667
winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...
(fifth-best of the league), including 308 innings of work in 47 appearances. She also hit .280, scored 34 runs, and drove in 29 more in 73 games. At a time of the season, Nesbitt put together an 11-game winning streak. Besides Nesbitt, the Belles also counted with
Joanne Winter
Joanne Emily Winter '' o' (November 24, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Early life
A native ...
, who posted an 11–11 record, to give the team a strong one-two pitching staff. Slugger
right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...
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, while
Sophie Kurys
Sophie Kurys (May 14, 1925 – February 17, 2013) was a former second basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , Kurys batted and threw right-handed.
Career
A native of Flint, Mic ...
Margaret Danhauser
Margaret L. "Marnie" Danhauser (June 9, 1921 – January 6, 1987) was a first basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
Career
A native of Racine, Wisconsin, ...
,
Maddy English
Madeline Katherine English (February 22, 1925 – August 21, 2004) was a third basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 130 lb., English batted and threw right-handed. At age eig ...
,
Edythe Perlick
Edythe Perlick '' die' (December 12, 1922 – February 27, 2003) was a left fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 128 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Overview profile
P ...
and
Claire Schillace
Claire Joan Schillace (March 29, 1921 – January 17, 1999) was a center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 128 lb., she batted right-handed and threw left-handed.
AAG ...
could be counted on for their bats and solid defense.
The first AAGPBL Championship Series pitted first-half winner Racine against 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 ...
, second-half champ. In the best-of-five series, Racine swept Kenosha to clinch the championship. Nesbitt claimed complete-game victories in Games 1 and 3, and saved Game 2 after Winter ran into trouble in the eight inning. Irene Hickson, who shared the catching duties with
Dorothy Maguire
Dorothy Maguire (November 21, 1918 – August 2, 1981) was a catcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Maguire batted and threw right-handed. She also played under the name of Doroth ...
, led all-hitters with a .417 average and five RBI in the three games.
In 1946,
Anna Mae Hutchison
Anna May Hutchison Hutch"(May 1, 1925 – January 29, 1998) was a female pitcher and catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 149 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes ...
posted a 26–14 record with 102
strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s in 51 games, setting an all-time, single-season record for games pitched, and also hurled the first nine-inning
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...
in Belles history, a 1–0 victory over 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 ...
. Winter finished with a 33–9 record, including 17
shutout
In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball.
Shutouts are usuall ...
s and 183
strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s in 46 pitching appearances. The Belles claimed first place with a league-best 74–38 record, and won the semifinal round of playoffs by defeating the South Bend Blue Sox in four games. In Game 1, English drove in the winning run by hitting 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 ...
in the bottom half of the 14th inning. Then, in decisive Game 5 she knocked the winning run with a
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in the bottom half of the 17th inning. In this first round series she went 11-for-31 for a .353 average, including her two game-winning RBI. After that, the Belles beat the 1945 champions, 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 ...
, four games to two in the final best-of-seven series to clinch the Championship Title. Throughout the playoffs, Kurys led all players in
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, ...
, stolen bases and runs. On the other hand, Winter collected four wins in the playoffs, including a 14-inning, 1–0 shutout victory over the Peaches in decisive Game Six. The winning run was scored by Kurys on an RBI-single by
Betty Trezza
Betty "Moe" Trezza (August 4, 1925 – January 16, 2007) was an American professional baseball player. An infield and outfield utility, she played from through for four different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
T ...
, while Danhauser handled 22 chances flawlessly. During the regular season, the Belles again showed a great defense, notably by
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. ...
s Danhauser (1B), Kurys (2B) and English (3B), while Perlick (LF), Schillace (CF) and Dapkus (RF) patrolled the
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 moreover, fielding ability and speed on the bases were immensely more crucial and challenging in a dominant pitching league.
Racine's biggest newspaper, ''The Racine Journal Times'', covered every Belles game, which contributed to community interest in the team. Many businesses closed during games to encourage its workers and customers to attend.
After eight successful seasons the Belles lacked the financial resources to keep the club playing in Racine and decided to move to
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...
at the end of the 1950 season. Some founding team members, including Danhauser, Dapkus, English, Kurys, Perlick, Schillace and Winter, were disappointed with the new location and would not make the move. During eight years, the Belles were a close-knit team, always like a family away from home. They thought that all would be different, like a new team, maybe a new manager and, specially, a new location.
After moving, the team was renamed the Battle Creek Belles and played from to . For their final season, they moved to
Muskegon, Michigan
Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expa ...
:''Bold denotes members of the inaugural roster''
*
Beatrice Arbour
Beatrice Parrott ( Arbour; December 2, 1920 – June 10, 2019) was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. Listed at , , she batted and threw right handed.Doris Barr
Doris "Dodie" Barr (August 26, 1921 – July 12, 2009) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 145 lb., Barr batted and threw left-handed. She was born in Starbuck, ...
Barbara Berger
Barbara Berger (December 6, 1930 – January 27, 2016) was an American baseball catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 2", 120 lb., she batted and threw right handed.
Born in Maywood, Illino ...
*
Erma Bergmann
Erma M. "Bergie" Bergmann (June 18, 1924 – September 13, 2015) was an American baseball pitcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 155 lb., she batted and threw right ...
*
Rita Briggs
Rita Briggs '' Maude"' (March 27, 1929 – September 6, 1994) was an American female baseball catcher who played from through for seven different teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 120 lb., Briggs ba ...
Gloria Cordes
Gloria Cordes Elliott (September 21, 1931 – March 13, 2018) was a starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 8", 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Overview pro ...
Margaret Danhauser
Margaret L. "Marnie" Danhauser (June 9, 1921 – January 6, 1987) was a first basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
Career
A native of Racine, Wisconsin, ...
*
Shirley Danz
Shirley Elizabeth Danz (August 16, 1926 – May 9, 2018) was an infielder and outfielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 130 lb., she batted and threw right handed.
Shirley Danz played dur ...
Barbara Anne Davis
Barbara Anne Davis (October 9, 1930 – March 2, 2008) was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player.
Davis was a member of the Racine Belles and Rockford Peaches clubs during the 1949 season. She played in the Chicago Girls Base ...
*
Irene DeLaby
Irene DeLaby (August 12, 1922 – October 6, 2012) was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right handed.
Elizabeth Emry
Elizabeth "Betty" Emry (January 20, 1923 – April 18, 1995) was an infielder and pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 130 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.
A member of a championship team, ...
Anna Mae Hutchison
Anna May Hutchison Hutch"(May 1, 1925 – January 29, 1998) was a female pitcher and catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 149 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes ...
Janet Jacobs
Janet Jacobs (born October 31, 1928) is a former shortstop and center fielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during 1945 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season, its 1945 season. Listed at 5' 4 ...
*
Marie Kazmierczak
Marie Kazmierczak (February 14, 1920 – January 15, 2000) was an American fourth outfielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1944 season. Listed at , 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.''The W ...
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 ...
*
Irene Kotowicz
Irene K. Kotowicz Ike"(December 10, 1919 – January 24, 2002) was an American pitcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 128 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
...
*
Ruth Kramer
Ruth Kramer Hartman Kramer ''Hartman(April 26, 1926 – November 9, 2015) was an American pitcher and backup infielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 1", 150 lb., she batted and threw ...
*
Sophie Kurys
Sophie Kurys (May 14, 1925 – February 17, 2013) was a former second basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , Kurys batted and threw right-handed.
Career
A native of Flint, Mic ...
Shirley Luhtala
Shirley Ann Luhtala (April 9, 1933 – January 30, 2013) was a first baseman in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She played for the Racine Belles in 1950 and the Battle Creek Belles and Rockford Peaches in 1951. In her final s ...
*
Dorothy Maguire
Dorothy Maguire (November 21, 1918 – August 2, 1981) was a catcher and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Maguire batted and threw right-handed. She also played under the name of Doroth ...
*
Gloria Marks
Gloria W. Marks (born 1923) is a former pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the season. Listed at , 130 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.
Gloria Marks was one of the sixty original players r ...
*
Mildred Meacham
Mildred Meacham (May 5, 1924 – January 7, 2017) was an infielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 8", 160 lb., Meacham batted and threw right handed. She was nicknamed ″Meach″.
Mildred Me ...
*
Naomi Meier
Naomi Meier €³Sally″(November 17, 1926 – July 15, 1989) was an outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 115 lb., Meier batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Fort Wayne, ...
*
Marie Menheer
Marie Menheer ''Zoromsky(July 28, 1924 – February 4, 2003) was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5". 142 lb., Menheer batted and threw right handed. She was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
*
Norma Metrolis
Norma "Trolley" Metrolis (December 5, 1925 – February 2, 2010) was a catcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between 1946 and 1950. She both batted and threw right-handed.
Raised in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, Lake Worth, F ...
Shirley Palesh
Shirley Palesh (November 23, 1929 – March 1, 2017) was an American baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between 1949 and 1950. She both batted and threw right-handed. She earned herself two nicknames while play ...
June Peppas
June Peppas (June 16, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a first basewoman and pitcher who played from 1948 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , she batted and threw left-handed.
Early life
Peppas was bor ...
*
Edythe Perlick
Edythe Perlick '' die' (December 12, 1922 – February 27, 2003) was a left fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 128 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Overview profile
P ...
Claire Schillace
Claire Joan Schillace (March 29, 1921 – January 17, 1999) was a center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 128 lb., she batted right-handed and threw left-handed.
AAG ...
Ruby Stephens
Ruby Lee Stephens '' tevie' (October 2, 1924 – March 21, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
Stephens was born and grew up in Clearwater, Flori ...
*
Dorothy Stolze
Dorothy Stolze 'Dottie''(May 1, 1923 – July 19, 2003) was a second basewoman who played from through for four teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 129 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Career ...
Betty Trezza
Betty "Moe" Trezza (August 4, 1925 – January 16, 2007) was an American professional baseball player. An infield and outfield utility, she played from through for four different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
T ...
Joanne Winter
Joanne Emily Winter '' o' (November 24, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Early life
A native ...
* In 1945 the team won the attendance trophy for having the largest audience on opening night, May 23, with 4,019 fans.
* The Belles were the first team in the AAGPBL to sponsor a junior team. The Junior Belles were local high school girls who played on four teams, the Golds, the Greens, the Reds, and the Grays. Their coaches, uniforms, and equipment were provided by
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...
, the sponsor for the professional Belles.
* Although the 1992 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 ...
'' features the Racine Belles, all of the characters playing on the team were fictional, and ballpark scenes were filmed in
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...
. Nonetheless, the Belles did win the league championship in
1943
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
* January 4 – ...
, but over 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 ...
, not 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 ...
as the movie depicts.
Fastpitch
Previously, a
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
team also named ''
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 ...
'' played in the
Wisconsin–Illinois League
The Wisconsin State League was a class D baseball league that began in 1905, changing its name to the Wisconsin–Illinois League in 1908 and operating through 1914. The league re–organized under that name in 1926. Another Wisconsin State League ...
from 1909 through 1913, and then in the
Bi-State League
The Bi-State League was an American baseball minor league formed in 1934 with teams in Virginia and North Carolina. The league held together for nine seasons, being represented by ten cities from North Carolina and eight from Virginia. Only the ...
in 1915. It was a Class D team in 1909 and 1915, and a Class C team from 1910 to 1913.
The name Racine Belles now refers to a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of girls' fastpitch softball in southeastern Wisconsin.
References
Sources
* Berlage, Gai Ingham. Charley Gerard. ''Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994.
* Brown, Patricia I. ''A League of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls''. Macfarland & Company, 2003.
* Heaphy, Leslie A.; Mel Anthony May. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball''. McFarland & Company, 2006.
* Johnson, Susan. ''When Women Played Hardball''. Seal Press, 1994.
* Karls, Alan R. ''Racine's Horlick Athletic Field: Drums Along the Foundries''. The History Press, 2014.
* Macy, Sue. ''A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League''. Puffin, 1995.
* Madden, W. C. ''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book''. McFarland & Company, 2000.
* Madden, W. C. ''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company, 2005.
* Porter, David L. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Sports''. Greenwood Press, 2000.