Marie Ann Kruckel Kruck"(June 18, 1924 – July 21, 2012) was an American

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

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 ...

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 , 130 lb (59 kg), she batted and threw right-handed.

Life and career

Born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, Marie Kruckel was one of more than a dozen players who hailed from New York City and State and made AAGPBL teams. Others included

Muriel Bevis Muriel Bevis ��Breezy″(October 7, 1928 – October 29, 2002) was an American outfielder and pitcher who played in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1950 season. Bevis batted and threw left-handed. She was born in Coro ...

, Gloria Cordes,

Mildred Deegan Mildred Eleanor Deegan (December 11, 1919 – July 21, 2002) was an American pitcher, outfielder and second basewoman who played ten seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, from to . Background Deegan was one of 25 p ...

Nancy Mudge Nancy Elizabeth Mudge ''Cato(October 3, 1929 – July 24, 2012) was an infielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 120 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Born in Bridgeport, ...

Margaret Russo Margaret Russo 'm. 1986'' Jones(September 29, 1931 – June 26, 2006) was a shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 130 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. A two-time All S ...

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 ...

and

Margaret Wigiser Margaret M. "Wiggie" Wigiser (December 17, 1924 – January 19, 2019) was a center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed. Overview profile Wigiser was a center ...

. A willing and determined player, Kruckel began her career at outfield and later doubled as a

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 ...

for three teams in a span of four years. During her grade school days, Kruckel started playing

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 ...

in the Bronx and later played organized ball on the weekends while at high school. Following her graduation, she attended East Stroudsburg State Teachers College in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and played for a team based in Yorktown, New York. By 1945, she wrote a letter to the league requesting information and received an invitation to the training camp. The league sent her a contract offer after she graduated.''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League'' Kruckel entered the league in 1946 with 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 ...

, playing for them one year before joining the Fort Wayne Daisies in 1947. Because she taught school, Kruckel was unable to attend

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

and was used exclusively as a fourth outfielder during her first two seasons. Then, in 1948 she returned to the Blue Sox. They tried her as a pitcher because she showed a good command of the

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

and a strong

off-speed pitch In baseball, an off-speed pitch is a pitch thrown at a slower speed than a fastball. Breaking balls and changeups are the two most common types of off-speed pitches. Very slow pitches which require the batter to provide most of the power on cont ...

. She was traded to the

Muskegon Lassies The Muskegon Lassies were one of the expansion teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1946 season, representing Muskegon, Michigan. The team played their home games at Marsh Field. History The 1946 Muskegon Lassies p ...

midway through the season, staying with them for one more year. Her most productive season came in 1948, when she posted a combined 9–4 record and a 1.65

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 19

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...

, ending sixth in the league with a .692

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 ...

. In all, she went 10–11 with a 2.11 ERA in 34 pitching appearances and batted a .248

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, ...

in 98 games. Following her baseball career, Kruckel taught and coached during 38 years at Clay High School in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

. Since her retirement she was a regular attendee at the annual AAGPBL Players Association reunions. She 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 in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Marie Kruckel died in 2012 in South Bend, Indiana, at the age of 88.Legacy.com – Mary A. Kruckel obituary
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Career statistics

Batting Pitching Fielding

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruckel, Marie All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players South Bend Blue Sox players Fort Wayne Daisies players Muskegon Lassies players East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni Baseball players from the Bronx Baseball players from South Bend, Indiana 1924 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American sportswomen