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 ...
player. Listed at 5' 3", 120 lb., she batted and threw left handed.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Nancy Rockwell; Dinehart – Profile / Obituary Retrieved 2019-03-30.Madden, W. C. (2005) ''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company.
Born in Elkhart, Indiana, Nancy DeShone attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Indiana, where she earned a number of ribbons while participating in the school sports for girls.Heaphy, Leslie A.; May, Mel Anthony (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball''. McFarland & Company.
A strong-armed, left-handed
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 ...
fastpitch softball
Fastpitch softball, also known as fastpitch or fastball, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist.
Fast pitch is considered the most competitive for ...
factory league, leading Miles to a championship title 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 ...
. While pitching in a championship game, she was approached by an All American League
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
and was drafted in 1948.
At age 16, DeShone joined 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 ...
and was assigned as an
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 ...
. But she did not see much action, going hitless in two
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 in a game, because she primed as a pitcher. She then was dealt to the Fort Wayne Daisies in 1949, but she decided to return to school and earn her diplom.
After graduation, Nancy worked in sales and management and married Rodney Rockwell in 1950. The couple had four daughters: Debbi, Sherry, Jacki and Conni. Her husband died in 1992. She later married James Dinehart and became the stepmother of James' children: Kathleen, Debra, Laura, Martin and Dale.Obituary ''The Deadball Era''
In between, Nancy remained interested in baseball and coached women's softball,
Little League Baseball
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationtee-ball for children aged 4 to 8 over the years.
In 1993, Nancy was the chairperson for the 50th reunion of the AAGPBL Players Association held in South Bend, where she coordinated activities for more of 200 former league's players at the five-day event.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954, but there is 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 ...
at
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 ...
since 1988 that honors the entire league rather than any individual figure.Before A League of Their Own ''National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum''
Nancy DeShone died in 2007 in South Bend, Indiana, at the age of 75.