Wilma Briggs '' riggsie' (born November 6, 1930) is a former

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

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' 4", 138 lb., she batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. She led the league in home runs during the 1953 season, ranks second in the all-time home runs list (43) behind

Eleanor Callow Eleanor 'Squirt' Callow (born August 8, 1927) was a left fielder who played from through for three teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Callow was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She was born in Winnipeg, Manito ...

(55) and over

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 ...

(42) and

Jean Geissinger Jean Louise Geissinger (later Harding; June 25, 1934 – June 8, 2014) was an infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with the Fort Wayne Daisies (1951-1952 'start'' 1953–195 ...

(41), and was one of only 14 players to collect 300 or more career

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 ...

, yet she was never selected to the All-Star team. Briggs was inducted into the

Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was established in the State of Rhode Island in 1965. Its mission statement states that the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame "exists to honor and recognize, and to extol and publicize the achievements of th ...

in 2013.

Professional career

Briggs entered the league in 1948 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 ...

, playing for them six 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 ...

in 1954. She started at

right field 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 ...

for the Daisies during her rookie season and stayed there until the

broke an ankle while sliding into second base. Then was moved to left field for the rest of her career, with the exception of two weeks at

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

in the 1952 season. During her first two professional baseball seasons, Briggs hit two home runs, but increased her output to a league-leading nine in 1953. She ranked second with 25 homers in 1954, in the AAGPBL's last ever season. Briggs hit the only home run at Indiana's Playland Park during the 1949 season, a walk-off in the ninth inning, to defeat the Blue Sox. In 1951 she was voted the best defensive outfielder with a .987

fielding average In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, divi ...

. Briggs helped Fort Wayne win pennants in both 1952 and 1953, and spent her final season in 1954 with South Bend.

Out of the field

The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now 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 ...

since November 5, that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Briggs, along with the rest of the league's girls, are now enshrined in the Hall. In 1990 Briggs became the first woman inducted into East Greenwich's Athletic Hall of Fame and was elected to the first AAGPBL Players Association Board of Directors. In 1991, she received the first annual ''Game of Legends Award'' for her 38 years of contributing to women's softball in Rhode Island. On November 20, 2021, Briggs was inducted into the Rhode Island Slow Pitch Hall of Fame. ''

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 ...

'' is a 1992 film about the first season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While the film does not use real names, her film includes fake newsreel footage and

pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...

''present day'' scenes at the beginning and end of the fictitious story. ''A League of Their Own'' itself was inspired by the 1987 documentary of the same title, written and produced by

Kelly Candaele Kelly Candaele is a politician, filmmaker, teacher, and writer. For the past fifteen years, he has written extensively for the ''Los Angeles Times'', the ''New York Times'', ''The Nation'' and other national publications. While writing for the Lo ...

, one of the five sons of

Helen Callaghan Helen Callaghan Candaele St. Aubin (March 13, 1923 – December 8, 1992) was a left-handed center fielder who appeared in five seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), playing under the name Helen Callaghan.

, who in 1945 won the AAGPBL batting championship with a .299 average.

Career statistics

Batting

Fielding

''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary'' –

W.C. Madden W.C. Madden is a retired journalist, teacher and author who has written multiple books about baseball, including two about the AAGPBL. He has also written about the Western League and the College World Series. While much of his work is based on ba ...

. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295pp.

References

Sources

*''Biographical Dictionary of American Sports'' – David L. Porter. Publisher: Greenwood Press, 2000. Format: Hardcover, 2064pp. Language: English. W. C. Madden *''Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball'' – Leslie A. Heaphy, Laura Wulf, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006. Format: Hardcover, 438pp. Language: English. *''Girls of Summer: The Real Story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League'' – Lois Browne. Publisher: HarperCollins, 1992. Format: Hardcover, 212 pp. Language: English. *''Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History'' – Gai Ingham Berlage, Charley Gerard. Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. Format: Hardcover, 224pp. Language: English.

External links

Wilma Briggs
''

''. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
The Diamond Angle Interview, by Lou Parrotta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Wilma All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Fort Wayne Daisies players South Bend Blue Sox players Baseball players from Rhode Island People from East Greenwich, Rhode Island Sportspeople from Kent County, Rhode Island 1930 births Living people 21st-century American women