The Baseball Guru - Women in Baseball - November 2001 by Leslie Heaphy

Let me begin by congratulating Team USA for their victory in July at the World Series Tournament. Japan got the Silver and Australia won the bronze.

CONGRATULATIONS to all!!!!!!!!

The baseball season has wound to a conclusion. Now is the time we begin to reflect and reminisce about past glories as we wait for the spring and another season. This year was an exciting one for women’s baseball. It began with a national conference this past winter, saw the creation of a U. S. National team and the playing of a World Series at the Skydome in Toronto in July, and Jim Nitz moderated the panel of AAGPBBL players at the SABR Annual Meeting this summer. The participants included Vivian Sheriffs Anderson, Annastasia Batikis, Jackie Mattson Baumgart, Betty Moczynski, Mary O’Hara, Joyce Hill Westerman.

The season recently culminated with two events. The AAGPBBL held their reunion in September and an umpire’s clinic for female umpires was held in Ontario. All of these activities point toward exciting things to come for the sport. With the increased activity we need to continue to think about documenting this history as it is happening so that twenty years from now we are not in the position we are now in looking to the past and searching for the stories. Please send me any and all articles, programs, citations etc that you find. It will be better for me to receive the information four times than not at all. You can either mail the materials to me or attach them as e-mails or even fax an article to me at 330-494-6121. Thanks in advance for your continued help in preserving the history of women in baseball.

A great example of this kind of work was an exhibit this past July in Fort Wayne. The exhibit focused on the Fort Wayne Daisies.

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Committee Project Update: Guidelines are being finalized and prepared for authors. A beginning list of topics and people has been created with the committee input included. Letters will be going out to many of you asking you to write specific sections based on your interests you have shared with me previously. If you would like to be involved and have not let me know of your interest and are of expertise please do so soon. If you are not interested in writing but would be willing to do some research for the various entries please let me know that as well. There is lots of room for the entire committee’s participation. The general timeline we are looking at is to have the first round of articles turned in by August 2002.

Some of the topics will include: an historical overview, Little League integration, Bloomer Girls, female owners, etc.

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Recent books, articles, websites and other projects. Thanks to the following people for sending material.

William Albach, Jim Amato, Dick Clark, Jim Glennie, Mary Lou Kolanko, Larry Lester, Skip McAfee, Barry Swanton, Justine Warren, Tim Wiles and Laura Wulf.

(**Denotes item available for a SASE, 1 stamp per 4 pages).

**“Diamonds are a Gal’s Worst Friend: Women in Baseball History and Fiction.” Peter Bjarkman

** Women’s Baseball Literature Bibliography by Peter Bjarkman

** “They played the Game” Review by Stephen Lehman

** “Transition of Women’s Baseball” by Gai Berlage (10 pp).

** Five short news articles from the 19^th century

** Diamond Angle Interviews with Salty Ferguson, Earlene Risinger and Pepper Paire Davis

** “Robinson’s Legacy: Black Women and Negro Baseball” by Gai Berlage

** “Mixed Signals” by Julianna Skluzacek

** “She loved Baseball” by Amy Essington

** “I Haven’t Got Ball players. I’ve got Girls” by Robert Rudd and Marshall Most

** “Our Forgotten World Champions: the 1944 Milwaukee Chicks” by Thomas Morgan and James Nitz

** NY Clipper articles

** “Grace Coolidge—The First Lady of Baseball” by David Pietrusza

** “Playing Ball with Girls” Stephen Lehman

** “Baseball is a man’s game: Or is it?” by Jean Hastings Ardell

** “Force Out” by Diana Helmer

** “You Hit Like My Mother” by Diana Helmer

** “Dream Come True” about Katy Smythe

** Chicago Tribune article from 1870

** “The Double Standard” by Ken McMillan

** “Lonely Voice” about a female announcer

** Roster of US Women’s Baseball team for the World Series this past summer

“Leagues of Their Own”

Beginning in February, 2003 the Grand Rapids Public Museum will be hosting an exhibit examining the connections between Michigan and the AAGPBL and black baseball. Find out more about this exciting new exhibit by calling 616-456-3977 or at www.grmuseum.org

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Research Requests

Patricia Martinelli is looking for information on the Philadelphia Bobbies--please send any help to her at ghostwrtr@netzero.com

Frank Fitzpatrick is looking for information about the Dolly Vardens who played in the 1860s. Any help you can offer him please send directly to Leslie Heaphy or to Frank at ffitzpatrick@phillynews.com

Justine Warren continues to look for input as to why women play baseball. Ideas can be sent to her at Jwarren101@aol.com.

Maddie Johnston is a fan and player in London who is looking for information about teams in England. Anyone with any ideas can send them directly to me and I will forward them to her.

Suzanne Howarth is looking for information on women who have played professional softball. Ideas can be passed on through Leslie Heaphy. She is particularly interested in African-American women players.

What are you looking for? What are you currently working on? Let us know and we can help one another as we are doing our research.

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Trivia Question

What positions did Faye Dancer play when she was in the AAGPBBL?

Have a good question to ask our members? Please send it in before the next newsletter for inclusion.

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Want to be published in our newsletter? I continue to look for reviews, player bios, short articles, poetry--anything that you are writing about women and baseball. Share your work with others who share your interests.

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Stacy Sunny

A catcher and third baseman for the Colorado Silver Bullets in 1994 and 1995 Sunny had the third highest batting average for the team in 1994. Before joining the Bullets Sunny had played for UCLA and Nebraska. When she is not playing baseball Sunny works as a freelance TV/Film producer.

(Information from her Silver Bullets baseball card)

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Interested in writing a review for our newsletter? How about writing up your thoughts on books about the Colorado Silver Bullets? Send your reviews to Leslie Heaphy for inclusion in the next newsletter. If you have another book you'd like to review write up your comments and send them in.

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Series # 3 of the AAGPBL Cards is now available from Fritsch Cards for $10.95. They can be ordered at 735 Old Wasau Rd. PO Box 862, Stevens Point, WI 54481.

*********************************Please send correspondence, questions, suggestions, ideas to Leslie Heaphy for future newsletters. Also, I heard from a number of you and am grateful for the responses. Those who did not respond please try to let me know whether you still wish to receive our newsletter. Please write or e-mail me as to whether you wish to continue to be on the mailing list. If I do not hear from you I will not be sending future issues of the newsletter. Our committee is only as active as you the members help to make it. Thanks for your help in keeping our list updated. Just a reminder that some of you have not paid your dues to SABR yet this year and should send that in if you also want to continue receiving other SABR publications.

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Thanks,

Leslie and Claudia