Jackie Mitchell (baseball player)

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Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell (ca. 1913 - 1987) was one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball history. Pitching for the Chattanooga Lookouts Class AA minor league baseball team in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession. Fox Sports Network declared this to be one of the biggest events in sports history.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Early life

It is uncertain what year she was born in, with different sources suggesting either 1912, '13, or '14. She weighed only five pounds when born, but when she learned how to walk, her father took her to the baseball diamond. Her father taught her the basics of the game and next door neighbor, Dazzy Vance, taught her to pitch and showed her his curve ball. Later, Vance would pitch in the major leagues and eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In her teen years, Jackie played for a women's team in Chattanooga, Tennessee and attended a special baseball school in Atlanta, Georgia. There she attracted the attention of Joe Engel, the president and owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts, who offered her a contract to play for the entire 1931 season. On March 28th of that year she signed the contract and became an official member of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Class AA minor league team.

[edit] The Strikeouts

The New York Yankees and the Chatanooga Lookouts were scheduled to play an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 1, 1931. Due to rain the game was postponed until the 2nd. Seventeen year old Jackie Mitchell, brought in to pitch in the first inning after the starting pitcher had given up a double and a single, faced Babe Ruth. After taking a ball, Ruth swung and missed at the next two pitches. Mitchell's fourth pitch to Ruth was a called third strike. Next up was Gehrig who swung through the first three pitches to strike out. Seventeen year old Jackie Mitchell had struck out two of the greatest hitters in baseball history using seven pitches and five swing throughs.

[edit] Career

A few days after striking out Ruth and Gehrig baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract and declared women unfit to play baseball as the game was "too strenuous". Mitchell continued to play professionally, barnstorming with the House of David, a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards. She retired in 1937 at the age of 23 after becoming something of a side show - once being asked to pitch while riding a donkey. She refused to come out of retirement when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed. Major League Baseball would formally ban the signing of women to contracts on June 21, 1952.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

  • Jackie Mitchell, Baseball Player by Kaye Sharbono ISBN 0813657318
  • The Spring Habit by David Hanson ISBN 0975297600 [1]
  • Uncle John's Second Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Reader's Institute, Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Institute, Bathroom Readers' Institute (Ashland, Or.) ISBN 0312034466
  • Nike is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports By Lissa Smith, Lucy Danziger, and Mariah Burton Nelson ISBN 0871137615
  • Women's Baseball by John M. Kovach ISBN 0738533807
  • Moss, Marissa; C. F. Payne (illustrator) (February 2004). Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queen. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. ISBN 9780689863295.