Thirteen-year old Mo'ne Davis made sports history by pitching the first shutout in Little League World Series history by a female pitcher. One of two female players in the 2014 Little League World Series, Davis threw 70 mile-per-hour pitches and impressed everyone with her confidence and calmness. Davis is following in the footsteps of women pioneers in baseball including Kathryn "Tubby" Johnston Massar. Tubby played Little League in 1950, leading to a rule banning girls from playing; the ban lasted until 1974). Match the baseball woman with her accomplishment:
- ____ A scout for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1946-1951.
- ____ A co-owner of the Colorado Rockies major league baseball team.
- ____ In 1963, at eight years old, she played in the New Jersey Small Fry League.
- ____ The only female owner in the Negro Baseball Leagues, she co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband. The first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A. Effa Manley
B. Edith Houghton
C. Nancy Lotsey
D. Linda Alvarado
Edith Houghton liked to call herself the first female solo scout for major league baseball. She was a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1946 to 1951. Previously, Houghton had an illustrious career playing in the Bloomer Girls League, the national women's baseball circuit, in the 1920s and 1930s. Her baseball "career" began when she was ten years old, playing for the Philadelphia Bobbies. After the Bobbies, she played for the New York Bloomer Girls, The Hollywood Girls, and for the Navy-sponsored baseball teams during World War II.
Like Houghton, Effa Manley was a pioneer in baseball. At a time when women were nonexistent in sports and blacks still had few rights, Manley was the co-owner of the Newark Eagles from 1935-1948, the only female owner during the entire history of the Negro Leagues. She handled the business end of the team. Those responsibilities ranged from scheduling, to payroll, to marketing and promotion. She also advocated for the players - better pay, better schedules, and better travel arrangements. In addition to her commitment to baseball, Manley advocated for civil rights. Later in life, she became dedicated to keeping the history of the Negro Leagues alive. In 2006, Manley became the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Following in the footsteps of Houghton, in 1963, eight-year-old Nancy Lotsey played for the Jersey Small Fry League. Called "Diamond Doll" by her teammates, she struck out 62 boys in 10 games. When her teammates carried her off the field after one of their victories, the resulting photograph was printed in Life magazine. In 2009, Lotsey told a nine-year old girl selected to play on the Morristown, New Jersey all-star team, "We can do as good as them, if not better."
Linda Alvarado is an owner of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team, following in the footsteps of Effa Manley. In 1992, she was part of the winning group of bidders to establish a major league team in Denver. She is the first Latino (male or female) in an ownership position. Alvarado is the owner of Alvarado Construction, a commercial general contractor, construction management, and design/build firm. In addition to her many other honors, Alvarado has been inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame.
(answers: 1-B, 2-D, 3-C, 4-A)
Learn about more she-roes and celebrate amazing women. These women are among the more than 850 women profiled in the book Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America. I am proud to salute their accomplishments and savor their triumphs.