1947 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

1947 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Baseball Logo of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.svg 90px Eight Regular season Muskegon Lassies Shaugnessy playoffs Grand Rapids Chicks AAGPBL 1946 1948 The 1947 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the fifth season of the circuit. The teams Fort Wayne Daisies, Grand Rapids Chicks, Kenosha Comets, Muskegon Lassies, Peoria Redwings, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox competed through a 112-game schedule. The final Shaugnessy playoffs faced second place Grand Rapids against third place Racine in a Best of Seven Series.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Teams Records by SeasonAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295pp. 0-7864-3747-2 By April 1947, all of the league's players were flown to Havana, Cuba for spring training. At the time, the Brooklyn Dodgers trained in the Cuban capital because Jackie Robinson, who would be the first Afro-American to play in the Major Leagues, was training with the Dodgers for the first time. By then, city ordinances in Vero Beach, Florida, where the Dodgers normally trained, prevented black and white players from competing on the same field against each other. Notably, newspaper stories from Havana indicate that the All-American girls drew larger crowds for their exhibition games at Estadio Latinoamericano than did the Dodgers.http://www.aagpbl.org/league/history.cfm All-American Girls Professional Baseball League historyCuban Baseball Home In addition to the eight team practices, nearly 55,000 Cuban fans attended a round-robin tournament which took place at Estadio Latinoamericano at the end of the training. The Racine Belles won the tournament and received a commemorative trophy from Esther Williams, American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book All in all, the rules, strategy and general play were the same in 1947. The sidearm pitching was strictly used, as the league was moving toward full overhand delivery for the next season. The sidearm throwing allowed the hitters more of an advantage than previous seasons. Rockford's Dorothy Kamenshek repeated her batting crown with a .306 batting average in a close race with Audrey Wagner (.305) of Kenosha. Nevertheless, five no-hitters were recorded during the regular season by Racine's Doris Barr, Muskegon Erma Bergmann, Kenosha's Jean Cione, and Rockford's Margaret Holgerson and Betty Luna. The pitching highlight came from Muskegon's Doris Sams, who hurled the third perfect game in league history. In addition, P/OF Sams posted an 11–4 record and a 0.98 earned run average in 19 pitching appearances, while batting a combined average of .280 (97-for-346) in 107 total games. Following the season, Sams was honored with the AAGPBL Player of the Year Award.SABR Biography Project – Doris Sams article by Jim Sargent At the end, Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Racine battled for the regular season title, until Muskegon got the victory with just two days remaining in the schedule. During the playoffs, Muskegon lost to Racine in the first round, three games to one, behind a strong pitching effort from Anna Mae Hutchison, who was credited with all three victories for Racine. In the other series, Grand Rapids defeated South Bend in five games guided by Connie Wisniewski, who pitched a win, stole home plate for another win, and collected an average of .318 (7-for-22). The second round was a tight fight, when the first three contests all went to extra innings and Grand Rapids held a 3–1 advantage in the best of seven series. But the defending champion Racine won the next two games to force a decisive game seven. In a pitching duel, Mildred Earp defeated Hutchison and the Belles on a 1–0, five hit shutout, while driving in the winning run to give Grand Rapids the championship. In 1947 average crowds at AAGPBL games were two to three thousand people, while attendance records were set in Muskegon, Peoria and Racine ballparks. Teams 1947 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Teams Team City Stadium Fort Wayne Daisies Fort Wayne, Indiana Memorial Park Grand Rapids Chicks Grand Rapids, Michigan South High School Field Kenosha Comets Kenosha, Wisconsin Lake Front Stadium Muskegon Lassies Muskegon, Michigan Marsh Field Peoria Redwings Peoria, Illinois Peoria Stadium Racine Belles Racine, Wisconsin Horlick Field Rockford Peaches Rockford, Illinois Rockford Municipal Stadium South Bend Blue Sox South Bend, Indiana Playland Park Map of teams left 10px All-American Girls Professional Baseball League teams 950 450 300 425 145 USA Midwest 900 USA Midwest 41.10 -85.14 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Daisies USA Midwest 42.96 -85.66 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Chicks USA Midwest 42.58 -87.85 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Comets USA Midwest 43.22 -86.24 Black pog.svg 80 top Lassies USA Midwest 40.69 -89.59 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Redwings USA Midwest 42.74 -87.80 Black pog.svg 80 right Belles USA Midwest 42.25 -89.09 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Peaches USA Midwest 41.66 -86.21 Black pog.svg 80 bottom Blue Sox Final standings RankTeamWLW-L%GB 1 Muskegon Lassies 69 43 .616 – 2 Grand Rapids Chicks 64 46 .582 4 3 Racine Belles 65 47 .580 4 4 South Bend Blue Sox 57 54 .514 11½ 5 Peoria Redwings 54 57 .487 14½ 6 Rockford Peaches 48 63 .432 19½ 7 Fort Wayne Daisies 44 66 .400 24 8 Kenosha Comets 43 69 .384 26 Postseason First roundBest of five series Second roundBest of seven series 1 Muskegon Lassies 1 3 Racine Belles 3 2 Grand Rapids Chicks 3 4 South Bend Blue Sox 2 1 Racine Belles 3 2 Grand Rapids Chicks 4 Batting statistics StatisticPlayerRecord Batting average   Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)   Audrey Wagner (KEN)Connie Wisniewski (GR)Doris Sams (MUS)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Rose Gacioch (ROC)Charlene Pryer (MUS)Eleanor CallowMary Reynolds (PEO)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Margaret Stefani (SB) .306 .305 .291 .280 .261 .261 .257 .249 .245 .245 .239 .237 .237Runs scored Sophie Kurys (RAC)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Alma Ziegler (GR)Mary Baker (SB)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Pauline Pirok (SB)Charlene Pryer (MUS)Thelma Eisen (FW)Audrey Wagner (KEN)Mary Nesbitt (PEO) 81 62 58 55 54 52 51 51 51 49 48 47Hits Audrey Wagner (KEN)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Charlene Pryer (MUS)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Sophie Kurys (RAC)Mary Reynolds (PEO)Doris Sams (MUS)Lavonne Paire (RAC)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW) 119 112 105 104 104 102 99 98 97 97 90Doubles Audrey Wagner (KEN)Mary Reynolds (PEO)Lavonne Paire (RAC)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Betsy Jochum (SB)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Marjorie Pieper (FW/KEN)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Ruth Lessing (GR)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Sophie Kurys (RAC) 25 17 14 11 11 11 11 10 10 9 9 8Triples Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Audrey Wagner (KEN)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Elizabeth Mahon (SB)Marie Mahoney (SB)Alice Hohlmayer (KEN)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)Betsy Jochum (SB)Theda Marshall (SB)Marjorie Pieper (FW)Doris Sams (MUS) 11 9 8 8 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5Home runs Audrey Wagner (KEN)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Marjorie Pieper (FW)Thelma Eisen (PEO/FW)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)Arleene Johnson (MUS)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Margaret Stefani (SB) 7 6 5 3 3 2 2 2 2 2Runs batted in Audrey Wagner (KEN)Lavonne Paire (RAC)Inez Voyce (GR)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Betsy Jochum (SB)Ruth Lessing (GR)Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)Dorothy Harrell (ROC)Doris Sams (MUS) Edythe Perlick (RAC)Marjorie Pieper (FW)Margaret Stefani (SB) 53 50 45 43 42 42 41 41 41 39 38 38Stolen bases Sophie Kurys (RAC)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Charlene Pryer (MUS)Faye Dancer (PEO/FW)Dorothy Ferguson (ROC)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Betty Trezza (RAC)Dorothy Stolze (MUS)Alma Ziegler (GR) 142 83 83 76 71 71 66 66 65 62Total bases Audrey Wagner (KEN)Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)Mary Nesbitt (PEO)Edythe Perlick (RAC)Mary Reynolds (PEO)Sophie Kurys (RAC)Doris Sams (MUS)Charlene Pryer (MUS)Josephine Lenard (MUS)Lavonne Paire (RAC) 183 156 144 133 128 125 116 115 114 111 Pitching statistics StatisticPlayerRecordWins   Anna Mae Hutchison (RAC)  Joanne Winter (RAC)Mildred Earp (GR)Dorothy Wiltse (FW)Jean Cione (ROC/KEN)Jean Faut (SB)Alice Haylett (GR)Nancy Warren (MUS)Amy Applegren (MUS)Phyllis Koehn (SB)Connie Wisniewski (GR) 27 22 20 20 19 19 19 17 16 16 16Earned run average Mildred Earp (GR)Doris Sams (MUS)Amy Applegren (MUS)Nancy Warren (MUS)Jean Faut (SB)Jean Cione (ROC/KEN)Dorothy Wiltse (FW)Anna Mae Hutchison (RAC)Dorothy Mueller (PEO)Donna Cook (MUS)Jaynne Bittner (SB) 0.68 0.98 1.06 1.13 1.15 1.30 1.33 1.38 1.41 1.42 1.54Strikeouts Dorothy Wiltse (GR)Mildred Earp (GR)Joanne Winter (RAC)Anna Mae Hutchison (RAC)Dorothy Mueller (PEO)Kay Blumetta (PEO/FW)Jean Cione (ROC/KEN)Jean Faut (SB)Doris Barr (RAC)Nancy Warren (MUS)Alice Haylett 244 192 121 120 112 105 98 97 96 93 92Games pitched Dorothy Mueller (PEO)Jean Faut (SB)Anna Mae Hutchison (RAC)Dorothy Wiltse (GR)Joanne Winter (RAC)Jean Cione (ROC)Mildred Earp (GR)Phyllis Koehn (SB)Connie Wisniewski (GR)Alice Haylett (GR)Ruby Stephens (SB)Nancy Warren (MUS)Doris Barr (RAC) 48 44 44 40 38 37 35 34 32 31 31 31 30Innings pitched Anna Mae Hutchison (RAC)Dorothy Mueller (PEO)Jean Faut (SB)Joanne Winter (RAC)Dorothy Wiltse (GR)Mildred Earp (GR)Jean Cione (ROC)Phyllis Koehn (SB)Connie Wisniewski (GR)Alice Haylett (GR)Betty Luna (ROC)Josephine Kabick (PEO)Nancy Warren (MUS)Amy Applegren (MUS) 360 312 298 297 292 280 271 265 264 258 234 231 223 220 All-Star Game All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-Star Team See also 1947 Major League Baseball season Sources External links AAGPBL Official Website AAGPBL Records Baseball Historian files The Diamond Angle profiles and interviews SABR Projects – Jim Sargent articles YouTube videos Category:All-American Girls Professional Baseball League seasons Category:1940s in women's baseball All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season