OK, today I’m breaking the tradition and format because this lady needs video to show you her stuff.
No, there was no stage or pole, there was however a diamond.
At 17 years old, on April 2, 1931 she struck out NY Yankee’s star, Babe Ruth.
And the Babe was pissed.
Then she struck out the next up from Murderers’ Row, Lou Gehrig.
Lou was more reserved... or embarrassed.
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Despite her young age, Jackie had a surprising amount of experience with the sport. She’d grown up as neighbor to “Dazzy” Vance, a pitcher for the major leagues. He’d taught her to throw a “drop ball” (nowadays called a sinker) — a type of pitch that is hard to master and harder to hit. The fact that she was left-handed made her pitches that much deadlier. She honed her skills in Chattanooga women’s baseball teams and camps, until she met Joe Engel.
Joe Engel was one of baseball’s more eccentric characters. A pitcher turned raconteur, this “Barnum of Baseball” did everything he could to drum up audiences for the minor league team, the Chattanooga Lookouts. He’d have his players ride in on elephants. He placed singing canaries in the grandstands. He traded one of his players for a turkey. In 1931, he decided to give Jackie a spot on his roster as a publicity stunt, pitting her against the venerable New York Yankees — which was boasting one of the best team lineups in the history of the sport, a fearsome group dubbed “Murderers’ Row.” And before the first inning was over, she’d struck out their two biggest stars.
The coverage of the event was face-palmingly sexist. The Washington Post noted that “without so much powdering her nose or seeing if her lipstick was on straight, Jackie strode to the mound.” She proceeded to strike out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back-to-back, then walked Tony Lazzeri, the next hitter. Following her poor performance with Lazzeri, she was benched, prompting the Post to write, “Jackie probably remembered by that time that she was a woman, and after all the excitement she undoubtedly wanted to go off and have a good cry so they let her retire from the game.” The Lookouts lost 4-14, but nobody could stop talking about Jackie.
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Is case you’re wondering if it was fixed, no.
Ruth was pissed, Lazzeri and 4th up Chapman said not a chance. Gehrig and manager McCarthy don’t play dat.
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Many papers reported that the baseball commissioner voided her contract and banned women from baseball shortly thereafter, on the grounds that it was “too strenuous for women” — although it’s unlikely this actually happened
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Probably wasn't the beginning of fake news, and most certainly not the end.
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