1943 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

1943 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season
League All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Sport Baseball
Number of teams Four
Regular season
Season champions Racine Belles (first half)
Kenosha Comets (second half)
Scholarship Series
Champions Racine Belles

The 1943 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the inaugural season of the circuit. Since the only organized ball for women in the country was softball, the league created a hybrid game which included both softball and baseball.[1]

The AAGPBL began with a 12-inch softball but incorporated baseball rules. The new league started with four teams, the Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox. The teams competed through a 108-game schedule, while the first Scholarship Series faced first-half winner Racine against Kenosha, second-half champ, in a Best of Five Series.[1][2]

The strong pitching led to low batting averages, as the league hit a collective .230 average with Racine topping the chart (.246). Just one player, Rockford's Gladys Davis, reached the .300 mark. Only 72 home runs were batted for the four teams. Ten of these homers came from the bat of Eleanor Dapkus with Racine.[3]

Kenosha pitcher Helen Nicol won the Triple Crown with 31 wins, 220 strikeouts and a 1.81 earned run average, and also led the league in winning percentage (.795), consecutive wins (13), complete games (33), shutouts (8) and innings pitched (348). The best individual pitching performance on the year came from Rockford's Olive Little, who hurled the first no-hitter in league history.[4]

In the final series, Racine blanked Kenosha in three games to win the first title of the league. Irene Hickson led the Belles with a .417 average, while pitchers Mary Nesbitt, Joanne Winter and Helen Nicol were credited with a win a piece.[1][5]

The AAGPBL drew 176,000 fans during its inaugural season, which assured the league would continue the following year.[5]

Standings

First Half

RankTeamWLW-L%GB
1 Racine Belles 34 20 .630 –
2 South Bend Blue Sox 28 26 .519 6
3 Kenosha Comets 23 31 .426 11
4 Rockford Peaches 23 31 .426 11

Second Half

RankTeamWLW-L%GB
1 Kenosha Comets 33 21 .611 –
2 South Bend Blue Sox 30 24 .556 3
3 Racine Belles 29 25 .521 4
4 Rockford Peaches 20 34 .370 13

Composite records

RankTeamWLW-L%GB
1 Racine Belles 59 49 .546 –
2 South Bend Blue Sox 58 50 .546 1
3 Kenosha Comets 56 52 .611 3
4 Rockford Peaches 43 65 .398 16
             1943 Racine Belles Championship Team         
Front row, L-R: Irene Hickson (C), Edythe Perlick (CF), Claire Schillace (RF), Annebelle Thompson (P), Madeline English (3B). Middle row, L-R: Eleanor Dapkus (LF), Sophie Kurys (2B), Dorothy Wind (SS), Gloria Marks (P), Dorothy Maguire (C), Margaret Danhauser (1B). Back row, L-R: Charlotte Smith (IF/OF), Joanne Winter (P), Johnny Gottselig (Manager), Mary Nesbitt (P/1B), Dorothy Hunter (IF), Marie Anderson (Chaperone).

Postseason

GameTeamsScore
1 Racine Belles
@
Kenosha Comets 		6

2
2 Racine Belles
@
Kenosha Comets 		7

4
3   Kenosha Comets  
@
Racine Belles 		3

6

[5]

Individual statistics

Batting

StatisticPlayerRecord
 Batting average  Gladys Davis (ROC)
Irene Hickson (RAC)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Doris Barr (SB)
Dorothy Maguire (RAC)
Edythe Perlick (RAC) 		.332
.280
.280
.273
.271
.271
.271
.269
.269
.268
Runs scored Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Gladys Davis (ROC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Madeline English (RAC)
Claire Schillace (RAC)
Josephine D'Angelo (SB)
Irene Hickson (RAC)
Mildred Warwick (ROC)
Sophie Kurys (RAC) 		111
87
78
70
69
65
62
62
62
60
Hits Betsy Jochum (SB)
Gladys Davis (ROC)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Ann Harnett (KEN)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Mildred Warwick (ROC)
Claire Schillace (RAC)
Johanna Hageman (SB) 		120
116
108
107
105
104
99
93
88
85
Doubles Betsy Jochum (SB)
Ann Harnett (KEN)
Johanna Hageman (SB)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Lois Florreich (SB)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN)
Eileen Burmeister (ROC)
Sophie Kurys (RAC) 		12
10
10
10
9
9
8
8
Triples Margaret Stefani (SB)
Gladys Davis (ROC)
Ann Harnett (KEN)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Audrey Wagner (KEN)
Eileen Burmeister (ROC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Mildred Warwick (ROC)
Dorothy Wind (RAC) 		11
10
10
10
10
7
7
7
7
7
Home runs Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)
Ann Harnett (KEN)
Gladys Davis (ROC)
Lois Florreich (SB)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Audrey Wagner (KEN)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Sophie Kurys (RAC) 		11
6
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
Runs batted in Ann Harnett (KEN)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Gladys Davis (ROC)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN)
Johanna Hageman (SB)
Dorothy Wind (RAC)
Lois Florreich (SB)
Betty Jane Fritz (RAC)
Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)
Edythe Perlick (RAC) 		69
59
58
55
52
45
44
43
43
42
42
Stolen bases Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Madeline English (RAC)
Irene Hickson (RAC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Lois Florreich (SB)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Charlotte Smith (RAC) 		126
90
75
68
66
57
55
54
Total bases Gladys Davis (ROC)
Ann Harnett (KEN)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
 Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC) 
Phyllis Koehn (KEN)
Mildred Warwick (ROC)
Lois Florreich (SB) 		155
153
149
146
139
135
128
117
115
114

Pitching

StatisticPlayerRecord
Wins Helen Nicol (KEN)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Olive Little (ROC)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Doris Barr (SB)
Gloria Marks (RAC)
Marjorie Peters (ROC)
Annebelle Thompson (RAC)
Joanne Winter (RAC) 		31
26
25
21
19
15
11
11
11
11
 Winning percentage  Helen Nicol (KEN)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Olive Little (ROC)
Gloria Marks (RAC)
Doris Barr (SB)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Joanne Winter (RAC) 		.795
.667
.658
.583
.550
.536
.500
.500
Earned run average Helen Nicol (KEN)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Olive Little (ROC)
Joanne Winter (RAC)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Doris Barr (SB)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Marjorie Peters (ROC)
Annebelle Thompson (RAC)
Ruth Born (SB) 		1.81
1.91
2.56
2.57
2.63
2.90
2.93
3.10
3.51
3.59
Strikeouts Helen Nicol (KEN)
Olive Little (ROC)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Doris Barr (SB)
 Catherine Bennett (KEN/SB)  		220
151
112
102
85
63
53
Complete games Helen Nicol (KEN)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Olive Little (ROC)
Marjorie Peters (ROC)
Doris Barr (SB) 		33
30
29
29
28
24
22
Innings pitched Helen Nicol (KEN)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Margaret Berger (SB)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Olive Little (ROC)
Marjorie Peters (ROC)
Doris Barr (SB)
Annebelle Thompson (RAC)
Clara Cook (ROC/KEN)
Joanne Winter (RAC) 		348
308
306
304
288
270
254
223
203
200

[5]

All-time individual records

[5]

All-Star Game

Sources

  1. 1 2 3 "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League history".
  2. ↑ AAGPBL Rules of Play
  3. ↑ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W.C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Softcover, 294pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-0-7864-3747-4
  4. ↑ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W.C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-3747-2
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book

External links

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