A girl really struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig?
doubledragon
Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
Been a lot of talk lately about female athletes going up against men, I got curious about it and ran across this, I was in shock to say the least. A 17-year old girl not only struck out Babe Ruth but also Lou Gehrig.
MLB.com
A 17-year-old girl struck out Ruth and Gehrig
It shouldn't come as much of a shock to hear that baseball in 1931 was totally different from baseball today. Just from looking at pictures from the era, you can tell. Pitchers' windups are different. Hitters' swings are different. The uniforms look thicker and baggier.
But another way the game was different -- one you can't see by simply looking at a picture -- was the proliferation of barnstorming teams and exhibition games. In the offseason, some of the game's biggest names would join forces and form a sort of traveling baseball carnival, playing games and drawing crowds wherever they went. Most famous of these was the 1934 team that barnstormed around Japan, which included guys like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.
The Chatanooga Lookouts weren't barnstormers -- they were a team in the Southern Association, a minor league in comparison to the National and American Leagues -- but thanks to owner Joe Engel, they embodied the barnstorming spirit as much as anyone else.
Engel took over the Lookouts just before the stock market crash of 1929, which immediately made it difficult to sell tickets. As an inventive and tireless promoter, however, Engel was as well-suited to that sort of environment as anyone.
The owner's stunts are likely worthy of a story all to themselves, but to say he was creative would likely be an understatement. He once sold a shortstop for a turkey and then served the turkey to local sportswriters. He raffled a house to a ticket holder at a random game. The ballpark hosted an elephant hunt where people dressed in safari gear chased others wearing papier-mâché elephant suits.
Compared to all that, what he did in the spring of 1931 wasn't far-fetched at all. With the Yankees scheduled to stop for an exhibition against the Lookouts on their way home from Spring Training on April 1, Engel signed a 17-year-old girl from Memphis named Jackie Mitchell to pitch to the powerful Yankees lineup. This made Mitchell one of the first women to sign a contract to play professional baseball -- the first known female player was Lizzie Arlington who signed to play with the Reading Coal Heavers of the Atlantic League in 1898.
An ordinary 17-year-old would normally stand no chance against the likes of Ruth, Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri -- the heart of the Yankees' order at the time. Though Ruth was nearing the end of his career, he still hit 49 homers the previous season and Gehrig added 41 of his own. Lazzeri hit .303 on the year.
Mitchell wasn't an ordinary 17-year-old girl. For starters, she was an all-around athlete, splitting her time between basketball in the winter and baseball in the warmer months for Engel's all-girls team, the Engelettes. When Engel reached out to sign her to the Lookouts, she was in Dallas playing in a basketball tournament. With the chance to sign a professional baseball contract, she ditched that right away.
Like many young ballplayers, Mitchell learned her craft playing with her dad in the neighborhood park. But her neighborhood came with an advantage not exactly available to every young player. One of her neighbors in Memphis was none other than Dazzy Vance, the Hall of Fame pitcher who led the NL in strikeouts for seven seasons from 1922-28. From her neighbor, Mitchell learned how to throw a "drop ball," which we would call a sinker today.
The anticipation of the Yankees facing this teenage girl generated considerable media coverage, little of which aged well. One paper described the looming showdown with little in the way of baseball discussion. "The curves won't be all on the ball when pretty Jackie Mitchell ... takes the mound," one wrote.
Another described the scene from a cosmetic rather than athletic perspective. "The bobbed haired pitcher pulled out her mirror and powder puff," it read, "and dusted the shine off her nose."
Even when the papers focused more on baseball, they couldn't help dabble in a bit of sexism. The New York Daily News noted she was a pitcher "who has a swell change of pace and swings a mean lipstick."
It's no wonder then that few were prepared for what would come next.
After starter Clyde Barfoot gave up a double and a single to start the game, the Lookouts went to the bullpen and brought in Mitchell. The first two batters up were none other than Ruth and Gehrig.
In front of 4,000 fans, Ruth tipped his hat to Mitchell and stepped in the box. She went into her left-handed sidearm delivery and delivered her drop ball, which missed the zone for a ball. Ruth swung and missed at the next two pitches before taking the next pitch on the outside corner that the umpire ruled a strike. The slugger threw his bat on the ground in disgust with the call, but facts were facts -- a 17-year-old girl just struck out the greatest hitter of all time.
Next up was Gehrig, who went down easier than Ruth. He swung and missed at all three pitches Mitchell threw him. After walking Lazzeri, the Lookouts went to the bullpen for the second time in the inning, ending Mitchell's historic outing. The Yankees would go on to win, 14-4.
The New York Times led the next day's sports page with the headline, "Ruth and Gehrig Struck Out by Girl Pitcher." The section also featured an editorial that concluded, “the prospect grows gloomier for misogynists.” To add to the magnitude of Mitchell's accomplishment, Ruth and Gehrig went on to hit over .340 with 46 homers a piece in 1931.
The misogynists -- or at least Mitchell's detractors -- had their day nonetheless. Elsewhere in The Times, it was written that Ruth "performed his role very ably" by striking out and that Gehrig "took three hefty swings as his contribution to the occasion," the occasion implied being yet another promotional stunt from Engel in which the sluggers allowed Mitchell to strike them out. The fact that it was originally scheduled for April Fools' Day was another data point cited against the authenticity of Mitchell's feat.
If Gehrig or Ruth did strike out on purpose, neither owned up to it in subsequent years. While it would surprise no one if Ruth were in on such a setup, it would be out of character for Gehrig. Given Mitchell's tutelage from Vance and the fact that her sidearm lefty delivery gave her the platoon advantage against both sluggers, it's not a huge stretch that she struck them out on merit.
But, if you really want an answer, there may be few better people to ask than Mitchell. Not only did she believe she struck them out fair and square, but she threw some shade on the Hall of Famers for good measure. “Why, hell, they were trying, damn right,” she said in 1987. “Hell, better hitters than them couldn’t hit me. Why should they’ve been any different?”
It was widely reported that baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell's contract in the aftermath of the game, citing that baseball was too strenuous for women. Though there is no proof of this, it wouldn't exactly be out of character for Landis.
Without a professional career to turn to, Mitchell hit the barnstorming circuit with a squad called House of David. The Michigan-based religious colony advocated physical fitness among its members, leading to a successful baseball team. As part of their beliefs, all players had shoulder-length hair and beards.
In 1933, House of David reached outside their community to sign Mitchell, then 19 years old, who they were familiar with through interactions in amateur ball. Aside from appearing in a game against the Cardinals, there's not much of a record of her time with House of David.
Apparently, Mitchell wasn't enamored with the barnstorming style of baseball. She allegedly grew tired of the team's on-field antics, including playing games while riding donkeys. In 1937, she retired and moved back home to join her father's optometry office back in Chattanooga.
Mitchell's career, especially in the professional ranks, may not have been as long as she hoped when Engel first offered her a contract in 1931. But, in terms of what one can accomplish from facing three batters, striking out two Hall of Fame sluggers is about as good as it gets.
Comments
Not all that unusual really. This is why say "slow pitch" change-ups can fool the best power hitters. As well as other off speed pitches, etc.
In reality, in a real MLB game, perhaps Ruth and Gehrig might be fooled for their first one or two at bats. But they would quickly adjust, and then absolutely crush the baseball.
Makes for an entertaining newspaper headline, but in reality is very misleading.
It was all done to get more women interested in baseball.
Almost certainly a promotional stunt that was scripted with a big strike zone and them just not taking it seriously.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
I assume at this late date there's no way to know for sure, but I call BS. Ruth and Gehrig striking out makes a great story, and they knew it, and so they struck out. Lazzeri was probably supposed to strike out, too, but wasn't willing to swing and miss at bad pitches. After he went off script, the owner figured others might, too, so he pulled her. No other plausible reason for bringing her in, watching her strike out the two best hitters in the game, and then pull her after one walk.
I was there. It was legit. She high-lo’d em both.
Story is 100% legit!!!
Don’t believe the naysayers!!!!
The next day she struck out
Munson and Mattingly back to back!!!
Ruth, Gehrig, and others didn't go all the way over to Japan to fool around during the games. Perhaps fool around with the Geisha Girls, but not the games. This wasn't any Harlem Globetrotters type of event.
Credit where credit is due, the young lady struck both of them out during a game, and that's a fact. For the exact reason previously stated.
The promoter pulled her early because he knew what I knew. That if she stayed in the game, later on both Ruth and Gehrig likely would have decimated her, and then she might have little or no publicity value. Simple as that.
If we get to heaven and all of our questions get answered, I am 99.9999% confident that we will find out Ruth and Gehrig struck out on purpose.
What the devil can't answer simple questions such as this? 😆
Nice that you have the confidence, but you would be 100% incorrect.
I think you may be equating say your young daughter pitching a whiffle ball to you in the backyard, and you're batting, and you intentionally strike out. This was a professional setting and there's no conceivable way that Ruth or Gehrig laid down and intentionally allowed this female pitcher to strike them out.
i've played coed softball a few times at company outings, neighborhood games, etc, and it didn't matter who was pitching, male or female, we were all trying to knock the cover off the ball, and that was just for fun.
So for a few minutes in time, Ruth and Gehrig got owned by a 17 year old girl. Frankly, I doubt if it bothered them one bit. At some point after the game, I'd be sure they walked up to her and congratulated her on the achievement. Especially Ruth who is not only the GOAT, but the greatest of all time goodwill ambassador for MLB. 😊
Here are some photos of Jackie Mitchell with Ruth and Gehrig, I don't know if these photos were taken before or after the strikeouts. Word on the street is she had a wicked breaking ball!
Something to think about: in womens fast-pitch softball, due to the shorter distance from the rubber to the plate, the best women pitchers give the hitters less reaction time than an MLB player would have, from the moment of release till the ball reaches the plate.
I'd be sure that's what she threw them. Because if she threw these killers her fastball, the ball would still be up in orbit around the earth. 😆
Its essentially the same reaction time. 71 from a softball mound is equal to 100 from a baseball mound. The fastest ever softball pitch was 77 and a girl pitching for the University of Tennessee has hit 76 but its not consistently sustainable. Even at those speeds its equivalent to 108-110 which is just slightly shorter reaction time than all the guys out there throwing 101 102. The overwhelming vast majority of softball pitchers will be in the 60s (even in the SEC that absolutely dominates softball) which is equal to being in the 90s from a baseball mound.
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
There were definitely some shenanigans in play. If you look into it more it was a meaningless exhibition game against a AA team and somehow Ruth and Lou supposedly swung 5 times and missed all 5 pitches. Ruth was called out looking and apparently was furious at the umpire.. Its unlikely either were taking the at bat very seriously. Whether or not they were told to strike out intentionally, the umpire had an extra large strike zone, they were told to swing and miss a couple times etc, something was going on.
There is small chance she was just throwing so slow it messed them up, but it was a promotional stunt that backfired. The commish voided her contract like a week later and basically banned women from playing in the league
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
Yes and blacks were banned from the league as well.
Just like blacks, it was prejudice against women.
The banning of her could have been. It also could have been not wanting to have a spectacle or corruption on the field. Whatever it was its extremely suspicious and theres almost no chance that Ruth and Lou swung 5 times without even a foul tip without something going on
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
"If Gehrig or Ruth did strike out on purpose, neither owned up to it in subsequent years. While it would surprise no one if Ruth were in on such a setup, it would be out of character for Gehrig. Given Mitchell's tutelage from Vance and the fact that her sidearm lefty delivery gave her the platoon advantage against both sluggers, it's not a huge stretch that she struck them out on merit."
Both Ruth and Gehrig as we know, passed at a way too early of an age. That being said, there's no way by then they wouldn't have divulged something this juicy if they had struck out on purpose.
She struck them out, fair and square, and the facts point to that conclusion.
I seriously doubt either or them spent a second thinking about that at bat on their death beds especially Lou with literally having a disease named after him.
It was a meaningless exhibition at bats. Something was up, she wasnt out there throwing 100. Strikeout happen and college teams can beat pro teams sometimes. 5 swings with 0 contact and Lou striking out on 3 pitches he swung at every one from a minor league pitcher that gave up basically a run an inning is not believable
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mitche001j--
Wisconsin 2-6 against the SEC since 2007
I think you’ve proven what happened beyond any doubt now.