On August 19, 1945 in the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., two teams in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) faced each other in a doubleheader; the Fort Wayne Daisies swept the Rockford Peaches, led to victory in both games by their impressive starting pitcher, Dorothy Wilste.
Wilste or Dottie Collins, as she was better known, remembered that day well in her later years for two different reasons: She helped to beat the number one team in the league and, after the second game, she met her future husband, sailor Harvey Collins. Less than a year after this initial meeting, the two were married on Sunday, March 10, 1946 at her parents’ home in Inglewood, California.
Collins didn’t allow her newly married life to keep her from playing. She participated in both the 1946 and 1947 seasons. But, roughly two years after they were married, Collins discovered that she was pregnant. Very few people knew about Collins’ pregnancy. Besides her family and doctor, only her manager, Dick Bass, and her catcher, Mary Rountree, knew. Both later admitted to being worried for her and tried to figure out ways to keep both her and the baby safe. Her doctor had cleared her to play, telling Collins that she would know when it was time to stop. She did, and on Aug. 1, 1948, after the first game of a doubleheader against the Peoria Redwings with a 13-8 record and 2.01 earned-run average, Collins took a leave of absence from the league. The Collins’ first child, a daughter they named Patricia, was born on Dec. 22, 1948.
Everyone was very excited for the birth of Patty. It was even announced with great fanfare in the All-American Girls’ newsletter, the Mail-Bag, in January 1949. A fan was so thrilled by the birth that they made Patty a matching Fort Wayne Daisies uniform, possibly the very one she is wearing in this photo of her and her mother in 1950 when Patty was about 19 months old. Patty attended games early in her life, cheering on her mother with her father and paternal grandmother, Hetty Collins.