They also played: Black women in baseball

A 1920 Chicago bloomer team defeated a local boys’ club, 16-6, behind the pitching of Madam J. H. Caldwell. They won a doubleheader, 6-5 and 2-1, over another local boys’ club. Caldwell was the winning pitcher in the first game. Papers indicated her team played every Sunday in local parks on the South Side of the city. Caldwell was still leading her club to victory with a 10-6 win over the Washington Girls at a park in Gary, Ind., in 1922. The Eastside girls from Los Angeles played in a four-team league in the late 1920s. They were led by first baseman Genevieve Hawkins and pitcher Clarice Williams.

Throughout central New Jersey, the Nelson Bloomer Girls played men’s and women’s teams in the early 1930s. Under the pitching leadership of Hannah Marberry, the team compiled a 14-game winning streak in the summer of 1932. Lucille Albright hit two home runs to help Marberry win, 16-4, over a New Brunswick Black girls team. A Texas paper in 1933 advertised two teams — the Kingsville Girls and the Houston Girls — playing each other, though no follow-up story has been found. The same year in Omaha, Neb., a 10-team league was being created for African American women. Officers were elected and a call went out for players and other opponents to send in their interest to Lucille Fletcher. The Tampa Stars were credited with 26 consecutive wins after a 14-6 victory over the Polk County All-Stars on July 11, 1933. The Harlem Belles played in Los Angeles in 1936. Local papers lauded Maxidell Jones as the leading hitter and fielder on the team. Jones played second base, while Anna and Alma McCord added to their team’s strength with excellent play at third base and in center field. 

Few individual players received extensive coverage — though some did. A good example of the typical coverage is found in a 1935 article talking about a Black female pitcher leading her Nacogdoches (Texas) team, hoping to play in Shreveport, La. The article never mentions the young lady’s name while talking about her skill in leading her club to victory. In contrast, on a June afternoon in 1927, Miss Pearl Corine Renfroe made the freshman baseball team at the University of Minnesota. She pitched her club to the all-University championship. The local paper explained she was the first Black girl to have such an opportunity. As a result of her achievements, she also made the varsity women’s team. Her athletic accomplishments were matched by her academic skills, especially in debate. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, she won a scholarship to attend the New York School of Social Service.

Another individual player to gain notice was Isabelle Baxter, playing for the Cleveland Giants in 1933. Baxter played second base for the Giants when they were an independent club and not part of the Negro Leagues. In a game against the Canton Clowns, Baxter was 1-for-3 at the plate while handling several plays in the field flawlessly. Her one mistake was a bad throw to first base after a tough play to knock down the ball. Baxter went on to have a successful softball and bowling career, well into the 1950s. A photo of Baxter as the Queen of softball appeared in the Cleveland Call and Post in September 1950.

Before Toni Stone got her opportunity to play for the Kansas City Monarchs and Indianapolis Clowns in the mid-1950s, she played in New Orleans. Stone, however, was not the first Black woman playing for a New Orleans team. Baseball executive Allen Page signed two young women in 1948 to play for the New Orleans Creoles. Fabiola Wilson and Gloria Dymond were college students who could play baseball. Both played the outfield and impressed their own manager as well as other baseball executives like Hank Rigney, owner of the Negro League Toledo Crawfords. Rigney praised both women for their range and ability to judge fly balls. They were not just a gate attraction but played on the field because they had skills.

Connie Morgan joined the Indianapolis Clowns after playing baseball and basketball in Philadelphia. One of her local teammates, Charlotte Shelton, dominated in baseball and basketball. They were joined on the local Sepia Stars by Jean McCray, Betty and Lucinda Mackey, Sonja Pinkney, Geneva Jefferson, Joan Channing, Ivy Anderson and Doris Jackson. These ladies all played multiple sports, but baseball, softball and basketball seemed to be the main attractions. Shelton and her teammates also played for the Rockettes and the Honeydrippers.