KID ELBERFELD
  • Home
  • Elberfeld Family History
    • Elberfelds in Germany
    • Elberfelds Come to America
    • Other Elberfelds in Germany and America
    • Norman Arthur Elberfeld's Family
    • Relatives in Print
  • Baseball Card Check List
    • Card Naming System
    • Kid Elberfeld Baseball Card Check Lists
    • Cigarette Cards 1903 - 1910 >
      • 1903-04 Breisch-Williams E107
      • 1902 Sporting Life W600 Sporting Life Cabinets
      • 1905 Carl Horner Cabinets Kid Elberfeld #7
      • 1906 WG2 Fan Craze Baseball Cards
      • 1908 PC760 Rose Company Postcards
      • 1909-11 Colgan's Chips E254 Colgan Gum Co Chips
      • 1909-11 T206 American Tobacco Company White Borders >
        • 1909 - 1911 T206 American Tobacco Co. White Borders Kid Elberfeld Fielding Card #:159
        • 1909-11 T206 American Tobacco Co. White Borders Portrait - New York Card #:160
        • 1909 - 1911 T206 American Tobacco Co. White Borders Portrait - Washington Card #:161
      • 1909 T204 Ramly
      • 1909 German Stamp of Kid Elberfeld
      • 1910 Darby Chocolates E271
      • 1910-13 Red Cross T215
      • 1910 - 12 Kid Elberfeld P2 Sweet Caporal Pin
    • Cigarette Cards 1911 - 1920 >
      • 1911 M116 Sporting Life
      • 1911 T3 American Tobacco Company Turkey Red Cabinets
      • 1911 T201 Mecca Double Folders Baseball Cards
      • 1911 T205 Gold Border
      • 1911 Pinkerton T5
      • 1911 S74 Silks
      • 1912 T202 Hassan Triple Folders
      • 1912 Colgan's Chips Red Border
      • 1912 T215 Pirate Cigarettes
      • 1912-13 T215 Red Cross Tobacco (Type 2) Fielding
      • 1914 T213 Coupon Cigarettes
      • 1914 Piedmont Stamps T330-2
      • 1915 T214 Victory Cigarettes
    • Reprints 1972 - 2000 >
      • 1972 Classic Card Reprint
      • 1980 Nostalgic Enterprises 1903 NY Highlanders Reprint Baseball Card
      • 1980s 1911 T205 American Tobacco Co. Gold Borders Reprint
      • 1983 Renata Galasso and Capital Reprints >
        • 1982 Renata Galasso 1910-1911 T3 Turkey Red Baseball Card
        • 1983 Capital 1909 - 1911 T206 Portrait - Washington
        • 1983 Capital 1909 - 1911 T206 American Tobacco Co. Portrait - New York
        • 1983 Capital 1909 - 1911 T206 American Tobacco Co. Washington Fielding
      • 1987 Baseball Hall of Shame Baseball Card
      • 1988 CCC T-206 Reprint Baseball Card
      • 1989 Chattanooga Lookouts
      • 1990 Target Dodgers
      • 1990 Reprint 1904 Fan Craze AL WG2 Baseball Card Game - Kid Elberfeld - New York Portrait
      • 1991 Dover Mecca 1911 Double-Folder
      • 1992 Conlon Recreated Baseball Card - Kid Elberfeld - Washington Fielding
      • 1993 Ramly Reprint Baseball Card
    • Reprints 2001 - >
      • 2005 - 2010 Topps Reprints >
        • 2005 Topps 1910 T3 Turkey Red
        • 2010 Topps T206 Full Size
        • 2010 Topps Mini T-206 Reprint Baseball Cards
        • 2010 Topps Mini Special Reprints
        • 2010 Topps 206 Cut Signature Book BC3 Kid Elberfeld
      • 2010 -- now Helmar Recreations >
        • 2010 Helmar Brooklyn Robins
        • 2012 Helmar Washington Portrait
        • 2013 Helmar Washington Fielding
        • 2012 Helmar 1908 New York Highlanders Team Picture
        • 2012 Helmar 1908 Washington Senators Team Picture
        • 2018 Helmar Oasis, #193 Kid Elberfeld
        • 2019 L1-Helmar, #18 Kid Elberfeld Leather
        • 2021 Helmar Cabinet
        • 2021 Helmar Water Color
      • 2011 ZeeNut Art Series Reprint Baseball Cards
      • 2014 Ars Longa Promotional Card for Pilgrims Series
      • 2014 Sporting Life “Exhibit” Series
      • 2015 Spanish Card
      • 2015 Old Liberty
      • 2016 Banty Red
      • 2025 Old Frog 1901 Kid Elberfeld
  • Artifacts
    • Kid Elberfeld's Signature
    • Baseball Bats
    • 1908 Game TIcket
  • Biographies and Statistics
    • Statistics Resources
    • 1930 - Baseball Histiory Daily
    • April 13 - Pinstripe Birthdays
    • Baseball Wiki - Kid Elberfeld Bio
    • Biographical Dictionary
    • Brooklyn Dodger Memories - Elberfeld Bio
    • Bronx Bummers
    • The Chattanooga Lookouts
    • The Days of Wee Willie, Old Cy and Baseball War
    • Deadball Stars
    • EIGHT MEN OUT: HALL OF FAME PLAYERS WE’VE FORGOTTEN - July 26, 2014 · by Zack Murphy ·
    • Hall of Fame Debate - Introducing… Kid Elberfeld
    • Helmar Bio - Swinging and Spitting
    • Jackie and the Juniors vs. Margaret and the Bloomers by Barbara Gregorich
    • Kid Elberfeld - Baseball Library
    • Kid Elberfeld’s Trip From Washington To Montgomery–Through Milwaukee - August 4, 2011 by Dennis Pajot
    • The Local Boys: Hometown Players for the Cincinnati Reds
    • Norman Arthur Elberfeld (The Tabasco Kid) - baseball-reference.com
    • The New Biographical History of Baseball: The Classic—Completely Revised by Donald Dewey, Nicholas Acocella and Jerome Holtzman (Jan 1, 2002)
    • New York Yankee Card
    • This Date in Washington Senators History by Art Audley
    • This Day in Baseball
    • The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires...Mar 20, 2012 by David Nemec
    • Pinstripe Alley Top 100 Yankees: #81 Kid Elberfeld
    • Remembering Former Yankees INF Kid "The Tabasco Kid" Elberfeld
    • Remembering the Tobasco Kid by Mississippi Matt Smith
    • The Early Southern Association -- 1901 -1926
    • The National Game by Alfred Henry Spink
    • May 17, 1933 - St. Petersburg Independent
    • Wahoo Sam Summary
    • What made Kid Elberfeld such a tough guy and his impact on two Hall of Famers June 10, 2014 by John Pielli
    • Yankees all-time best shortstops
    • The Yankee Encyclopedia
    • Definitions of Baseball Terms
    • Manager Record
    • Transactions
    • Ejections
  • Articles
    • 1908 Teddy Roosevelt Poem
    • Arkansas Travelers Baseball Team History
    • Autumn Glory: Baseballs First World Series Paperback – January 1, 2003 by Louis Masur
    • Ballads of Baseball By George Moriarty - 1922
    • Baseball's Best 1000
    • Baseball Hall of Shame 3 Paperback – December 1, 1988 by Bruce Nash
    • Baseball in Springfield
    • Billy Evans Says - Kid Elberfeld's Baseball Signals
    • Billy Evans Says: Getting Hit by Pitches
    • Baseball Poem by Alex Klenman
    • Batting Stance Guy A Love Letter to Baseball
    • Characters of the Diamonf
    • Chattanooga Lookouts History
    • Chattanooga Trivia - John Shearer - Mountain Press, Inc. 2000
    • Crazy '08
    • The Deacon and the Schoolmaster
    • Detroit Aces: The First 75 Years (MI) (Images of Baseball) by Mark Rucker (May 1, 2006)
    • Detroit Sluggers: The First 75 Years (MI) (Images of Baseball) Paperback – June 5, 2006
    • Detroit Tigers All Decade Team: 1901-1909
    • Dugout Legends: “THE TABASCO KID"
    • Field of Screams: The Dark Underside of America's National Pastime - Richard Scheinin - W. W. Norton & Company, 1994
    • Forfeits and Successfully Protested Games
    • The Glory of Their Times
    • The Great Wigwag Scheme of 1909 By Mike Lynch
    • Greatness in Waiting
    • Harwinton's (CT) History - The New York Yankees Visit the Fair
    • Legendary Locals of Chattanooga - William F. Hull
    • New York Yankees History - sportsecyclopedia.com
    • Occasional Glory: The History of the Philadelphia Phillies
    • Peanuts & Crackerjack: A Treasury Of Baseball Legends And Lore by David Cataneo
    • Pro baseball has long, rich history in Richmond - Bill Lohmann - Updated Jan 29, 2013
    • Ranking the Tigers: All-time shortstops - Posted on February 22, 2011
    • Signal Mountain - Images of America
    • Standing the Gaff: The Life and Hard Times of a Minor League Umpire By Harry Johnson
    • The Early Southern Association - 1901 - 1926
    • Uncle Mike's Musings: A Yankees Blog and More
    • Who Will Be the Next Yankee Captain?
    • The Worst Call Ever!
    • The Yankees Baseball Reader: A Collection of Writings on the Game's Greatest Dynasty - Adam Brunner, Josh Leventhal - MVP Books, Apr 15, 2011 - Sports & Recreation - 352 pages
    • Yankees Triviology: Fascinating Facts from the Bleacher Seats - Paperback – October 1, 2011 by Neil Shalin
  • Players Kid Helped
    • Lucius Benjamin "Luke" Appling
    • James Phillip 'Jimmy' Austin
    • Brennan
    • Hal Chase
    • Tyrus Raymond Cobb >
      • Cobb: A Biography By Al Stump
      • Damn Yankees
      • How Cobb Played the Game
      • How Cobb Played the Game - Part 4
      • Inside Baseball With TY COBB
      • My Life in Baseball
      • My Twenty Years in Baseball
      • Tricks That Won
    • Harry Coveleski
    • Billy Evans - Umpire
    • David Lewis (Dave) Fultz
    • Burleigh Arland Grimes >
      • Burleigh Grimes: Baseball's Last Legal Spitballer
      • Burleigh Grimes - TheBaseballPage.com
    • Tim Hurst - Umpire Extraordinaire - Joe Dittmar
    • Travis "Stonewall" Jackson >
      • Travis "Stonewall" Jackson Story
      • Travis Calvin Jackson (1903–1987)
      • New York Giants: An Informal History of a Great Baseball Club (Writing Baseball) by Mr. Frank Graham Jr. and Mr. Ray Robinson (Apr 1, 2002)
    • William Henry Keeler
    • Sam Leever
    • John Kelly Lewis, Jr.
    • Jackie Mitchell >
      • Baseball: A Special Gift from God
      • Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball
      • Encyclopedia.com - Mitchell, Jackie (1914–1987)
      • The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
      • Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball - Jackie Mitchell
    • O’Loughlin
    • Hub Perdue
    • Tom Seaton and Casey Smith
    • Casey Stengel >
      • May 11, 1960 - Corpus Christi Times, TX - Casey Starts 2nd 50 Years in Baseball
      • Stengel: His Life and Times by Robert W. Creamer
      • Unforgettable Casey Stengel: Billy Martin with Mark Kram
      • You Could Look It Up: The Life of Casey Stengel Maury Allen, 1979 Times Books
      • Young Casey - http://ourgame.mlblogs.com
    • Gabby Street
    • William Harold Terry >
      • September 21, 1933 - The Story of Bill Terry by Daniel M. Daniel
      • When the Giants Were Giants: Bill
      • '''Terrible Terry''' By Bill Terry, Manager of the New York Giants, as told to Arthur Mann
    • Cecil Travis >
      • Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators: The War-Torn Career of an All-Star Shortstop [Paperback] by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, Dave Kindred'
      • Cecil Howell Travis - Shortstop - SUPER SENATOR!
    • James “Jim” Riley Turner
    • George Edward (Rube) Waddell >
      • Baseball History Daily
    • Honus Wagner
    • Mose J. YellowHorse
  • Time Line
    • 1875 - 1899 >
      • 1875 - Born in Pomeroy, OH >
        • April 13, 1875 - Norman A. Elberfield in the Ohio, Births and Christenings Index,
      • 1876 - Pomeroy, OH
      • 1880 - At home
      • 1891 - Cincinnati, OH >
        • 1891 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
      • 1892 - Cincinnati, OH >
        • 1892 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • 1900 - Detroit
      • 1894 - Norwood >
        • 1894 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • October 22, 1894 - The Cincinnati Enquirer
      • 1895 - Clarksville, KY >
        • 1895 - Clarksville, KY
      • 1896 - Texas >
        • 1896 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • June 20, 1896 - The Public Ledger - Maysville, KY - Article on Kid Eberfeld
        • July 6, 1896 - The Public Ledger - Maysville, KY
        • August 14, 1896 - The Public Ledger - Maysville, KY
      • 1897 - Richmond Bluebirds, Johnnie Rebs, Giants - traded to Philadelphia Phillies >
        • 1897 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • 1897 - Kid Elberfeld listed with statistics for Richmond
        • September 9, 1897 Richmond Virginia Herald- Picture and story
        • May 7, 1897 - The Times - Richmond VA
      • 1898 - Philadelphia to Detroit >
        • March 24, 1898 - The Times, Philadelphia, PA
        • April 20, 1898 - The Cincinnati Enquirer
        • September 19, 1898 - Cincinnati Enquirer, OH
        • 1899 Cincinnati Roster
      • 1899 - Detroit to Cincinnati >
        • 1899 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • June 19, 1899 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan)- Kid Elberfeld Hit by Pitch
        • August 1, 1899 - Elberfeld attacks Haskell
        • August 14, 1899 - The Kansas City Journal, MO
        • August 22, 1899 - The Journal News - Hamilton, OH
        • August 22, 1899 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) - Kid Elberfeld sold to Cincinnati
    • 1900 - 1909 >
      • 1900 - Cincinnati to Richomond >
        • 1900 Residence - Cincinnati, OH
        • 1900 Federal Census
        • June 10, 1900 - Detroit Free Press Box Score
        • July 18, 1900 - The Cincinnati Enquirer, OH
        • August 31, 1900 - The Indianapolis News, IN
        • August 31, 1900 - The Indianapolis News, IN
        • October 14, 1900 - The Journal and Tribune Knoxville, Tennessee - Norma Elberfeld marries Emily Grace Catlow
      • 1901 - Richmond Bluebirds, Detroit Tigers >
        • 1901 Uniform - American League Detroit
        • 1901 - in Old Detroit
        • 1901 - Detroit Lineup and Summary
        • 1901 - Summary of year for the Detroit Tigers
        • 1901 - Detroit Tiger Lineup
        • January 7, 1901 - The Daily Inter Ocean - Chicago, IL
        • March, 1901 - Richmond Bluebirds
        • April 29, 1901 - Pop Dillon and Kid Elberfeld hit homers
        • August 22, 1901 - The Boston Post, MA
        • August 22, 1901 - The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) - Elberfeld Arrested
        • August 22, 1901 - The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) - Elberfeld A​rrested
        • September 3, 1901 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) - Record Assists
        • November 10, 1901 - The St. Paul Globe MI
      • 1902 - Detroit >
        • January 9, 1902 - Peace Treaty
        • 1902 Detroit Tigers Season
        • 1902 Detroit Tigers Lineup
        • August 1, 1902 - Detroit Tigers
        • August 4, 1902 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) - Elberfeld Will Remain in Detroit
        • August 25, 1902 - The Evening World, NYC, NY
        • December 2, 1902 - The Pittsburgh Press - Discoverer of Elberfeld
      • 1903 - Traded by Detroit Tigers to New York Highlanders (Yankees) >
        • 1903 - Abram I. Elkus: The New York Yankees' First Lawyer - ​KENTUCKY LAW JOURNAL - C. Norman Elberfeld's Injunction (1903)
        • 1903 American League Preview
        • 1903 American League - 1903 American League History
        • April 15, 1903. - Arizona Tombstone Epitaphs.
        • April 30, 1903 - First Yankee Home Game
        • May 7, 1903 - Detroit Free Press
        • June 3, 1903 - The Cincinnati Enquirer, OH
        • June 3, 1903 St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri) - Kid charged with Throwing Games
        • June 6, 1903 - The Cincinnati Enquirer, OH
        • June 8, 1903 - The Washington Post
        • June 19, 1903 - The Evening World, NYC, NY - Elberfeld plays for NY in Detroit
        • July 4, 1903 - The New York Times
        • July 5, 1903 -The St. Louis Republic, MO - American and National League
        • July 16, 1903 - The Washington Post - BASEBALL CASE IN COURT.
        • July 17, 1903 - The Ottawa Evening Journal, Canada
        • July 19, 1903 - The New York Times
        • July 25, 1903 - Utica Sunday Globe - Article and Picture
        • August 1, 1903 - Rube Wadell Story
        • October 5, 1903 - Cincinnati Enquirer, IL
        • November 17, 1903 - The Cincinnati Enquirer. OH
      • 1904 - Highlanders >
        • February 2, 1904 - The St. Paul Gobe, MO - NORMAN ELBERFELD TELLS OF SOME GREAT PLAYS
        • February 3, 1904 - Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia) - Huge Story
        • September 4, 1904 - The Washington Post, DC
        • September 17, 1904 Sporting Life Article and Photo
        • October 10, 1904 - The Chesbro Wild Pitch
        • October 10, 1904 - Elberfeld's Comment
        • December 9, 1904 - The Wilkes-Barre Record, PA
      • 1905 - Highlanders >
        • February 5, 1905 - The Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL
        • April 5, 1905 - The Evening World, NYC NY
        • June 3, 1905 - The Evening World, NYC, NY
        • June 5, 1905 - The Evening World NYC NY
        • July 14, 1905 - Detroit Free Press
        • July 5, 1905 - The Evening World, NYC, NY
        • August 12, 1905 - The Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL
        • Augusts 21, 1905 - The New York Times
        • August 21, 1905 - The Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL
        • August 22, 1905 - The Minneapolis Journal, MN
        • August 24, 1905 - The Washington Post
        • August 31, 1905 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) - Ty Cobb's First Game - Elberfeld
        • September 10, 1905 - The Washington Post, DC - Run in with umpire
        • October 1, 1905 - The New York Tribune, NY
        • October 1, 1905 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY
        • October 2, 1905 - The Washington Post, DC
      • 1906 - Highlanders >
        • 1906 Season
        • February 18, 1906 - The Scranton Republican, PA
        • March 21, 1906 - The New York Times
        • May 15, 1906 - The New York Times
        • June 3, 1906 - The Washington Post
        • June 10, 1906 - The Washington Post
        • June 13, 1906 - Daily Press (Sheboygan, WI)
        • August 9, 1906 - St. Louis Globe-Democrat St. Louis, Missouri - Elberfeld Tries to Assault Empire
        • August 10. 1906 - The New York Times
        • August 14, 1906 - The Washington Post, DC
        • August 17, 1906 - The Washington Post, DC
        • August 19, 1906 - The Washington Post, DC
        • August 19, 1906 - Los Angeles Herald, CA
        • August 29, 1906 - The New York Times
        • September 4, 1906 - The New York Times
        • September 4, 1906 - The Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL
        • September 7, 1906 - The Evening Star, Washington, DC
        • September 24, 1906 - The New York Times
        • October 4, 1906 - Harrisburg Telegraph, PA - Elberfeld Invents New Game
        • October 30, 1906 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
        • Nov 4, 1906 - Los Angeles Times, CA - Elberfeld Invents New Game
      • 1907 - Highlanders >
        • January 10, 1907 - The Post Standard (Syracuse, New York)
        • January 27,1907 - The Washington Post
        • May 10, 1907 - The New York Times
        • May 11, 1907 - Invention of the Squeeze Play
        • May 15, 1907 - The Day, New London, CT - Double Score on Squeeze Play
        • June 28, 1907 - Chadron Record (Chadron, Nebraska) -
        • July 29, 1907 - The Pittsburgh Press - Likely to Trade
        • August 7, 1907 - The New York Times
        • August 8, 1907 - Pittsburgh Press
        • August 19, 1907 - The New York Times
        • August 19, 1907 - Waterbury Democrat (Waterbury, Connecticut) - Kid Elberfeld and Ump Brennan story
        • September 30, 1907 - The Worst Call Ever!
      • 1908 - Injury ends playing season, becomes Highlander's manager >
        • 1908 Season Summary - Reach
        • February 16, 1908 - The New York Times - SPRING TRAINING FOR LOCAL TEAMS
        • March 11, 1908 - New London, CT Day
        • June 25, 1908 - The Washington PostB
        • July 5, 1908 - The Courier, Harrisburg, PA - New Manager aticle
        • June 13, 1908 - The Daily Press - Sheboygan, WI
        • June 26, 1908 - The New York Times
        • June 26, 1908 - The Anaconda Standard MT
        • July 5, 1908 - The New York Times
        • July 21, 1908 - Sheboygan Daily Press
        • August 20, 1908 - The New York Times
        • 1908 New York Highlanders Season Recap
        • December 6, 1908 - The Washington Post
        • Dec 9, 1908 - The Washington Post - NO DEALS TO BE MADE
      • 1909 - To Washington >
        • Jan 15, 1909 - The Washington Post
        • January 26, 1909 - The Washington Post
        • April 1, 1909 - The New York Times - NO ELBERFELD DEAL
        • April 10, 1909 - The New York Times
        • April 11, 1909 - The New York Times
        • April 20, 1909 - The New York Times - Elberfeld is Ill
        • May 8, 1909 New-York Tribune (New York, New York) - Umpire Punches Elberfeld
        • May 8, 1909 - The La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wisconsin) - Umpire Hurst Hits Elberfield
        • May 8, 1909 - The New York Times
        • May 18, 1909 - The Spokane Press (Spokane, Washington) - Article Against Violence in Baseball
        • June 19, 1909 - The New York Times - Elberfeld is Banished
        • November 03, 1909 - The Ogdensburg journal, NY
        • November 14, 1909 - Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia) - Elberfeld out of NY
        • December 8, 1909 - The Ogdensburg Journal, NY - Stallings to get rid of Elberfeld
        • December 14, 1909 - The Washington Post
        • December 15, 1909 - The Washington Post - BATTERY SPY ESCAPES
        • December 16, 1909 - Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia1 Elberfeld to Washington
    • 1910 - 1919 >
      • 1910 - Washington >
        • 1910 All-Star Team - Spalding
        • 1910 Census
        • March 27, 1910 - The New York Times
        • May 15, 1910 - The Washington Post
        • June 2, 1910 - The Washington Post
        • June 15, 1910 - The Washington Post - READY FOR ST. LOUIS
        • July 9, 1910 - The Marion Daily Star, OH - Elberfeld describing third base plays
        • October 5, 1910 - The Republican Farmer (Darlington, Wisconsin)
        • November 6, 1910 - The Washington Post, DC
        • December 9, 1910 - The Washington Herald
      • 1911 - Washington >
        • 1911 Washington Nationals
        • February 12, 1911 - The Washington Post
        • March 19, 1911 - The Washington Post
        • March 26, 1911 - The Washington Pos
        • March 31, 1911 - The Ogdensburg journal
        • April 24, 1911 - The Washington Post
        • November 1, 1911 - Sheboygan Press WI
        • July 4, 1911 - The New York Times
        • Dec 12, 1911 The Washington Post pg. 8 Naps and Tigers Refuse to Waive on Pitcher Groom
        • December 15, 1911 - The Baltimore Sun
        • December 19, 1911 - Vancouver Daily World, BC
        • December 21, 1911 - The Washington Post
      • 1912 - Montgomery >
        • 1912 - In Montgomery with Casey Stengel
        • January 14, 1912 - The Pittsburgh Press - Elberfeld May Be Released
        • January 19, 1912 - Evening Post (Frederick, Maryland)
        • January 21, 1912 - The Washington Times, DC
        • May 26, 1912 - The Washington Post
        • August 27, 1912 Evening Post (Frederick, Maryland)
        • October 31, 1912 - Ogdensburg Journal, NY
      • 1913 - Chattanooga >
        • 1913 Southern League Records
        • March 3, 1913 - The Ogdensburg Journal, NY
        • April 20, 1913 - The Washington Post
        • July 14, 1913 - The Daily Commonwealth - Fon du Lac, WI
      • 1914 - Brooklyn >
        • January, 1914 - The International Confectioner
        • February 16, 1914 - Lima Daily News, OH
        • February 16, 1914 - Lima Daily News, OH
        • February 28, 1914 - The Indianapolis Star. IN
        • April 1, 1914 Evening Post (Frederick, Maryland) -Elberfeld with Brooklyn
        • May 21, 1914 - The Milwaukee Sentinel
        • August 4, 1914 - Colorado Spring Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
        • December 18, 1914 - Christian Science Monitor
      • 1915 - Chattnooga >
        • January 11, 1915 - Waiver from Brooklyn Robins - carbon copy
        • April 28, 1915 - The Ogdensburg Journal NY
      • 1916 - Chattanooga >
        • April 6, 1916 - The New York Times
        • April 16, 1916 The Lincoln Daily Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) - Chattanooga Manager
        • April 12, 1916 - The Lincoln Daily Star, NE
        • June 1, 1916 - Daily Sentinal (Fitchburg, MA)
        • June 4, 1916 - The Washington Post
      • 1917 - Chattanooga Lookouts Manager >
        • April 10, 1917 - Reading News-Times, PA - Birthday Article
        • April 16, 1917 - The Washington Post
        • April 25, 1917 - Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas) - Predicts Elberfeld will be fined
        • April 25, 1917 - The Chattanooga News (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Treatment by Umpires​
        • April 26, 1917 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Play Pink-Tea Ball
        • April 26, 1917 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Ejected
        • April 27, 1917 The Chattanooga News -Tea Party and Silence
        • April 27, 1917 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Suspended and Fined
        • April 29, 1917 - Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas) - Elberfeld the Silent
        • April 30, 1917 - The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama) - Elberfeld out for week
        • May 1, 1917 - Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas) - Tea Party
        • May 1, 1917 - Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)- Presdient's Reaction to Tea Party
        • May 1, 1917 - The Chattanooga News (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Military Training for Team
      • 1918 - Little Rock >
        • July 12, 1918 Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)
        • August 4, 1918 - The Washington Post
        • September 27, 1918 - World War I Draft Registration
        • October 15, 1918 - Connellsville PA Daily Courier
      • 1919 - Little Rock >
        • March 29, 1919 - Arkansas Democrat
        • April 24, 1919 - Daily Arkansas Gazette
        • May 9, 1919 - Daily Arkansas Gazette
        • May 9, 1919 Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)
        • May 24, 1919 - Daily Arkansas Gazette
        • July 12, 1919 - Daily Arkansas Gazette
        • July 26, 1919 - The Milwaukee Sentinel - Atlanta Grabs Kid Elberfeld
        • September 4, 1919 - The Washington Post
        • October 7, 1919 - Christian Science Monitor
    • 1920 - 1929 Tme Line >
      • 1920 - Little Rock Arkansas Travelers Manager >
        • 1920 Census
        • 1920 Residence - Little Rock, AR
        • 1920 Little Rock Travelers Manager - Record
        • 1920 Little Rock Manager and the Memphis Chicks
        • June 13, 1920 - The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) - Elberfeld Suspended
        • August 17, 1920 - The Washington Post
        • September 27, 1920 - The Time Tribune, Altoona, PA
        • September 28, 1920 - Christian Science Monitor
        • October 29, 1920 - Olean Evening Herald
      • 1921 - Little Rock Travelers Manager >
        • June 19, 1921 Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas) - Nan Elberfeld Athletics
        • August 6, 1921 - The Washington Post
      • 1922 - Little Rock, AR >
        • 1922 Residence - Little Rock, AR
        • January 23, 1922 -Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, Arkansas)
        • March 19, 1922 - Arkansas Democrat
        • April 18, 1922 - The New York Times t
        • June 14, 1922 - The Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, West Virginia)
        • July 6, 1922 - The New York Times - PRODIGAL YANKS RETURN TO FOLD
        • July 16, 1922 - Port Arthur Daily News (Port Arthur, Texas) - Kid Elberfield Yet Wields Wicked Pair Of Clinched Dukes
        • July 25, 1922, Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas)
        • September 5, 1922 - The Washington Post
        • December 1, 1922 - The Bronson Pilot
      • 1923 - Little Rock >
        • 1923 Residence - Little Rock, AR
        • February 23, 1923 - Arkansas Democrat
        • May 18, 1923 - Lima News (Lima, Ohio)
        • May 20, 1923 - The Washington Post
        • September 8, 1923 Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Nan Elberfeld Bio - Lincoln Evening Journal, NB
        • October 1, 1923 -St. Louis Post-Dispatch
        • December 12, 1923 - The New York Times
      • 1924 - Little Rock >
        • March 2, 1924 Zanesville Times Signal (Zanesville, Ohio) P7
        • March 8, 1924 Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) - Kid Elberfeld Story Clarksville
      • 1925 - Mobile, AL >
        • 1925 - Residence - Little Rock, Arkansas
        • April 4, 1925 - The Washington Post
        • April 5, 1925 The Washington Post - Kid Elberfeld Tries to 'Ride' Umpires
        • May 21, 1925 - The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) - Elberfeld's First Game as Manager of Mobile Bears.
      • 1926 - Chattanooga >
        • May 27, 1926 Billings Gazette, MT
        • June 2, 1926 - Ironwood Daily Globe, MI - Like Lamb Now
        • August 5, 1926 - The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland)
        • August 26, 1926 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Girls at AAU Sim Meet
      • June 9, 1926 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Nan Elberfeld Wins Tennis Title
      • 1927 - Retired in Tennessee >
        • 1927 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
        • ​January 24, 1926 - The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) - Elberfeld has Basketball Team
        • February 24 1927 - Lima News (Lima, Ohio)
        • August 9, 1927 - Pittston Gazette (Pittston, Pennsylvania) - Assist Record Broken
        • August 26, 1926 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Girls at AAU Sim Meet
        • September 8, 1927 - The Kansas City Star - Rears a Champion Family
      • 1928 - Chattanooga, TN >
        • 1928 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
      • 1929 - Chattanooga, TN >
        • 1929 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
        • February 11, 1929 The Des Moines Register
        • ​March 30. 1929 Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Nan Elberfeld Track Coach at Lookout Junior High
        • May 17, 1929 - The Constitution Tribune (Chillicothe, Missouri)
        • May 28 , 1929 -Pottsville Republican Pottsville, Pennsylvania - Elberfeld Out by Umpire Edict
        • Jun 21, 1929 Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Nan Elberfeld in in Auto Crash
        • July 22, 1929 The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland)
        • August 23, 1929 - The Chattanooga News Chattanooga, Tennessee - Jack Elberfeld Marriage
    • 1930 - 1939 >
      • 1930 - School >
        • 1930 Census
        • 1930 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
        • January 20, 1930 - Springfield Leader, MO
        • February 4, 1930 - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
        • June 29, 1930 - The Sunday News and Leader, MO
        • September 24, 1930 - Key West FL Citizen
      • 1931 - Chattanooga, TN >
        • 1931 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
        • March 26, 1931 - Blytheville Courier News, AR
        • April 2, 1931 - Miami Daily News-Record. OK - Jackie Mitchell
        • April 6, 1931 - The Evening Independent - Massillon, OH
        • May 25, 1931 - Chattanooga Daily Times- Marriage of Miriam Elberfeld
      • 1932 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1932 Residence - Chattanooga, TN
      • 1933 - Running Schools >
        • March 22, 1933 - The Chronicle-Telegram - Elyria, OH - Baseball School
        • May 18, 1933 - Ironwood Daily Globe, MI
        • May 25, 1933 - Plattsburgh Daily Republican, NY
        • September 27, 1933 Lima News (Lima, Ohio)
      • 1934 - Baseball School >
        • March 25, 1934 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle NY
      • 1935 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1935 Residence - Signal Mountain, TN
        • Feb 7 1935 - Elberfeld at Gadsden
      • 1936 - Fultonville Eagles >
        • 1936 - Manager Fulton Kitty League
        • 1936 - Manager of Fultonville Eagles
        • Mar 25, 1936 - The Washington Post
        • March 1936 - Elberfeld School
        • December 15, 1936 - The Chattanooga News (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Girls Play Badminton
      • 1937 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1937 Residence - Signal Mountain, TN
        • June 12, 1937 - The Chattanooga News (Chattanooga, Tennessee) Nan Elberfeld Swim
        • August 16, 1937 - Nashville Banner (Nashville, TN) - Cecil Travis at Elberfeld's School​
      • 1938 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1938 Residence - Signal Mountain, TN
        • March 10, 1938 - Ogdensburg Journal, NY
        • May 10, 1938 - Look Magazine
        • August 17, 1938 - Springfield Leader and Press (Springfield, Missouri) - Manager of Fulton in Kitty League
      • 1939 - Schools >
        • December 21, 1939 - The Ogdensburg Journal, NY
    • 1940 - Present Time >
      • 1940 - Signal Mountain, Tennessee >
        • 1940 Census - Hamilton County, TN
        • 1940 Memories of Kid Elberfeld by Carter B. Norman (Minden, LA)
        • 1940 - 1943 Minden LA Basebal Camp
        • March 27, 1940 - The Sandusky Register, OH
        • March 30, 1940 - Frederick Post, MD
      • 1941 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1941 - Residence - Signal Mountain, TN
        • March 8, 1941 - Washington Post, DC
      • 1942 - Signal Mountain, TN >
        • 1942 Residence - Signal Mountain, TN
        • 1942 Joe Stripp School
      • 1944 - Death and Obituaries >
        • Norman Arthur Elberfeld (Kid Elberfeld) Death Certificate
        • January 11, 1944 - Los Angeles Times, CA
        • January 11, 1944 - Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY - Elberfeld Ill
        • January 13, 1944 - Norman Elberfeld in the Tennessee, Deaths and Burials Index
        • January 14, 1944 - The New York Times - Obituary
        • January 14, 1944 - The Anniston Star, AL - Obituary
        • January 14, 1944 - The Dothan Eagle, Alabama
        • January 15, 1944 - Nevada State Journal, Reno, NV
        • January 15, 1944 - Kingsport News, TN - Obituary
        • January 16, 1944 - Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Florida - Obituary
        • January 17, 1944 - The Brooklyn Eagle
        • January 19, 1944 - THE NASHVILLE BANNER - Several Stories
        • January 19, 1944 - The Morning Herald, Uniontown, PA
        • January 19, 1944 - The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) - Memorial in Little Rock, AK Proposed
        • January 20, 1944 - Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) - Elberfeld and Spikes
        • January 20, 1944 - Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) - Memories of Elberfeld in Kentucky
        • January 21, 1944 - The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
        • January 21, 1944 -The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama) - Story
        • January 26, 1944 - The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey)​ - Elberfeld stories
        • January 29, 1944 - The El Paso Herald Post, TX
        • February 2, 1944 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
        • February 3, 1944 - Kingsport News, TN
        • February 9, 1944 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
        • February 11, 1944 - The Montana Standard (Butte, Montana) - Picture
        • Norman Arthur Elberfeld (Kid Elberfeld) Grave Stone, Chattanooga, TN.
        • Kid Elberfeld - January 14, 1944 - Miami Daily News, Florida - Obituary
        • August 27, 1944 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld Ejected
      • 1945
      • 1947 - Elberfeld Tributes >
        • July , 1947 - Chattanooga Times - Mawnin'
        • July 7, 1947 - Chattanooga Times, TN
      • 1950
      • 1952
      • 1954
      • 1958
      • 1959
      • 1961 - Death of Kid Elberfeld's wife, Grace Catlow >
        • July 18, 1961 - Des Moines Tribune (Des Moines, Iowa) - Elberfeld Story
      • 1966 >
        • May 17, 1966 - Syracuse Herald-Journal
      • 1969
      • 1975
      • 1977 - Tribute
      • 1978 >
        • January 16, 1978 - News-Press
      • 1985
      • 1986 - Baylor breaks hit by pitch record
      • 2000 - The Impact of a Baseball Warrior on Minden, LA
  • Team Histories
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    • Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) - Brief History
    • Detroit Tigers Season Lookback - TigerBlog.net
    • Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty Paperback – March 1, 2010
    • Pro baseball has long, rich history in Richmond - Bill Lohmann
    • Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball by Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson
    • 2002 Yankees Yearbook: The Birth of the Yankees By Marty Appel
  • Photos and Drawings
    • Team Photos with Kid Elberfeld >
      • 1901 Detroit Tigers Team Photo - Set of individual photos
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      • 1901 Detroit Club
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      • 1903 Detroit Tigers Team Photo - 2
      • 1903 New York Highlanders Baseball Team
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      • 1904 New York Highlanders Team Photo - Individual Pictures >
        • A History of Detroit Tigers Shortstops By Brad Smith
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      • 1913 Chattanooga Lookouts
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      • 1919 Little Rock Team
      • 1920 Little Rock Team
      • 1922 Little Rock Team
      • 1937 American Legion Baseball Team - The Wester Team from Chattanooga, TN
    • Photos from news papers >
      • 1898 Kid Elberfeld - Philadelphia Phillies Sporting Life Player Panel​
      • August 25, 1902 - The Evening World, NYC, NY - Picture
      • July 5, 1903 -The St. Louis Republic, MO - Picture
      • October 7, 1903 - The Winnipeg Tribune, Canada - Photo
      • February 2, 1904 - The St. Paul Gobe, MO - Drawing
      • April 16, 1904 - The Washington Times, DC - Photo
      • August 28, 1904 - The Hew York Times - Photo
      • April 21, 1905 - The Evening World, NYC NY
      • April 8, 1906 - The New York Times - Photo
      • 1909 Publication - New York Yankees Gallery Star #5 Series B
      • July 9, 1910 The Marion Daily Star, OH
      • November 6, 1910 - The Washington Post, DC - Photo
      • March 19, 1911 - The Washington Post, DC - Photo
      • July 23, 1911 - Sandusky Register, OH - Picture
      • January 21, 1912 - The Washington Times, DC - Photo
      • July 14, 1913 - The Daily Commonwealth - Fond Du Lac, WI
      • January 1914 - The International Confectioner
      • May 18, 1933 - Ironwood Daily Globe, MI - Photos
      • March 25, 1934 - The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - Cartoon
      • August 29, 1937 - Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, Tennessee) - Elberfeld farming photo
    • September 9, 1897 Richmond Virginia Herald - Picture
    • 1903 - The Detroit Tigers: A Pictorial Celebration of the Greatest Players and Moments in Tigers History
    • 1903 Formal Portrait - New York Highlanders
    • 1903 - Kid Elberfeld - Famous image
    • July 25, 1903 - Utica Saturday Globe Picture
    • August 17, 1904 - Sporting Life Article Picture
    • 1905? - Kid Elberfeld of the Yankees
    • 1905 - Elberfeld Picking Up a Grounder
    • 1905 - Kid Elberfeld in New York Uniform
    • 1906 New York Highlander
    • 1908 Pictures from defunct web site
    • 1903 or 1908 Elberfeld Photo by Conlon
    • 1908 - 1910 Library of Congress Collection
    • 1908 - Press Photo
    • 1909 - Chicago Daily News Photo
    • 1909 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
    • 1910-1911 - The Sporting News Press Photo
    • 1911 Kid Elberfeld Making third base - Spalding
    • 1911 Paul Thompson Photo - Kid Elberfeld - Washington
    • Washington Fielding
    • Older Professional Photos >
      • 1920s Kid Elberfeld with young helper
      • 1928 Press Photo Holding a Bat - Kid Elberfeld
      • 1930s Chattanooga - Engel Stadium
      • February, 1931 Kid Elberfeld Baseball School in Atlanta, GA
      • 1933 Posed Photos
      • May 12, 1933 Norman "Kid" Elberfeld Cleveland, OH Clinic
      • George Brace Post Card
    • 1938 Ray Doan's Baseball School >
      • 1938 Johnny Mostil, Ray Doan, and Kid Elberfeld
      • 1938 Kid Elberfeld at Ray Doan's Baseball School
      • 1938 Cy Young and Kid Elberfeld, Hot Springs, AR
      • 1938 Doan's Baseball School - Keep That Left Foot
      • 1938 Ray Doan's Baseball School - How to Tag a Runner
      • 1938 Ray Doan's Baseball School - Hits the Dirt
      • 1938 Ray Doan Instructors
  • Elberfeld Girls
    • Baseball Legend Kid Elberfeld and His Famous Athlete Daughters — The Elberfeld Girl
    • 2024 Summer The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi
    • October 9, 1921 - Daily Arkansas Gazette
    • August 29, 1923 - The Eau Claire Leader, WI
    • December, 1924 - The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity - Nan Elberfeld Article
    • March 3, 1926 - The Kingsport Times, TN - Elberfeld Girls Basketball Team
    • March 6, 1926 Gastonia Daily Gazette, Gastonia, NC
    • September 11, 1927 - The Independent Record - Helena, MT - Elberfeld Family
    • February 8. 1928 - The Charleroi Mail PA
    • January 20, 1930 - Springfield Leader, MO
    • August 1, 1935 Chattanooga Daily Times NAN Elberfeld Tennis
    • Nan Elberfeld
  • Ejections and Suspensions
  • Memorial Plaque
  • 1917 Tea Party and Silent Treatment
  • All Star Teams
    • October 13, 1910 Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia) - Elberfeld on All-Star Team
  • Contact
  • 1922 Little Rock Team
  • May 21, 1925 - The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)
  • February 1944 - Obituary Photo
  • 2025 APBA Game Card
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The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig - By Tony Horwitz -Smithsonian Magazine
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Jackie with Babe Ruth (center) and Lou Gehrig (right) before the game.
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Days after Jackie Mitchell (center) struck out Yankee superstars (from left) Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, the duo watched the female phenom demonstrate her fastball during spring training in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 4, 1931. (Getty Images)
The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

Of all the strange baseball exploits of the Depression era, none was more surprising than Jackie Mitchell’s supposed feat

By Tony Horwitz

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE 
 
JULY 2013
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Jackie Mitchell, the 17-year-old start of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team, takes time between innings to apply makeup.
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One spring day my son came home from school and asked, “Do you know about the girl who struck out Babe Ruth?”

Days after Jackie Mitchell (center) struck out Yankee superstars (from left) Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, the duo watched the female phenom demonstrate her fastball during spring training in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 4, 1931. (Getty Images)
image: http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/Jackie-Mitchell-2.jpg__600x0_q85_upscale.jpg

Jackie Mitchell, the 17-year-old star of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team, takes time between innings to apply makeup. (Bettman / Corbis)

I smiled indulgently at this playground tall tale. But he insisted it was true. “I read a book about her in the library,” he said.

“Must have been fiction,” I churlishly replied, before consulting the Baseball Almanac to bludgeon my 10-year-old with bitter fact.

Instead, I discovered the astounding story of Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old southpaw who pitched against the New York Yankees on April 2, 1931. The first batter she faced was Ruth, followed by Lou Gehrig, the deadliest hitting duo in baseball history. Mitchell struck them both out. There was a box score to prove it and news stories proclaiming her “organized baseball’s first girl pitcher.”

For a lifelong baseball nerd, this was like learning that a hamster once played shortstop or that Druids invented our national pastime. The Sultan of Swat and the Iron Horse couldn’t hit a girl? Why had I never heard of her?

This led me, a month later, to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where I learned that Jackie Mitchell’s story was even stranger than I’d supposed, with subplots involving donkeys, long beards and a lingering mystery about what transpired when she took the mound in 1931.

The Hall of Fame remains a pretty macho place, filled with plaques and exhibits honoring thousands of men who have played the game. But after touring the Babe Ruth Room and paying homage to Lou Gehrig’s locker and Stan Musial’s bat, I found a small exhibit on women in baseball, titled “Diamond Dreams.” As with so much of baseball history, determining “firsts” and separating fact from lore can be tricky. All-women teams competed against each other as early as the 1860s, and in later decades traveling squads such as the Blondes and Brunettes drew paid spectators. But most of these early players were actresses, recruited and often exploited by male owners. “It was a show, a burlesque of the game,” says Debra Shattuck, a leading expert on women in baseball.

Around the turn of the century, however, women athletes of real ability began competing with men and sometimes playing on the same teams in bygone semipro leagues. The first to appear in baseball’s minor leagues was Lizzie Arlington, who wore bloomers while pitching for the Reading (Pennsylvania) Coal Heavers against the Allentown Peanuts in 1898.

So Jackie Mitchell wasn’t the first woman to play organized baseball, but her appearance on the mound in 1931 became a Depression-era sensation. As a girl in Memphis, she’d allegedly been tutored in baseball by a neighbor and minor-league pitcher, Charles Arthur “Dazzy” Vance, who would go on to lead the National League in strikeouts for seven straight seasons. Mitchell’s family moved to Chattanooga, where she became a multisport athlete and joined a baseball school affiliated with the city’s Class AA minor-league team, the Lookouts, and attracted attention with her sinking curveball.

The Lookouts’ new president, Joe Engel, was a showman and promoter whose many stunts included trading a player for a turkey, which was cooked and served to sportswriters. In 1931, he booked the Yankees for two exhibition games against the Lookouts as the major leaguers traveled north from spring training. A week before their arrival, he announced the signing of Mitchell to what’s believed to be one of the first professional baseball contracts given to a woman.

The prospect of a 17-year-old girl facing the mighty Yankees generated considerable media coverage, most of it condescending. One paper wrote, “The curves won’t be all on the ball” when “pretty” Jackie Mitchell takes the mound. Another reported that she “has a swell change of pace and swings a mean lipstick.” The tall, slim teenager, clad in a baggy Lookouts uniform, also posed for cameras as she warmed up by taking out a mirror and powdering her nose.

The first game against the Yankees, before a crowd of 4,000 fans and journalists, began with the Lookouts’ starting pitcher surrendering hits to the first two batters. The Lookouts’ manager then pulled his starter and sent Mitchell to the mound to face the heart of a fearsome lineup that had become known in the 1920s as “Murderers’ Row.”

First up was Ruth, who tipped his hat at the girl on the mound “and assumed an easy batting stance,” a reporter wrote. Mitchell went into her motion, winding her left arm “as if she were turning a coffee grinder.” Then, with a side-armed delivery, she threw her trademark sinker (a pitch known then as “the drop”). Ruth let it pass for a ball. At Mitchell’s second offering, Ruth “swung and missed the ball by a foot.” He missed the next one, too, and asked the umpire to inspect the ball. Then, with the count 1-2, Ruth watched as Mitchell’s pitch caught the outside corner for a called strike three. Flinging his bat down in disgust, he retreated to the dugout.

Next to the plate was Gehrig, who would bat .341 in 1931 and tie Ruth for the league lead in homers. He swung at and missed three straight pitches. But Mitchell walked the next batter, Tony Lazzeri, and the Lookouts’ manager pulled her from the game, which the Yankees went on to win, 14-4.

“Girl Pitcher Fans Ruth and Gehrig,” read the headline in the next day’s sports page of the New York Times, beside a photograph of Mitchell in uniform. In an editorial, the paper added: “The prospect grows gloomier for misogynists.” Ruth, however, was quoted as saying that women “will never make good” in baseball because “they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball every day.”

Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis evidently agreed. It was widely reported (though no proof exists) that he voided Mitchell’s contract on the grounds that baseball was too strenuous for women. The president of the organization overseeing the minor leagues later termed the appearance of “a female mound artist” a lamentable “Burlesquing” of the national pastime, akin to greased pig contests, hot dog-eating competitions and other ballpark promotions.

Mitchell’s unusual baseball career, however, wasn’t over. In an era before televised games, when blacks as well as women were unofficially barred from major-league baseball, an ersatz troupe of traveling teams barnstormed the nation, mostly playing in towns that lacked professional squads. Barnstorming mixed sports with vaudeville and circus. “There were teams of fat men, teams of one-legged men, blind teams, all-brother teams,” says Tim Wiles, director of research at the Hall of Fame library. Some teams didn’t just play standard baseball; they also performed sleight-of-hand tricks, like the Harlem Globetrotters, and rode animals onto the field.

One such team was called House of David, named for a religious colony in Michigan that sought to gather the lost tribes of Israel in advance of the millennium. The colony’s tenets included celibacy, vegetarianism and a devotion to physical fitness, which led to the creation of a talented and profitable ball team. In accordance with House of David beliefs, players had shoulder-length hair and biblical beards. The eccentric team was so popular that it spawned spinoffs, including an all-black Colored House of David.

Over time, the colony’s teams also recruited players from outside their community, and in 1933 a House of David squad signed Jackie Mitchell, who was then 19 and had been playing with various amateur teams since her outing against the Yankees. Chaperoned by her mother, she traveled with the team and in one game pitched against the major-league St. Louis Cardinals. According to a news report, the “nomadic House of David ball team, beards, girl pitcher and all, came, saw, and conquered the Cardinals, 8 to 6.”

Little else is known of Mitchell’s time with House of David, though according to some sources she became weary of the team’s “circus-type” antics: for instance, some players donning fake beards or playing ball while riding donkeys. In 1937 she retired from baseball and went to work for her father’s optical business in Tennessee.

But other women continued to play on barnstorming teams, including Negro League squads, and after 1943 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (featured in the movie A League of Their Own). Then in 1952, another woman followed Mitchell into baseball’s minor leagues. Eleanor Engle, a softball player and stenographer in Pennsylvania, joined the Harrisburg Senators and was pictured in uniform in the team’s dugout. But she never took the field, and the president of the minor leagues stated that no contract with a woman would be approved because it was “not in the best interest of baseball that such travesties be tolerated.” This prompted a media flurry and a tongue-in-cheek protest from Marilyn Monroe. “The lady should be permitted to play,” said the actress, who would soon marry Joe DiMaggio. “I can’t think of a better way to meet outfielders.”

Only in recent decades have women gained a degree of acceptance playing alongside men. In the 1970s, a lawsuit won girls entry into Little League. In the 1980s, women broke into men’s college ball and in the 1990s, Ila Borders joined the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League. But no female player has yet reached the majors, or come close to matching Mitchell’s feat of striking out two of the game’s greatest hitters. Which raises a question that has lingered since the day she took the mound in 1931. Did her pitching really fool Ruth and Gehrig, or did the two men whiff on purpose?

The Lookouts’ president, Joe Engel, clearly signed Mitchell to attract publicity and sell tickets, both of which he achieved. And some news reports on the game hinted at a less than sincere effort by Ruth and Gehrig. Of Ruth’s at bat, the New York Times wrote that he “performed his role very ably” by striking out before the delighted Chattanooga crowd, while Gehrig “took three hefty swings as his contribution to the occasion.” Also, the game was originally scheduled for April 1 and delayed a day because of rain, leading to speculation that Engel had plotted Mitchell’s outing as an April Fools’ Day prank.

If Ruth and Gehrig were in on an orchestrated stunt, they never said so. Other Yankees later gave mixed verdicts. Pitcher Lefty Gomez said the Yankees manager, Joe McCarthy, was so competitive that “he wouldn’t have instructed the Yankees to strike out.” Third baseman Ben Chapman, who was due to bat when Mitchell was pulled from the mound, said he “had no intention of striking out. I planned to hit the ball.” But he suspected Ruth and Gehrig agreed between themselves to strike out. “It was a good promotion, a good show,” he said. “It really packed the house.”

Mitchell, for her part, held to her belief that she’d genuinely whiffed the two Yankees. She said the only instruction the Yankees received was to try to avoid lining the ball straight back at the mound, for fear of hurting her. “Why, hell, they were trying, damn right,” she said of Ruth and Gehrig not long before her death in 1987. “Hell, better hitters than them couldn’t hit me. Why should they’ve been any different?”

She also saved a newsreel of her outing, which shows her hitting the strike zone on three consecutive pitches to Ruth. On two of them, Ruth flails wildly at the ball, and his fury at the called third strike looks theatrical. But the images are too blurry to tell how much speed and sink Mitchell had on her pitches, and whether they were good enough to miss the bats of both Ruth and Gehrig.

Debra Shattuck, the historian of women in baseball, is skeptical. While Mitchell may have been a good pitcher, she says, “I really doubt she could hold her own at that level.” But Tim Wiles, the Hall of Fame research director, thinks it’s possible the strikeouts were genuine. “Much of batting has to do with timing and familiarity with a pitcher, and everything about Jackie Mitchell was unfamiliar to Ruth and Gehrig,” he says. Also, Mitchell was a lefty side-armer facing lefty batters, a matchup that favors the pitcher. And Ruth striking out wasn’t a rarity; he did so 1,330 times in his career, leading the league in that category five times.

Wiles also wonders if sportswriters and players who suggested that the strikeouts were staged did so to protect male egos. “Even hitters as great as Ruth and Gehrig would be reluctant to admit they’d really been struck out by a 17-year-old girl,” he says.

John Thorn, the official historian for Major League Baseball, vigorously disagrees. He believes Ruth and Gehrig were in cahoots with the Lookouts’ president and went along with the stunt, which did no harm to their reputations. “The whole thing was a jape, a jest, a Barnumesque prank,” he says. “Jackie Mitchell striking out Ruth and Gehrig is a good story for children’s books, but it belongs in the pantheon with the Easter Bunny and Abner Doubleday ‘inventing’ baseball.”

He adds, however, that a great deal has changed since Mitchell’s day and that there are fewer obstacles to women succeeding and being accepted in professional baseball today. No rule prohibits them doing so, and in 2010, Eri Yoshida, a knuckleballer who has played professional ball in Japan, trained with the Red Sox at their minor-league camp. A year later, Justine Siegal became the first woman to throw batting practice for a major-league team.

In Thorn’s view, it is players like Yoshida, throwing knucklers or other off-speed pitches, who represent the likeliest path to the majors for women. Asked if this breakthrough might occur in his lifetime, the 66-year-old historian pauses before replying: “If I live to 100, yes. I believe it could be possible.”

My son, for one, thinks it will happen much sooner than that. Shortly before our visit to Cooperstown, his Little League team was defeated in a playoff game by a team whose girl pitcher struck out batter after batter and stroked several hits, too. No one on the field or sidelines seemed to consider her gender noteworthy.

“Don’t be sexist, Dad,” my son chided when I asked if he was surprised by the girl’s play. “I wish she was on our team.”
Jackie Mitchell

John K. Elberfeld
[email protected]
​
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