Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

 YES!! It is that time of year again when we get to watch the boys of summer play ball.

However, it was not too long ago when those “boys” were sent to war and a new type of baseball league was formed.



In 1943, the Chicago Cubs owner, Phillip Wrigley, founded the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

Medina County is fortunate to be able to say one of its former residents played in this special professional baseball league.

Lois Youngen, the daughter of Elden & Helen Youngen, was born in Ragersville, Tuscarawas County, Ohio in 1933. In about 1938, her parents, who were teachers, moved the family to Westfield Center (formerly known as LeRoy) in Medina County.

 

Lois grew up in Westfield Center where she learned the basics of baseball from her dad, who was a pitcher for Kent State in the 1920s. She began playing baseball with the neighborhood kids and continued to play through high school.

The year before her graduation from high school, she attended an AAGPBL game for the Ft. Wayne Daisies and the next morning she tried out for the Daisies’ Manager, Max Carey. After the tryout he told her she would hear from them and in January of 1951, she did.

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992

She was asked to join the Daisies at their Spring Training in Alexandria, Virginia and she was given special permission from the county superintendent of schools to go. So after a senior trip to Washington, D.C., Lois attended Spring Training, which led to a contract with the Daisies. Youngen graduated from Westfield Center High School in 1951 and began her professional baseball career that summer as a catcher/left fielder for the Ft. Wayne Daisies.

Defiance Crescent News, 11 Jan 1952

    In one one many articles written about her, she stated the   game was played just like the men played. It was baseball…  not softball. She went on to say the equipment was not fitted for women and she had to cut the catcher’s outfit down to fit her.

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992

   

The skirted uniform they wore was one piece and according to Youngen, was uncomfortable to play in and made sliding painful. 

The team would travel by bus playing 7 days a week with some of the games being double headers. They were accompanied by the coach and a chaperone. 

www.aagpgl.org

www.aagpbl.org

Throughout her career, Lois played for the Daisies, the Kenosha Comets, and the South Bend Blue Sox. She ended her career with the Ft. Wayne Daisies. While she was with the Daisies, in 1952, they won the league pennant and when she was with the South Bend Blue Sox, in 1953, she played in one of her best games, when she caught a perfect game pitched by her teammate, Jean Faut, against the Kalamazoo Lassies. 

Her stats for all four seasons combined were, a .255 batting average with 39 runs and 44 RBIs in 116 games. 

In the fall of 1951, Lois began using her earnings of $200 per month to pay for her college tuition at Kent State University. 

Dover Times Reporter, 13 Jan 1972

In 1955, she graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. She then went on to obtain her Masters in Education at Michigan State where she became an Associate Professor for 3 years.

In 1960 she became an emeritus professor of physical education at the University of Oregon and then in 1971 received her Doctorate in Health & Physical Education at Ohio State. She eventually became the head of the Health & Physical Education Department at the University of Oregon.

Lois became a part of the Women in Baseball, a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1988.

 

In 1992, when the movie, A League of Their One, was being filmed, Youngen and other former AAGPBL players were asked to go to Wrigley’s field and hit, throw and catch so the actors and director, Penny Marshall, could watch how they moved and played the game. 

She was asked to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariner’s game in 2007. At 74 years old, she not only made it across the plate but received a standing ovation!

Lois Youngen is still living in Eugene, Oregon, where the University of Oregon is located… how do I know this? My brother, Dan, is a manager at a local grocery store in Eugene where Youngen is one of his customers. In one of his conversations with her, he told her his sister lives in Medina County, Ohio and she told him her connection to this county. It was due to this conversation that I found out about Lois…She even gave him one of her cards with her signature on it. Isn't it a small world? 

If you want to learn more about Lois Youngen's  professional baseball career and see some fabulous photographs use the link below: 

https://www.aagpbl.org/profiles/lois-youngen/468

Sources:

website: https://www.aagpbl.org

Medina County Gazette, 29 May 1951, pages 2 & 8

Medina County Gazette, 9 May 1952, page 3

Medina County Gazette, 12 Oct 1956, page 1

Defiance Crescent News, 11 Jan 1952, page 8

The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia), 5 July 1992, pages B-1 & B-6

Dover Times Reporter, 13 Jan 1972, page A-8

Dover Times Reporter, 16 Oct 2009, ages A-1 & A-5

A big THANK You to Rick Chapman on the Roadside History of Medina County Facebook page for sharing information on his mother, who also played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League:

Dorothy (McAlpin) MacGuire/Chapman played from 1943-1949. Check out her biography on the League's web site here: Dorothy (McAlpin) MacGuire/Chapman "Mickey"

From the All-American Girl's 
Professional Baseball League's site.

She continues to be honored. Black River High School named one of their softball fields for "Mickey":

Medina County Life