Dottie Hunter

Dottie Hunter
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
First base/Chaperone
Born: January 28, 1916(1916-01-28) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Died: August 17, 2005(2005-08-17) (aged 89) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
Professional debut
1943
Last professional appearance
1954
Teams
Racine Belles (first base, 1943) Milwaukee Chicks (chaperone, 1944) Grand Rapids Chicks (chaperone, 1945-'54)
Career highlights and awards
Four-time Championship Team (1943-'44, 1947, 1953) Fourteen playoffs appearances (1943-'54) Only girl to participate in the playoffs every year One of three girls to participate in all 12 seasons Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Induction (1998) Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame Induction (1998)

Dorothy Hunter [Dottie] (January 28, 1916 - August 17, 2005) was a first basewoman who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1943 season. Listed at 5' 6", Hunter batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.^[1]

Early life

A member of several hall of fames, Hunter was one of 57 players from Canada to participate in the extinct All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She grew up in a home where sports were considered of vital importance, as her father was a prominent soccer player and coach. She started playing playground games, and played whatever sport the boys were playing baseball, softball or basketball. There were no teams for girls and the boys would let she play with them.^[2][3]

In February 1943, Hunter knew that Philip K. Wrigley had founded a league exclusively for women players. Wrigley, a chewing gum manufacturer and owner of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball club, materialized his idea as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball during World War II, when more than half of the players in the Major Leagues were in the service. By sending out scouts and setting up try-outs in dozens of major cities, Wrigley attracted hundreds of women from all over United States and Canada who were eager to play in this new professional league. Hunter was interested in the new league and accepted an invitation to a tryout.

Finally, only 280 girls were invited to the final try-outs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, where 60 survived the final cut. Enticed with salaries ranging from $55 to $150 per week, the initial group of women would form four teams – the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, Rockford Peaches, and South Bend Blue Sox – for the league’s inaugural campaign. Each team consisted of 15 players. Hunter survived the last cut and was assigned to the Racine squad, becoming one of the oldest players to enter the league at 27.^[4]

AAGPBL career

Hunter started 1943 with the Belles as their regular first sacker. She hit .224 in 80 games and helped Racine win a pennant and championship in the AAGPBL’s first-ever season.^[5] After that she became a chaperone for the expansion Chicks, first at Milwaukee (1944) and later in Grand Rapids (1945-'54), until the league folded following the 1954 season. Hunter enjoyed continued success following each move, becoming the only girl in AAGPBL history to participate in the playoffs every year, including four Championship Titles. She also was one of three girls, along with Dottie Green (catcher/chaperone) and Dorothy Schroeder (infielder), to participate in all 12 seasons for the league.^[6][7]

Statistics

Batting

GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
82	254	27	57	6	5	1	28	9	16	18	.224	.270	.299

Fielding

PO	A	E	TC	DP	FA
736	15	21	772	16	.973

^[8]

Milestones

On November 5, 1988, Hunter was honored with the rest of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the opening of a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. In 1998, she and other 10 girls from Manitoba who played in the AAGPBL were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame.^[9][10]

Hunter died at a nursing home in Manitoba at the age of 89.^[11]

References

1. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player page
2. ^ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Paperback, 295 pp. Language: English. ISBN 0786437472
3. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League all-time roster
4. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League History
5. ^ Baseball Historian - Racine Belles
6. ^ Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball – Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006. Format: Paperback, 438pp. Language: English. ISBN 0786421002
7. ^ When Women Played Hardball – ßusan Johnson. Publisher: Seal Press, 1994. Format: Paperback, 320pp. Language: Language: English. ISBN 1878067435
8. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English. ISBN 0786437472
9. ^ Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame – 1998 Induction
10. ^ Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame – 1998 Induction
11. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player page

Persondata
Name	Hunter, Dottie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 28, 1916
Place of birth	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Date of death	August 17, 2005
Place of death	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada