Jackie Mitchell (baseball)

"For the Canadian football linebacker, see Jackie Mitchell (Canadian football)."

Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell Gilbert (29 August 1912 - January 7, 1987) was one of the first female pitchers in professional baseball history. Pitching for the Chattanooga Lookouts Class AA minor league baseball team in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees she struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.

Early life

It is uncertain what year she was born in, but some sources are suggesting 1914. She weighed only five pounds when born, but when she learned how to walk, her father took her to the baseball diamond. Her father taught her the basics of the game and next door neighbor, Dazzy Vance, taught her to pitch and showed her his curve ball. Later, Vance would pitch in the major leagues and eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In her teen years, Jackie played for a women's team in Chattanooga, Tennessee and attended a special baseball school in Atlanta, Georgia. There she attracted the attention of Joe Engel, the president and owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts, who offered her a contract to play for the entire 1931 season. On March 28th of that year she signed the contract and became an official member of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Class AA minor league team.

The Strikeouts

The New York Yankees and the Chatanooga Lookouts were scheduled to play an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 1, 1931. Due to rain the game was postponed until the 2nd. Seventeen-year-old Jackie Mitchell, brought in to pitch in the first inning after the starting pitcher had given up a double and a single, faced Babe Ruth. After taking a ball, Ruth swung and missed at the next two pitches. Mitchell's fourth pitch to Ruth was a called third strike. Ruth slammed down his bat and yelled at the umpire before returning to the Yankees bench.

Next up was Gehrig who swung through the first three pitches to strike out. A seventeen-year-old girl had struck out two of the greatest hitters in baseball history using seven pitches and five swing-throughs.

Career

A few days after striking out Ruth and Gehrig baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract and declared women unfit to play baseball as the game was "too strenuous". Mitchell continued to play professionally, barnstorming with the House of David, a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards. She retired in 1937 at the age of 23 after becoming something of a side show - once being asked to pitch while riding a donkey. She refused to come out of retirement when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed. Major League Baseball would formally ban the signing of women to contracts on June 21, 1952.

References

* cite web
last = Patrick
first = Jean L.S.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Jackie Mitchell The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth
work =
publisher =
date = 2004
url = http://www.jeanpatrick.com/jackielife.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-05-18
* cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = "THE GIRLS OF SUMMER" JACKIE MITCHELL
work =
publisher = The Exploratorium
date = 1998
url = http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/mitchell.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-05-18
* cite web
last = Aubrecht
first = Michael
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Jackie Mitchell - The Pride of the Yankees
work =
publisher = Baseball Almanac
date = 2003
url = http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/aubrecht8.shtml
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-05-18
* cite web
last = Holmes
first = Dan
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = WHEN JACKIE MITCHELL STRUCK OUT RUTH, GEHRIG
work =
publisher = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.
date = 2007-12-15
url = http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070215&content_id=280&vkey=hof_news
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-05-18
* cite web
last = Hellman
first = Neal
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Jackie Mitchell
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://gourdmusic.blogspot.com/2008/04/jackie-mitchell.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-05-18
* cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Social Security Death Index record for Virne Gilbert
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
doi =
accessdate = 2008-09-28
* cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Find A Grave Memorial for Jackie Mitchell
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8151311
doi =
accessdate = 2008-09-28
* Citation
date = 1987-01-11
year =
title = Virne Mitchell Gilbert, woman who struck out Babe Ruth - obituary
periodical = St Petersburg Times
series =
publication-place = St Petersburg, FL
place =
url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes
issn =
doi =
oclc =
accessdate = 2008-09-28

Further reading

*"Jackie Mitchell, Baseball Player" by Kaye Sharbono ISBN 0813657318
*"The Spring Habit" by David Hanson ISBN 0975297600 [http://books.google.ca/books?id=Sw8czt54QMcC&pg=PA95&dq=Jackie+Mitchell&sig=amzWq7ZMnSO5QK5RnPyGdGvAx1c]
*"Uncle John's Second Bathroom Reader" by Bathroom Reader's Institute, Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Institute, Bathroom Readers' Institute (Ashland, Or.) ISBN 0312034466
*"Nike is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports" By Lissa Smith, Lucy Danziger, and Mariah Burton Nelson ISBN 0871137615
*"Women's Baseball" by John M. Kovach ISBN 0738533807
* cite book
last = Moss
first = Marissa
authorlink = Marissa Moss
coauthors = C. F. Payne (illustrator)
title = Mighty Jackie: The Strike-Out Queen
publisher = Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
date = February 2004
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 9780689863295