A Woman of the Game

They named the movie, A League of Their Own. After listening to Mary Pratt speak at the library last Tuesday night, most of the people in the audience agree that Pratt is certainly in a league all her own. The 89 year old former pitcher in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League spoke for over an hour about her experiences playing professional baseball and her life long commitment to women in sports.

Pratt has lived in Quincy her whole life and has played just about every sport open to female athletes (she claims basketball was her best sport). She attended Sargent College and was a physical education major. During her first years as a teacher, she got the opportunity to play softball at Boston Garden. It was there that the scouts from the All American Girls Softball League (the name later changed) saw the pitcher play in 1943. Pratt played four seasons for the the Rockford Peaches and the Racine Belles. When she was pitching, the league required that pitchers toss the underhand throw that is used in softball. Before the league folded in 1954, overhand pitching became standard.

The women who played for the All American Girls Professional Baseball League were expected to be superior ball players and ladies. As the 1992 movie portrayed, early players had to attend charm school. Throughout the league’s duration, players’ uniforms consisted of short dresses. Mary Pratt had to pin her dress to keep it from flying up when she pitched. After Pratt’s playing days were over, she was asked to coach girls softball at North Quincy High. Determined that her players wouldn’t be mistaken for men, Pratt and her mother made all the Rangerettes uniforms that mirrored those worn by the AAGPBL players. [Pratt is posing with one of those uniforms in the photo above.]

After her years in the All Americans, Mary Pratt returned to Quincy and worked as a teacher for over 40 years. She remained active in sports as an official and a coach. In the 1970’s, she made news around the country by applying to be a football coach in Quincy. When asked what made her qualified to coach a sport she didn’t play, Pratt responded, “I’m just as qualified to coach football as men are to coach field hockey.”

It wasn’t until Penny Marshall made A League of Their Own that the All American Girls Professional Baseball League became well known to many Americans. The new interest in the league led to speaking engagements and reunions for former players. In 1988, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, honored Mary Pratt and her former league mates in an exhibit called “The Women of Baseball.” More recently, a $30,000 bronze statue was also erected in Cooperstown of an An All American girl swinging her bat.

Mary Pratt remains active in both in promoting women’s sports and being a women in sports. She currently teaches a weight lifting class. She also manages the AAGPBL “Out and About” program that keeps track of all former players public appearances.

Pratt and the 600 other women who played in the AAGPBL represent a unique part of women’s, U.S. and sports history. To learn more about the league, check out the All American Girls Professional Baseball League Player’s Association.

The Peabody Library has two great books dedicated to the history of the league:

• Johnson, Susan E., 1940- When women played hardball
• Macy, Sue. A whole new ball game : the story of the all-American girls professional baseball league

Children can read:

• Corey, Shana. Players in pigtails

The years of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League weren’t the only time women played baseball. For more women in baseball history, try one of these:

• Coleman, Janet Wyman. Baseball for everyone : stories from the great game
• Targ-Brill, Marlene. Winning women in baseball and softball
• Green, Michelle Y. A strong right arm : the story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson
• Gregorich, Barbara. Women at play : the story of women in baseball

For kids:

• Patrick, Jean L. S. The girl who struck out Babe Ruth

Stayed tuned to learn more about the women who have played the game!

Chick Davies “Chemist by Profession, but a Baseball Player by Choice”

Lloyd in his Philadelphia Athletics uniform, 1914.

In the early 20th century, Baseball fever exploded in Peabody like never before.

The reason?

Lloyd Garrison “Chick” Davies.

Lloyd came by his talent naturally. His cousin, John Atkinson Leighton, also played ball and had one season with the Syracuse Stars in 1890. When Lloyd began at Peabody High in 1906, he soon showed he had plenty to give the school and the town. A southpaw pitcher and batter, Lloyd led Peabody High School on to a championship in the North Shore League in 1910.

After graduation, he went onto major in chemistry at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst (now UMass Amherst). While there he caught the eye of Connie Mack, the manager for the Philadelphia Athletics. And in 1912, Lloyd agreed to play for Mack when he graduated in 1914.

Lloyd’s debut in Boston as a major league Baseball player came on September 3, 1914. Hundreds of fans poured into Fenway Park for Chick Davies Day.

Mack offered Davies another contract for the next year but he didn’t offer him any more money. And so, Lloyd came back to Peabody and worked at the Danvers Bleachery. But his Baseball career didn’t end. He played several years for semi-professional teams, including the Springfield Ponies and the New Haven Profs. And in 1925, Lloyd was once again recruited by the major league, the New York Giants. He helped them win the World Series in 1926. In that year, he led the National League with 6 saves and 29 games finished.

Pesky charms crowd in Peabody

A library staff member pays homage to THE RING. For more Play by the Book photos, click here.

Monday night was the 66th Anniversary of Johnny Pesky’s debut in Major League Baseball. Mr. Red Sox marked the occasion by showing his charming, funny and warm side to a crowd of almost 200 at the Wiggin Auditorium at City Hall in Peabody. He candidly answered all of the audience questions and didn’t hesitate to offer unvarnished stories and opinions. A few highlights:

• Ted Williams once told Pesky that it’s a good thing he could run, because otherwise he’d bat about .100.
• Pesky had high praise for Terry Francona, calling him an “old style” manager.
• Pesky was not so complimentary about the Commissioner of Baseball, referring to him as a “car salesman.” Of course, Pesky later revealed that when he was playing ball, major leaguers still had to have off season jobs. He once worked as a car salesman himself, but that career didn’t go far. He sold a grand total of 1 car.
• David Ortiz got a thumbs up from the former Sox player. Pesky says that Big Papi is a “leader” on the team and helps keep some of the guys in line.
• Manny Ramirez got mixed reviews. Pesky finds him charming, but also shakes his head at many of the things that Manny does. Like the rest of us.
• It was, however, rookie Jacoby Ellsbury who got the highest marks from Mr. Red Sox. Ellsbury may, in Pesky’s opinion, be the next Ted Williams. High praise indeed from one of Teddy’s closet friends. Ellsbury is the only player Pesky’s ever seen get from second base all the way home on a passed ball.

After taking questions for almost an hour, Pesky signed autographs for most of the audience and posed for photos. It was a night to remember for all who were present.

Mr. Red Sox Johnny Pesky to appear tonight!

Photo from The Boston Globe

The baseball great will take question and sign autographs tonight at the Wiggin Auditorium at Peabody City Hall starting at 7pm. We’ll bring you full coverage of the event tomorrow.

Pesky is a vital part of Red Sox history. He has been associated with the team for more than 57 years, as a player and a manager. To learn more about the man that has his own pole at Fenway Park, check out:

• Halberstam, David. The teammates
• Nowlin, Bill Mr. Red Sox : the Johnny Pesky story
• Pesky, Johnny Diary of a Red Sox season
• Scoggins, Chaz Game of my life : Boston Red Sox

Trophy Tour Came to Peabody

The 2004 and 2007 Red Sox World Series Trophies were at the Peabody Library on Sunday. 820 people viewed and posed for photographs with the trophies. Check out more pictures of the event.

A Place for Red Sox Fans…

According to today’s Salem News, “Fenway Park and the Peabody Institute Library will have something in common this Sunday: They are both places any die-hard Red Sox fan would love to be.” Check out the complete article.

Don’t miss your chance to see both World Series trophies tomorrow:

Peabody Institute Library

82 Main Street, Peabody

From 11am-3:30pm

The trophies appearance are just the start of a great week for baseball fans at the library:

Monday night 7pm @ Wiggin Auditorium (City Hall): Johnny Pesky Q&A and autograph session

Tuesday night 7pm @ Main Library: All American Girls Professional Baseball League player, Mary Pratt

Wednesday night 7pm @ Main Library: Diehard Red Sox fan and author, Stewart O’Nan

Thursday night 7pm @ South Branch: The Curse of the Bambino- A History of the Boston Red Sox

Plus lots of events for kids and teens. Check out the complete schedule.

Is baseball haunted?

Ghosts, curses, legends and eerie events… Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon certainly had plenty of material to work with when they sat down to write this book about baseball’s supernatural side. Ghosts of former Yankee players are said to still be helping the team when the Yanks are on their home turf (does that explain the 26 World Series titles?). Former Red Sox player and current Yankee, Johnny Damon describes an encounter with a ghost that pinned him down and left Damon unable to move for twenty minutes at his home in Florida (no date is mentioned in the book, but could this encounter have happened when some ghostly Sox fan or player became distraught at Damon’s defection to the Yanks?). The current owner of old time player Sam Rice’s former residence believes the pitcher still haunts Rice Manor. And right here at home, there are plenty of stories of hauntings at Fenway. Cleaning crew members report hearing the crack of bats when it’s dark out and the park is deserted. Red Sox employees also describe hearing ghost fans cheering from the Green Monster seats after hours. There are even some who believe that the ghosts of Fenway have been known to use the bathrooms! For baseball’s more superstitious fans, Haunted Baseball is a must read.

World Series Trophy to Appear at the Library on Sunday!

That’s right… the 2007 Red Sox World Series trophy will be at the Main Library this Sunday, April 13th.  Red Sox representatives will bring the trophy to the library at 11am and it will remain on display until 3:30pm.  Don’t miss this chance to view a piece of Red Sox history.  The Main Library is located at 82 Main Street, Peabody, MA.  If you have questions about viewing the trophy, call 978.531.0100 ext. 14.

Ted Williams and the Pursuit of Perfection

Author Bill Nolan, will present this lecture at the library tonight at 7pm. We still have some spots open, so call 978.531.0100 to reserve one. If you can’t attend or you are inspired to learn more about Teddy Ballgame, check out one of these books:

The teammates by David Halberstam: a look at the friendship between Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky.

Ted Williams : a portrait in words and pictures by Dick Johnson

Hitter : the life and turmoils of Ted Williams by Edward Linn

Ted Williams : the biography of an American hero by Leigh Montville

Ted Williams : a baseball life by Michael Seidel

It’s only me : the Ted Williams we hardly knew by John Underwood

And don’t forget that Williams himself wrote a number of books worth looking at:

My turn at bat : the story of my life

The science of hitting

Ted Williams : my life in pictures

To introduce this baseball great to your kids, try:

Ted Williams by Shaun McCormack

Ted Williams by Rick Wolff

Early Boston Baseball caught on camera

The Boston Public Library has very interesting collection of historic Boston baseball photos. They have posted this McGreevey Collection on flickr. The description provided by the BPL of this photo set is:

“A collection of early Boston baseball photographs ranging from 1875 to 1916. Represented are many of the most important ballplayers of the 19th and early 20th century including Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Mike “King” Kelly, Kid Nichols and many others. Also included are panoramic photos of the ballparks of the era including the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston and the Polo Grounds in New York. The centerpiece of the collection is a series of photographs related to the first World Series in 1903 between Boston and Pittsburgh. Featured are photographs of the fans of the Boston team, the “Royal Rooters” and their leader Michael T. “Nuf Ced” McGreevey. ”

Michael McGreevey and his Royal Rooters are, of course, memorialized in the Dropkick Murphys famous song, “Tessie.” To see the Murphys perform this Red Sox anthem at Fenway, check out this YouTube video.

While, the library couldn’t score the Dropkick Murphys for our Play by the Book program (we did try), you can stop by to learn more about the early history of baseball at the April 12th program presented by the Essex Base Ball Club. The club will be at the library that Saturday at 11 a.m. to talk about their league, which plays by 19th century rules. To sign up for this program, call the library at 978.531.0100.