Earlene Risinger
Encyclopedia
Helen Earlene Risinger was a pitcher
who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
. Listed at 6' 2", 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
One of the tallest players in the league's history, Earlene Risinger was an All-Star pitcher who helped the Grand Rapids Chicks
win a championship title in 1953. Unlike many of the AAGPBL girls she played with, Risinger never played organized softball
when she was growing up in Oklahoma
and entered the league after full overhand pitching was adopted in 1948.
border. She was the oldest of four children into the family of Homer Francis and Lizzie Mae (née Steen) Risinger, and grew up in a sharecropping family surrounded by hard times. Her father worked in a gas station, and when his salary did not stretch far enough, his skill hunting jack rabbits
put food on the family table. Meanwhile, her mother was a housewife and had a garden; there were always pinto beans to fill empty stomachs. Tall and slender, her parents dubbed her ″Beans″ because she liked pork and beans for breakfast. She especially enjoyed watching her father play at first base on a sandlot ball
team that played on Sunday afternoons.
Mr. Risinger taught her daughter to throw a baseball
at an early age, and they played catch almost every day. By the time she was six, Earlene was a regular on Sunday afternoons down at the cow pasture playing ball with her father, her uncles, and her cousins. Baseball ran in the Risinger family, and he taught me to throw 'overhand' from the jump go, she explained in her autobiography.
Risinger attended Southside High School. Although she was a good athlete, girls, as was the custom of the times, were not allowed to play baseball and she had to settle for playing basketball and softball. But Risinger, too tall to play with most girls, opted to play baseball with the boys, rather than softball with the girls. She later was asked to coach
at first base and to warm up the pitchers on the school baseball team.
After graduating in 1945, Risinger had few prospects in her own right, because she did not have money to attend college immediately. Instead, she was forced to work for more than two years in local cotton fields earning 50 cents an hour, thinking this might her future as there were no factories or anything like that anywhere nearby. I started working in the cotton fields so I could have shoes on my feet and clothes to wear. I was with no future, she clarified.
An avid reader, Rissinger stopped daily at the local grocery store after her daily work in the fields, where the sympathetic owner let her read the Oklahoman newspaper without charge. In the spring of 1947, she was reading the newspaper in the store and knew about a traveling All-American Girls baseball team going to play an exhibition game in Oklahoma City
on the way back north from spring training
. At the time, she had no idea that girls could play baseball professionally. Then she sent a postcard to the sports page editor, whose by-line appeared in the article. He forwarded her card to the league's office in Chicago
, and pretty soon she received a letter asking her to attend a tryout at Oklahoma City. Encouraged by the men of her family, with whom she had been playing baseball and perfecting her pitches for years, the reluctant girl attended the training camp and passed the test. After that, she received an offer to play for the Rockford Peaches
, a well-balanced team managed by Bill Allington
.
It was a miracle I even heard about the league, not getting the newspaper or anything. But I was always interested in ballplayers like Allie Reynolds
and, later, Mickey Mantle
, because they were from Oklahoma, she said.
Delighted with the opportunity to play, Risinger borrowed money from a bank and started on a train for Rockford, Illinois
, the home of the Peaches. But she became homesick and got only as far as Chicago before returning home. She then went back to the cotton fields to repay the bank loan.
But in 1948 a second chance came. Risinger was scouted
again, this time by Shirley Jameson
, one of the original four players to be signed for the league’s inaugural 1943 season. The pitching style in the AAGPBL had changed for the new season and was now completely overhand, a change from the sidearm delivery of 1947. Nevertheless, the AAGPBL began in 1943 requiring underhand pitching, as used in softball, but switched to a modified sidearm delivery in 1946. Also, the pitching mound back was moved from 43 to 50 feet from home plate in 1948, a change that favored baseball-style pitchers. Further, the league used a deadball which steadily dropped from 12 inches in circumference in 1943 to 9.25 inches in 1954.
In 1948, the league also expanded to ten teams while creating two divisions. Risinger decided to try again. This time she boarded the train for Springfield, Illinois
, where she reported to the expansion Springfield Sallies
.
It was a blessing that I turned around and went home in 1947, because in 1948 they went to overhand pitching, she explained. I never pitched softball, so I couldn't have pitched sidearm or underhand. Asked what kind of pitches she threw most of the time, she replied, High and tight! Laughing, she said, I had a good fastball
and a 'nickel' curve
. I could throw the ball past most of them, but I got accused of pitching 'high and tight.' When my fastball went in really good, it tailed in toward the right-handed batters. She also hurled a changeup
to go along with her blazing fastball and tricky curve.
in 22 games for the awful Sallies, who finished as the worst team in the league, getting roughed up as a last-place club with a 41-84 record, ending 35 and a half games behind the Racine Belles
in the Western Division. The Sallies, along with the expansion Chicago Colleens
, folded at the end of the season because of poor attendance and a lack of local support. The next year, both franchises became rookie training teams that played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Some players remained in Colleens and Sallies uniforms while travelling, but other players were sent to teams across the league, Risinger among others. From 1949 through 1954 she played for the Grand Rapids Chicks
, a team that became her surrogate family based in a town that she came to call home.
At Grand Rapids, Risinger improved with the guidance of her manager Johnny Rawlings
, who taught her the finer points of pitching. In 1949 she went 15-12 with a 2.35 ERA, leading her team in wins while bolstering a strong pitching staff along with Mildred Earp
(14-10, 1.83), Lorraine Fisher
(13-11, 2.18) and Alice Haylett
(9-10, 1.88). She also finished fourth in strikeout
s (116), being surpassed only by Rockford's Lois Florreich
(210), Grand Rapids' teammate Earp (143), and Jean Faut
of the South Bend Blue Sox
(120). The Chicks advanced to the playoffs and dispossed of the Fort Wayne Daisies
in the first round, two to one games, but were beaten by the Rockford Peaches
in the semi-final series, three to one games. Risinger went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four innings of relief.
winning the batting title with a .346 mark. For the other side, South Bend's Jean Faut
led all pitchers in ERA (1.12) and complete game
s (29), and was one of three 20-win leaders (21) along with Fort Wayne's Maxine Kline
(23) and Rockford's Lois Florreich
(20). Florreich also topped the league in strikeouts for the second consecutive season (171) and finished second in ERA (.118). Risinger went 14-13, ending sixth in innings pitched (231), seventh in strikeouts (90), and tenth in ERA (2.38). In the first round best-of-five series, Grand Rapids lost to Fort Wayne three to one games. Risinger won Game 1, but was credited with the loss in Game 4.
In 1951, Risinger dropped to a 8-8 mark in 28 games, but posted a solid 2.14 ERA in 171 innings of work. Grand Rapids had the best mark in the first half of the season (39-13) and finished fourth in the second half (32-22), to collect the second-best mark (71-40) behind South Bend (75-36). Fort Wayne's Betty Foss
led all hitters for the second year in a row (.368) while Rockford's Rose Gacioch
was the only pitcher to win 20 games for the season. In the first round best-of-three series, Rockford swept the favored Grand Rapids team, as Helen Fox
pitched a six-hit shutout in Game 1, while Dorothy Kamenshek
and Eleanor Callow
rallied to a comeback victory in the tenth inning of Game 2.
Risinger had a disappointing season in 1952, going 10-15 with a 2.34 ERA in 27 pitching appearances, even though she ranked fourth in strikeouts (82), eight in innings (192), and ninth in games pitched. Grand Rapids finished in fourth place (50-60) and made the playoffs, but was swept by South Bend in the first round best-of-three series. Risinger started Game 2 and took the loss, as the Blue Sox made the most of three walks
and two errors
by scoring her three unearned runs.
), third in strikeouts (behind Faut and Rockford's Marie Mansfield
, tied with 143), fifth in innings (231) and sixth in complete games (22). In addition, she was selected for the All-Star Team
.
Four teams made the playoffs, which were reduced to a best of three series for both rounds. First place Fort Wayne (69-41) faced third place Kalamazoo (50-50), while second place Grand Rapids (65-45) battled fourth place Rockford (52-58). In the first round, the Daisies won Game 1 in extra innings, but Kalamazoo won the next two games to upset the season champion. Meanwhile, Grand Rapids looked to be headed for the same fate after losing Game 1 to Rockford, but Risinger hurled a six-hit shutout
in Game 2, leading her team to a 2–0 victory while tying the series. Then Dorothy Mueller
went the distance and held off the Peaches, 4-3, to send the Chicks into the final series.
at the helm, faced the Kalamazoo Lassies, managed by Mitch Skupien
. Grand Rapids swept Kalamazoo to clinch the 1953 Championship Title.
In Game 1, at Grand Rapids, Mary Lou Studnicka
limited the Lassies to two runs in eight innings for a 5–2 victory. With the score tied 2–2 going into the fourth inning, the Chicks loaded the bases against Lassies’ pitcher Gloria Cordes
. Then Alma Ziegler
drove home one run with a sacrifice fly
to put the score in favor of Grand Rapids, 3–2. Another sacrifice fly by Inez Voyce
and a RBI single by Joyce Ricketts
extended the lead to 5–2. When the Lassies first two batters reached base in the final inning, manager English brought Eleanor Moore
to the rescue. Moore promptly retired the next three batters in order, striking out Isabel Alvarez
, retiring Dorothy Schroeder
with a pop fly to shortstop Ziegler, and inducing June Peppas
on a sharp grounder to the mound throwing to Voyce at first base for the final out of the game.
In Kalamazoo, with cold weather around 40 degrees and windy, both teams’ managers agreed to play the Game 2 in just seven innings. Risinger started for Grand Rapids and pitched one of the best games of her career. The Chicks gave her a one-run lead in the second inning, and wrapped up the scoring by producing three runs in the sixth, keyed by a two-run double
off the bat of Ricketts. Then Risinger gave up a RBI single to Jean Lovell
, and yielded only one extra-base hit, a solo home run
by slugger Doris Sams
during Kalamazoo's two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. In their last at-bat, behind 4–3, the Lassies tried to rally again. Fern Shollenberger
opened with a single, but Risinger retired the next two batters. Nevertheless, she lost her control temporarily and issued back-to-back walks to Schroeder and Peppas. With the bases loaded, manager English was on the verge of yanking Risinger, but he instead sent team's captain Ziegler to the pitching mound. Pulling off her glove, the 5' 3" Ziegler looked up at the 6' 2" tall Risinger. Okay, Beansie, can you get her out? she asked. Blowing on her hand to keep her fingers warm against the fast-chilling night, Rissinger replied, I don't know Ziggy. Snapping the brim of her cap in place, the diminutive Ziegler energetically ordered, Well do it! As a result, Risinger faced the dangerous Sams and struck out her on three straight fastballs. Overall, she stroke out nine Lassies batters and walked four in completing her pitching gem.
, repeated the regular season title and faced third place Grand Rapids in the first round, while second place South Bend played fourth place Kalamazoo.
In the first series, Grand Rapids won Game 1, after pitcher Eleanor Moore
singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 8–7 victory. The Daisies were facing elimination in Game 2, but Grand Rapids forfeited the game as well as the next to give Fort Wayne the first round. When the league allowed Rockford's catcher Ruth Richard
to play for the Daisies, the Grand Rapids players voted no to play. Richard was a last-minute replacement for Rita Briggs
, who was sidelined after suffering a broken wrist. The dispute got so heated that managers Allington and English fought about it at home plate before the game. Rissinger started Game 1, allowing three runs in seven innings, but did no have a decision.
In the other series, Kalamazoo lost Game 1 to South Bend before rebouding and taking the next two games. In the finals, the Lassies defeated the Daisies two to one games. First base-pitcher June Peppas
starred for Kalamazoo, winning her two starts while hitting 6-for-15 with two home runs and three RBI, during what turned out to be the AAGPBL final season.
Rissinger posted a 73-80 record with 581 strikeouts and a 2.51 ERA in 187 career games. A .172 hitter (80-for-406), she batted four doubles and one triple without home runs. She remembered, I couldn't hit all that well, and I was a slow runner, so all I did was pitch. One time I really connected and hit the ball all the way to the stands. Anyone else would have had a home run, but I just barely made it to third base. Our bookkeeper was in the stands with his son. Afterward, the father told me that his boy looked up and said, 'Daddy, why don't she run?'
, where she made many friends. She worked at Jordan Buick Company, because the owner would give her time off to play baseball. When the league folded, she trained to become an X-ray
technician for one year at the Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. In 1955 she left Butterworth to take x-rays for three orthopedic surgeons, continuing that service until 1969. After that, she served as an orthopedic assistant in a local doctor's office for more than twenty years, retiring in 1991. She continued living in Grand Rapids, where she kept busy helping to prepare for real estate
sales. For almost forty years she worked professionally and on a volunteer basis with the Shriners
to alleviate human suffering.
Asked what was the best thing about playing professional baseball, Rissinger replied, Doing what you loved and getting paid for it. When I say baseball did everything for me, it's true. Possibly I would still be in Hess, Oklahoma, which isn't a bad place to live if you have a profession and can drive some place to work. At that time, I had nothing, and now I feel satisfied with my life, and I am a very happy person.
Still, Beans Rissinger enjoyed returning to her roots to visit family and friends in Hess where, in 1973, she was inducted into the Jackson County Sports Hall of Fame. The last few years of her life she spent her winters with family in Oklahoma, where she died at the age of 81.
Since 1988 she is part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York
, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...
. Listed at 6' 2", 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
One of the tallest players in the league's history, Earlene Risinger was an All-Star pitcher who helped the Grand Rapids Chicks
Grand Rapids Chicks
The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953....
win a championship title in 1953. Unlike many of the AAGPBL girls she played with, Risinger never played organized softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
when she was growing up in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and entered the league after full overhand pitching was adopted in 1948.
Early life
Earlene Risinger was born and raised in Hess, a tiny village of Oklahoma with less than thirty people, located in the southwest part of the state just above the TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
border. She was the oldest of four children into the family of Homer Francis and Lizzie Mae (née Steen) Risinger, and grew up in a sharecropping family surrounded by hard times. Her father worked in a gas station, and when his salary did not stretch far enough, his skill hunting jack rabbits
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
put food on the family table. Meanwhile, her mother was a housewife and had a garden; there were always pinto beans to fill empty stomachs. Tall and slender, her parents dubbed her ″Beans″ because she liked pork and beans for breakfast. She especially enjoyed watching her father play at first base on a sandlot ball
Sandlot ball
Sandlot ball is a North American adolescent game that generally follows the basic rules of baseball. More specific rules can be set for games and may vary each time the game is played. These rules are usually agreed upon before the game begins by teams of young boys or girls usually from the same...
team that played on Sunday afternoons.
Mr. Risinger taught her daughter to throw a baseball
Baseball (object)
A baseball is a ball used primarily in the sport of the same name, baseball. The ball features a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn and covered in leather. It is in circumference . The yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile in length...
at an early age, and they played catch almost every day. By the time she was six, Earlene was a regular on Sunday afternoons down at the cow pasture playing ball with her father, her uncles, and her cousins. Baseball ran in the Risinger family, and he taught me to throw 'overhand' from the jump go, she explained in her autobiography.
Risinger attended Southside High School. Although she was a good athlete, girls, as was the custom of the times, were not allowed to play baseball and she had to settle for playing basketball and softball. But Risinger, too tall to play with most girls, opted to play baseball with the boys, rather than softball with the girls. She later was asked to coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
at first base and to warm up the pitchers on the school baseball team.
After graduating in 1945, Risinger had few prospects in her own right, because she did not have money to attend college immediately. Instead, she was forced to work for more than two years in local cotton fields earning 50 cents an hour, thinking this might her future as there were no factories or anything like that anywhere nearby. I started working in the cotton fields so I could have shoes on my feet and clothes to wear. I was with no future, she clarified.
An avid reader, Rissinger stopped daily at the local grocery store after her daily work in the fields, where the sympathetic owner let her read the Oklahoman newspaper without charge. In the spring of 1947, she was reading the newspaper in the store and knew about a traveling All-American Girls baseball team going to play an exhibition game in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
on the way back north from spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
. At the time, she had no idea that girls could play baseball professionally. Then she sent a postcard to the sports page editor, whose by-line appeared in the article. He forwarded her card to the league's office in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and pretty soon she received a letter asking her to attend a tryout at Oklahoma City. Encouraged by the men of her family, with whom she had been playing baseball and perfecting her pitches for years, the reluctant girl attended the training camp and passed the test. After that, she received an offer to play for the Rockford Peaches
Rockford Peaches
The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....
, a well-balanced team managed by Bill Allington
Bill Allington
William Baird Allington was an American Minor league baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" , 160 lb., Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan....
.
It was a miracle I even heard about the league, not getting the newspaper or anything. But I was always interested in ballplayers like Allie Reynolds
Allie Reynolds
Allie Pierce Reynolds was a pitcher in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
and, later, Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
, because they were from Oklahoma, she said.
Delighted with the opportunity to play, Risinger borrowed money from a bank and started on a train for Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
, the home of the Peaches. But she became homesick and got only as far as Chicago before returning home. She then went back to the cotton fields to repay the bank loan.
But in 1948 a second chance came. Risinger was scouted
Scout (sport)
In professional sports, scouts are trained talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout's organization...
again, this time by Shirley Jameson
Shirley Jameson
Shirley Jameson was a center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 4' 10¾" , 104 lb. , Jameson batted right-handed and threw left-handed...
, one of the original four players to be signed for the league’s inaugural 1943 season. The pitching style in the AAGPBL had changed for the new season and was now completely overhand, a change from the sidearm delivery of 1947. Nevertheless, the AAGPBL began in 1943 requiring underhand pitching, as used in softball, but switched to a modified sidearm delivery in 1946. Also, the pitching mound back was moved from 43 to 50 feet from home plate in 1948, a change that favored baseball-style pitchers. Further, the league used a deadball which steadily dropped from 12 inches in circumference in 1943 to 9.25 inches in 1954.
In 1948, the league also expanded to ten teams while creating two divisions. Risinger decided to try again. This time she boarded the train for Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
, where she reported to the expansion Springfield Sallies
Springfield Sallies
The Springfield Sallies were a women's professional baseball team who joined the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the season. The team represented Springfield, Illinois, and played their games at Lanphier Ball Park....
.
It was a blessing that I turned around and went home in 1947, because in 1948 they went to overhand pitching, she explained. I never pitched softball, so I couldn't have pitched sidearm or underhand. Asked what kind of pitches she threw most of the time, she replied, High and tight! Laughing, she said, I had a good fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
and a 'nickel' curve
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
. I could throw the ball past most of them, but I got accused of pitching 'high and tight.' When my fastball went in really good, it tailed in toward the right-handed batters. She also hurled a changeup
Changeup
A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball. Other names include change-of-pace, Bugs Bunny change-up, the dreaded equalizer, and simply change. The changeup is sometimes called an off-speed pitch, although that term can also be used simply to mean any pitch that is slower than a fastball...
to go along with her blazing fastball and tricky curve.
1948-1949
In her rookie season, Risinger compiled a 3-8 record with a 3.35 earned run averageEarned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
in 22 games for the awful Sallies, who finished as the worst team in the league, getting roughed up as a last-place club with a 41-84 record, ending 35 and a half games behind the Racine Belles
Racine Belles
The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The team played its home games at Horlick Field.-History:...
in the Western Division. The Sallies, along with the expansion Chicago Colleens
Chicago Colleens
The Chicago Colleens were a women's professional baseball team who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team represented Chicago, Illinois and played their home games at Shewbridge Field....
, folded at the end of the season because of poor attendance and a lack of local support. The next year, both franchises became rookie training teams that played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Some players remained in Colleens and Sallies uniforms while travelling, but other players were sent to teams across the league, Risinger among others. From 1949 through 1954 she played for the Grand Rapids Chicks
Grand Rapids Chicks
The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953....
, a team that became her surrogate family based in a town that she came to call home.
At Grand Rapids, Risinger improved with the guidance of her manager Johnny Rawlings
Johnny Rawlings
John William Rawlings [Red] was a second baseman and shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for six different teams between the and seasons. Listed at 5'8", 158 lb., he batted and threw right-handed....
, who taught her the finer points of pitching. In 1949 she went 15-12 with a 2.35 ERA, leading her team in wins while bolstering a strong pitching staff along with Mildred Earp
Mildred Earp
Mildred Earp [Mid or Millie] is a former female pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 135 lb., she batted and threw right handed....
(14-10, 1.83), Lorraine Fisher
Lorraine Fisher
Lorraine Fisher [Stevens] was a right-handed pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.-Summary:...
(13-11, 2.18) and Alice Haylett
Alice Haylett
Alice Haylett [Al or Sis] was a female pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 155 lb., she batted and threw right-handed....
(9-10, 1.88). She also finished fourth in strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s (116), being surpassed only by Rockford's Lois Florreich
Lois Florreich
Kathleen Lois Florreich [Flash] was a pitcher and utility who played from through for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 140 lb., Florreich batted and threw right-handed...
(210), Grand Rapids' teammate Earp (143), and Jean Faut
Jean Faut
Jean Anna Faut [Winsch/Eastman] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 137 lb., she batted and threw right handed....
of the South Bend Blue Sox
South Bend Blue Sox
The South Bend Blue Sox were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
(120). The Chicks advanced to the playoffs and dispossed of the Fort Wayne Daisies
Fort Wayne Daisies
The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
in the first round, two to one games, but were beaten by the Rockford Peaches
Rockford Peaches
The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....
in the semi-final series, three to one games. Risinger went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four innings of relief.
1950-1952
By 1950, the AAGPBL took advantage over pitching as evidenced by a collective .228 batting average compared to a .197 mark the previous season. Eight players batted over .300, with Fort Wayne's Betty FossBetty Foss
Betty Foss [Fossey] was a infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 10", 180 lb., she was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She started her career as Betty Weaver but changed her last name to Foss after marrying...
winning the batting title with a .346 mark. For the other side, South Bend's Jean Faut
Jean Faut
Jean Anna Faut [Winsch/Eastman] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 137 lb., she batted and threw right handed....
led all pitchers in ERA (1.12) and complete game
Complete game
In baseball, a complete game is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher.As demonstrated by the charts below, in the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. Pitchers were...
s (29), and was one of three 20-win leaders (21) along with Fort Wayne's Maxine Kline
Maxine Kline
Maxine Kline [Randall] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through with the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
(23) and Rockford's Lois Florreich
Lois Florreich
Kathleen Lois Florreich [Flash] was a pitcher and utility who played from through for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 140 lb., Florreich batted and threw right-handed...
(20). Florreich also topped the league in strikeouts for the second consecutive season (171) and finished second in ERA (.118). Risinger went 14-13, ending sixth in innings pitched (231), seventh in strikeouts (90), and tenth in ERA (2.38). In the first round best-of-five series, Grand Rapids lost to Fort Wayne three to one games. Risinger won Game 1, but was credited with the loss in Game 4.
In 1951, Risinger dropped to a 8-8 mark in 28 games, but posted a solid 2.14 ERA in 171 innings of work. Grand Rapids had the best mark in the first half of the season (39-13) and finished fourth in the second half (32-22), to collect the second-best mark (71-40) behind South Bend (75-36). Fort Wayne's Betty Foss
Betty Foss
Betty Foss [Fossey] was a infielder and outfielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 10", 180 lb., she was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. She started her career as Betty Weaver but changed her last name to Foss after marrying...
led all hitters for the second year in a row (.368) while Rockford's Rose Gacioch
Rose Gacioch
Rose M. Gacioch [gay'-sotch] was a right fielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 160 lb., Gacioch batted and threw right-handed...
was the only pitcher to win 20 games for the season. In the first round best-of-three series, Rockford swept the favored Grand Rapids team, as Helen Fox
Helen Nicol
Helen Nicol is a Canadian former baseball pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League . Listed at 5' 3", 120 lb., Nicol batted and threw right-handed...
pitched a six-hit shutout in Game 1, while Dorothy Kamenshek
Dorothy Kamenshek
Dorothy "Dottie" Kamenshek was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. She batted and threw left-handed....
and Eleanor Callow
Eleanor Callow
Eleanor Callow Squirt is a former Canadian female left fielder who played from through for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Callow was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed...
rallied to a comeback victory in the tenth inning of Game 2.
Risinger had a disappointing season in 1952, going 10-15 with a 2.34 ERA in 27 pitching appearances, even though she ranked fourth in strikeouts (82), eight in innings (192), and ninth in games pitched. Grand Rapids finished in fourth place (50-60) and made the playoffs, but was swept by South Bend in the first round best-of-three series. Risinger started Game 2 and took the loss, as the Blue Sox made the most of three walks
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
and two errors
Error (baseball)
In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...
by scoring her three unearned runs.
1953
In 1953 Risinger compiled a 15-10 record, reversing the misfortune of her previous season, while enjoying career-numbers with a 1.75 ERA and 121 strikeouts. She also finished second in ERA (0.24 behind South Bend's Jean FautJean Faut
Jean Anna Faut [Winsch/Eastman] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 137 lb., she batted and threw right handed....
), third in strikeouts (behind Faut and Rockford's Marie Mansfield
Marie Mansfield
Marie Mansfield [Kelley] is a former pitcher who played from 1950 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 7", 140 lb., she batted and threw right handed....
, tied with 143), fifth in innings (231) and sixth in complete games (22). In addition, she was selected for the All-Star Team
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-Star Team
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball circuit which existed for twelve seasons from through ....
.
Four teams made the playoffs, which were reduced to a best of three series for both rounds. First place Fort Wayne (69-41) faced third place Kalamazoo (50-50), while second place Grand Rapids (65-45) battled fourth place Rockford (52-58). In the first round, the Daisies won Game 1 in extra innings, but Kalamazoo won the next two games to upset the season champion. Meanwhile, Grand Rapids looked to be headed for the same fate after losing Game 1 to Rockford, but Risinger hurled a six-hit shutout
Shutout
In team sports, a shutout refers to a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball....
in Game 2, leading her team to a 2–0 victory while tying the series. Then Dorothy Mueller
Dorothy Mueller
Dorothy Mueller [Bajda] was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Listed at 5' 11", 160 lb., Mueller batted and threw right handed...
went the distance and held off the Peaches, 4-3, to send the Chicks into the final series.
Championship Series
In the best-of-three final series, the Grand Rapids Chicks, with Woody EnglishWoody English
Elwood George "Woody" English was an American shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for twelve seasons with the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers.- Early life :...
at the helm, faced the Kalamazoo Lassies, managed by Mitch Skupien
Mitch Skupien
Mitch Skupien was a manager and executive in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.Very little is known about this man who worked hard for the AAGPBL during the final five years of its existence. Previously, Skupien had managed the Rayson Sporting Goods, a Chicago baseball team, and...
. Grand Rapids swept Kalamazoo to clinch the 1953 Championship Title.
In Game 1, at Grand Rapids, Mary Lou Studnicka
Mary Lou Studnicka
Mary Lou Studnicka [Brazauskas, Caden] is a former overhand pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Studnicka batted and threw right-handed. She was affectively nicknamed ML....
limited the Lassies to two runs in eight innings for a 5–2 victory. With the score tied 2–2 going into the fourth inning, the Chicks loaded the bases against Lassies’ pitcher Gloria Cordes
Gloria Cordes
Gloria Cordes [Elliott] is a former starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
. Then Alma Ziegler
Alma Ziegler
Alma Ziegler was an infielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 125 lb., Ziegler batted and threw right-handed....
drove home one run with a sacrifice fly
Sacrifice fly
In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....
to put the score in favor of Grand Rapids, 3–2. Another sacrifice fly by Inez Voyce
Inez Voyce
Inez Ferne Voyce [Lefty] is a former first basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
and a RBI single by Joyce Ricketts
Joyce Ricketts
Joyce Ricketts [״Rick״] was a right fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted left handed and threw right handed....
extended the lead to 5–2. When the Lassies first two batters reached base in the final inning, manager English brought Eleanor Moore
Eleanor Moore
Eleanor Moore [Warner] is a former pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 10", Moore batted and threw right-handed...
to the rescue. Moore promptly retired the next three batters in order, striking out Isabel Alvarez
Isabel Álvarez
Isabel Álvarez [Lefty] is a former female pitcher and outfielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons...
, retiring Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy Schroeder [″Dottie″] was a shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 7", 150 lb., Schroeder batted and threw right-handed...
with a pop fly to shortstop Ziegler, and inducing June Peppas
June Peppas
June Peppas is a former first basewoman and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 145 lb., she batted and threw left-handed.-Early life:...
on a sharp grounder to the mound throwing to Voyce at first base for the final out of the game.
In Kalamazoo, with cold weather around 40 degrees and windy, both teams’ managers agreed to play the Game 2 in just seven innings. Risinger started for Grand Rapids and pitched one of the best games of her career. The Chicks gave her a one-run lead in the second inning, and wrapped up the scoring by producing three runs in the sixth, keyed by a two-run double
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
off the bat of Ricketts. Then Risinger gave up a RBI single to Jean Lovell
Jean Lovell
Jean Lovell [″Grumpy″] was a female catcher and pitcher who played for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the and seasons. Lovell batted and threw right-handed...
, and yielded only one extra-base hit, a solo home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
by slugger Doris Sams
Doris Sams
Doris Jane Sams [Sammye] is a former female outfielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 9", 145 lbs., she batted and threw right handed....
during Kalamazoo's two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. In their last at-bat, behind 4–3, the Lassies tried to rally again. Fern Shollenberger
Fern Shollenberger
Fern Shollenberger [Shelly] was a third basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 125 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.-Brief profile:...
opened with a single, but Risinger retired the next two batters. Nevertheless, she lost her control temporarily and issued back-to-back walks to Schroeder and Peppas. With the bases loaded, manager English was on the verge of yanking Risinger, but he instead sent team's captain Ziegler to the pitching mound. Pulling off her glove, the 5' 3" Ziegler looked up at the 6' 2" tall Risinger. Okay, Beansie, can you get her out? she asked. Blowing on her hand to keep her fingers warm against the fast-chilling night, Rissinger replied, I don't know Ziggy. Snapping the brim of her cap in place, the diminutive Ziegler energetically ordered, Well do it! As a result, Risinger faced the dangerous Sams and struck out her on three straight fastballs. Overall, she stroke out nine Lassies batters and walked four in completing her pitching gem.
1954
Rissinger dropped to a 7-13 record and a 4.06 ERA in 1954, ranking fourth in the league for the most innings pitched (153). Fort Wayne, managed by Bill AllingtonBill Allington
William Baird Allington was an American Minor league baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" , 160 lb., Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan....
, repeated the regular season title and faced third place Grand Rapids in the first round, while second place South Bend played fourth place Kalamazoo.
In the first series, Grand Rapids won Game 1, after pitcher Eleanor Moore
Eleanor Moore
Eleanor Moore [Warner] is a former pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 10", Moore batted and threw right-handed...
singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 8–7 victory. The Daisies were facing elimination in Game 2, but Grand Rapids forfeited the game as well as the next to give Fort Wayne the first round. When the league allowed Rockford's catcher Ruth Richard
Ruth Richard
Ruth Richard [Richie] is a former female catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 134 lb., she batted left-handed and threw right-handed....
to play for the Daisies, the Grand Rapids players voted no to play. Richard was a last-minute replacement for Rita Briggs
Rita Briggs
Rita Briggs [Maud] was a female catcher who played from through for seven different teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 120 lb., Briggs batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
, who was sidelined after suffering a broken wrist. The dispute got so heated that managers Allington and English fought about it at home plate before the game. Rissinger started Game 1, allowing three runs in seven innings, but did no have a decision.
In the other series, Kalamazoo lost Game 1 to South Bend before rebouding and taking the next two games. In the finals, the Lassies defeated the Daisies two to one games. First base-pitcher June Peppas
June Peppas
June Peppas is a former first basewoman and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 145 lb., she batted and threw left-handed.-Early life:...
starred for Kalamazoo, winning her two starts while hitting 6-for-15 with two home runs and three RBI, during what turned out to be the AAGPBL final season.
Rissinger posted a 73-80 record with 581 strikeouts and a 2.51 ERA in 187 career games. A .172 hitter (80-for-406), she batted four doubles and one triple without home runs. She remembered, I couldn't hit all that well, and I was a slow runner, so all I did was pitch. One time I really connected and hit the ball all the way to the stands. Anyone else would have had a home run, but I just barely made it to third base. Our bookkeeper was in the stands with his son. Afterward, the father told me that his boy looked up and said, 'Daddy, why don't she run?'
Life after baseball
During her early years in the league, Rissinger had moved from her hometown to live and work in Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, where she made many friends. She worked at Jordan Buick Company, because the owner would give her time off to play baseball. When the league folded, she trained to become an X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
technician for one year at the Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. In 1955 she left Butterworth to take x-rays for three orthopedic surgeons, continuing that service until 1969. After that, she served as an orthopedic assistant in a local doctor's office for more than twenty years, retiring in 1991. She continued living in Grand Rapids, where she kept busy helping to prepare for real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
sales. For almost forty years she worked professionally and on a volunteer basis with the Shriners
Shriners
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also commonly known as Shriners and abbreviated A.A.O.N.M.S., established in 1870, is an appendant body to Freemasonry, based in the United States...
to alleviate human suffering.
Asked what was the best thing about playing professional baseball, Rissinger replied, Doing what you loved and getting paid for it. When I say baseball did everything for me, it's true. Possibly I would still be in Hess, Oklahoma, which isn't a bad place to live if you have a profession and can drive some place to work. At that time, I had nothing, and now I feel satisfied with my life, and I am a very happy person.
Still, Beans Rissinger enjoyed returning to her roots to visit family and friends in Hess where, in 1973, she was inducted into the Jackson County Sports Hall of Fame. The last few years of her life she spent her winters with family in Oklahoma, where she died at the age of 81.
Since 1988 she is part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Pitching statistics
| GP Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while... | W | L | W-L% Winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win... | ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine... | IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two... | H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice.... | R Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured... | ER Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine... | BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08... | SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters.... | WHIP Walks plus hits per inning pitched In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. It is a measure of a pitcher's ability to prevent batters from reaching base... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 187 | 73 | 80 | .477 | 2.51 | 1347 | 1025 | 525 | 376 | 619 | 581 | 1.220 |