• BASEBALL PITCHER who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
• Born Virne Beatrice Mitchell
• Taught to play by her father, and got pitching lessons from neighbor Dazzy Vance, considered by many to be the best pitcher of his day
• Signed on with the Chattanooga Lookouts when she was 17 years old, becoming both the ONLY woman on the team, and the ONLY professional female pitcher in the country
• Her first game was a week later, an exhibition against the New York Yankees
• Leading up to the game, papers quoted The Babe as saying that women couldn't make it as professional baseball players "because they are too delicate"
• In front of 4,000 people, Mitchell first pitched to Babe Ruth; after two strikes he demanded that the ball be inspected
• After striking out Gehrig, Mitchell received a standing ovation from the crowd
• Upon learning that a woman had struck out the two best hitters in baseball, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled that women weren't allowed to play professionally because it would be "too strenuous" for them
• Mitchell never played another game with the Lookouts or any other pro ball team

Skeptics. (Sigh.)

Not surprisingly, there are some who refuse to believe that a woman -- a teenager, at that -- could have struck out Ruth and Gehrig. These skeptics claim that the whole thing was a setup between the Lookouts owner, Joe Engel, and the Yankees. Engel was definitely known for outlandish publicity stunts, and probably only signed Mitchell in hopes of filling the stadium with people anxious to gawk at a woman player. The fact that Ruth himself was also a renowned drama king is offered as additional "evidence" of this theory.
Mitchell's supporters, however, cite the fact that left-handed pitchers (like her) have a distinct advantage over their right-handed peers when throwing against left-handed batters (like Ruth & Gehrig). Plus, even if The Babe was in on the "stunt," Gehrig was the polar opposite of Ruth, and the likelihood that he would have willingly struck out is pretty much nil. Mitchell herself denied any deception right up until she died, saying in an interview, "Why, hell, they were trying -- damn right. Hell, better hitters than them couldn’t hit me. Why should they’ve been any different?"

Bibliography: Adams, Ebony and Anita Sarkeesian. History vs. Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don't Want You To Know. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2018. Print.
Minsberg, Talya. (2018, November 7). Overlooked No More: Jackie Mitchell, Who Fanned Two of Baseball’s Greats. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/obituaries/jackie-mitchell-overlooked.html

Biographies for Kids and Young Adults

(graphic novel format)

Spread the word!

(photo)

Meet more Awesome Women like this

Please note that while Awesome Women Library tries to include links only to media from reputable sources, we cannot attest to the quality or content of any media listed on this website. Our mission is to introduce you to these Awesome Women and give you a wide array of resources for learning more. We haven't read everything listed and are not a recommendation site, nor is this meant to be an exhaustive catalog of every book related to this woman -- there's just too much out there! Happy reading!!