All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Betty Foss hit .342 in five seasons playing for the Fort Wayne Daisies. Betty's career batting average is the second highest on the all time league leaders in AAGPBL history.
As a rookie in 1950 the Fort Wayne third basewoman made an imemdiate and significant impact.
She led the league in batting (.346), tied for third in homers (5), was fourth in total bases (162) and RBI (61), tied for 6th with 64 steals, second with 125 hits, tied for 8th with 64 runs, 1st with 24 doubles and was tops in slugging (.471, .35 points ahead of Kurys).
She was also the all-american girls professional baseball league's OBP leader:
(BB+H)/(BB+AB) is .416, 11 points better than the #2 player. Amazingly, she missed the All-Star team in favor of Fern Shollenberger.
The next season, Foss continued her dominance, repeating as the AAGPBL batting champion with an average of .368. However, curiously she was denied an spot on the AAGPBL All-Star team.
The next year she made the move to first base, finishing as the batting average runner-up in 1950 and 1951 to Dottie Kamenshek.
Foss also led in homers (4, a 3-way tie for the top spot), total bases (176), doubles (34, 15 more than the next player) and she was 5th in RBI (58), 7th in steals (60) and tied for lead in runs (77).
Her 34 doubles in a season are the league record.
From 1952 to 1954, her sister Jo Weaver won the batting title. The Foss-Weaver family duo led the Daisies to three straight first-place finishes in this period.
In '52, Foss was named Player of the Year.
She hit .331 (second to Jo's .344), was tied for 6th in homers (4), led again in total bases (209), drove in the most (74), stole the second-most (56), connected for the most hits (137), scored the most runs (81), tripled the most (17, more than the next two combined) and led in doubles (26) for the third straight season.
No other AAGPBL player ever hit as many triples in a season.
In 1953 Foss fell to her lowest spot yet in the batting race - third (.321, 25 points behind Jo). She tied for 6th in homers (5), led in total bases (195) for the third year in a row, was 5th in RBI (65), led in steals (80), led in hits (144) again, scored 99 runs (13 more than the next player) for her second straight lead there and was third with 8 triples.
For the first time in her career, Betty failed to top the AAGPBL in doubles, as her 20 were three behind league leader Eleanor Callow. She made her second straight All-Star team at first base.
Her 144 hits in a year represent the league record. For the third straight season, she had set some single-season league mark.
In '54, Foss fell all the way to 4th in the batting race (.352). She was 5th in total bases (172), second in steals (34), 4th in hits (117), second to Jo in runs (80) and tied for sixth with 13 doubles.
Foss is the all-time AAGPBL leader in doubles (117) despite playing just five of the league's twelve seasons.
She died of Lou Gehrig's Disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS) at age 68. Her sister Joanne also died of ALS two years later.
players
Annabel Lefty Harmon
Annabel Lefty Harmon
Annabel Lefty Harmon
In 1944, Annabelle Lee (the aunt of Bill Lee) pitched the first perfect game in the history of the AAGPBL.
Dorris Sams
Annabel Lefty Harmon
Annabel Lefty Harmon
Doris "Sammye" Sams was an outfielder and pitcher in the AAGPBL. She made her debut as a pitcher with the expansion Muskegon Lassies in 1946.
Sophie Kurys
Annabel Lefty Harmon
Sophie Kurys
Sophie Kurys, nicknamed "Tina Cobb" or "The Flint Flash", was an outstanding player for the Racine Belles of the AAGPBL, playing 9 seasons in the league from 1943-1952.
Mary Nesbitt
Joanne Weaver
Sophie Kurys
Mary Nesbitt was a star in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as both a pitcher and at first base.
Joanne Weaver
Joanne Weaver
Joanne Weaver
Joltin’ Jo Joanne Weaver was one of the greatest hitters in the history of the AAGPBL.
Betty Foss
Joanne Weaver
Joanne Weaver
Betty Foss hit .342 in five seasons for the Fort Wayne Daisies; her career average is second in AAGPBL history to her sister Joanne.
Lois Florreich
Connie Wisniewski
Connie Wisniewski
In 1949, Lois Florreich became Rockford's ace and she put up a great 22-7, 0.67 season. She set the AAGPBL all-time record for lowest ERA.
Connie Wisniewski
Connie Wisniewski
Connie Wisniewski
Connie Wisniewski holds the AAGPBL record for best winning percentage (.690) by a pitcher. She began her career with the expansion Milwaukee Chicks in 1944.
Anna Mae Hutchison
Connie Wisniewski
Anna Mae Hutchison
Anna May Hutchison played for the Racine Belles and is the AAGPBL all-times league leader in appearances playing from 1944-1949. She helped lead the belles to a championship in 1946.
Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy Schroeder
Anna Mae Hutchison
Dorothy Schroeder had the longest career in the AAGPBL. The only player to appear in all 12 years the league existed.
Theda Marshall
Dorothy Schroeder
Theda Marshall
Marshall struggled at the plate in 1947. She went 51-for-362 for a .141 average, striking out 79 times to set an all-time single-season record.
Rita Briggs
Dorothy Schroeder
Theda Marshall
Briggs joined the AAGPBL when she was 18, playing through 1954. She played for with the Rockford Peaches, the Chicago Colleens, the South Bend Blue Sox, the Peoria Redwings, and the Daisies.