1945 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

{{Infobox sports season

| title=1945 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season

| league=All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

| sport=Baseball

| logo=Logo of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.svg

| pixels=90px

| no_of_teams=Six

| season=Regular season

| season_champs=Rockford Peaches

| finals=Shaugnessy playoffs

| finals_champ=Rockford Peaches

| seasonslistnames=AAGPBL

| prevseason_year=1944

| nextseason_year =1946

}}

The 1945 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season marked the third season of the circuit. The action began with six teams, like the previous season. But the Milwaukee Chicks and the Minneapolis Millerettes franchises were renamed the Grand Rapids Chicks and Fort Wayne Daisies respectively. The measure took effect for poor attendances in the cities of these teams the year before. At this point, the new clubs joined the Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox, all founding members of the league. The six teams competed through a 110-game schedule, while the split season was dropped in favor of a longer playoff format with the Shaugnessy format: the one seed facing the three seed and the two seed against the four seed.{{cite web |url=http://www.aagpbl.org/league/history.cfm |title= All-American Girls Professional Baseball League History}} In addition, the pitching distance increased from 40 to 42 feet during the midseason.[http://www.aagpbl.org/index.cfm/pages/league/20/rules-of-play AAGPBL Rules of Play]

Nevertheless, the pitchers continued to dominate the league as an all-time record eight no-hitters were recorded in the season. Rockford's Carolyn Morris hurled a perfect game against Fort Wayne, while South Bend's Betty Luna threw four shutouts in a stretch, including her first career no-hitter. Grand Rapids' Connie Wisniewski led all pitchers with her 32 victories and a 0.81 earned run average, rivalizing with Fort Wayne's Dorothy Wiltse who recorded 29 wins and a 0.83 ERA. But the other side, Mary Nesbitt of Racine was the only hitter to top the .300 mark (.319) while Fort Wayne teammates Helen Callaghan and Faye Dancer tied for the home run title with three a piece. Wisniewski was honored with the AAGPBL Player of the Year Award.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record BookW. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Softcover, 294pp. Language: English. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3747-4}}

In the playoffs, champion Rockford played third place Grand Rapids and second place Fort Wayne took Racine. Rockford and Fort Wayne ended up facing each other in the finals, with Rockford becoming the first team to win both the season title and the championship in league history. Morris, who went 28–12 with a 1.08 ERA in the season, defeated the Chicks three times in the first round and repeated her feat against the Daisies in the finals, proving that good pitching is most important that hitting during a short series.The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical DictionaryW. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295pp. Language: English. {{ISBN|0-7864-3747-2}}All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book

The AAGPBL drew 450,000 fans during the 1945 season, which represented a 19 percent raise over the previous year.

Teams

Map of teams

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|Description=10px All-American Girls Professional Baseball League teams

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|cWidth=450

|cHeight=300

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|oTop=145

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{{Location map+ | USA Midwest

| width = 900

| caption =

| places =

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 41.10

| lon_deg = -85.14

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = bottom

| label = Daisies}}

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 42.96

| lon_deg = -85.66

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = bottom

| label = Chicks}}

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 42.58

| lon_deg = -87.85

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = bottom

| label = Comets}}

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 42.74

| lon_deg = -87.80

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = right

| label = Belles}}

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 42.25

| lon_deg = -89.09

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = bottom

| label = Peaches}}

{{Location map~ | USA Midwest

| lat_deg = 41.67

| lon_deg = -86.27

| mark = Black pog.svg

| label_size = 80

| position = bottom

| label = Blue Sox}}

}}

}}

{{Clear}}

Final standings

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Rank!!Team!!W!!L!!W-L%!!GB

1Rockford Peaches6743.609
2Fort Wayne Daisies6247.569
3Grand Rapids Chicks6050.5457
4Racine Belles5060.45517
5South Bend Blue Sox4960.45017½
6Kenosha Comets4169.37226

Postseason

{{4TeamBracket|RD1=First round
Best of five series|RD2=Second round
Best of seven series

|RD1-seed1=1|RD1-team1=Rockford Peaches|RD1-score1=3|RD1-seed2=3|RD1-team2=Grand Rapids Chicks|RD1-score2=1

|RD1-seed3=2|RD1-team3=Fort Wayne Daisies|RD1-score3=3|RD1-seed4=4|RD1-team4=Racine Belles|RD1-score4=1

|RD2-seed1=1|RD2-team1=Rockford Peaches|RD2-score1=4|RD2-seed2=2|RD2-team2=Fort Wayne Daisies|RD2-score2=1

}}

Batting statistics

class="wikitable"

!Statistic!!Player!!Record

align=center

Batting average

Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Helen Callaghan (FW)
  Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)  
Margaret Wigiser (ROC)
Elizabeth Mahon (SB)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Dorothy Harrell (ROC)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Kay Rohrer (ROC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
.319
.299
.274
.249
.246
.240
.239
.239
.239
.237
align=center

|Runs scored

Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Helen Callaghan (FW)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Mary Baker (SB)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Mildred Deegan (ROC)
Faye Dancer (FW)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Helen Filarski (ROC)
80
77
73
49
47
47
44
44
44
align=center

|Hits

Helen Callaghan (FW)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN/SB)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Mary Baker (SB)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Vivian Kellogg (FW)
122
115
95
94
93
92
83
83
82
align=center

|Doubles

Helen Callaghan (FW)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Vivian Kellogg (FW)
Mildred Deegan (ROC)
Doris Tetzlaff (GR)
Margaret Wigiser (ROC)
Kay Rohrer (ROC)
Lee Surkowski (SB)
Rose Gacioch (ROC)
17
16
13
11
10
9
9
8
8
8
8
align=center

|Triples

Audrey Wagner (KEN)
Gertrude Ganote (SB)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Vivian Kellogg (FW)
Lois Florreich (SB/KEN)
Mary Baker (SB)
Mildred Deegan (ROC)
Lee Surkowski (SB)
Helen Callaghan (FW)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN/SB)
9
8
8
7
6
6
5
5
4
3
3
align=center

|Home runs

Helen Callaghan (FW)
Faye Dancer (FW)
Dorothy Harrell (ROC)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Kay Rohrer (ROC)
Dorothy Schroeder (SB/KEN)
Audrey Wagner (KEN)
Margaret Wigiser (ROC)
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
align=center

|Runs batted in

Rose Gacioch (ROC)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN/SB)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Lavonne Paire (FW)
Vivian Kellogg (FW)
Eleanor Dapkus (RAC)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Margaret Wigiser (ROC)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Ruth Lessing (FW)
44
43
41
39
39
38
37
36
35
34
31
align=center

|Stolen bases

Sophie Kurys (RAC)
Helen Callaghan (FW)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Shirley Jameson (KEN)
Twila Shively (GR)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
Penny O'Brian (FW)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Elizabeth Fabac (KEN)
115
92
60
58
46
44
43
41
41
align=center

|Total bases

Helen Callaghan (FW)
Dorothy Kamenshek (ROC)
Thelma Eisen (GR)
Betsy Jochum (SB)
Margaret Stefani (SB)
Mary Baker (SB)
Phyllis Koehn (KEN/SB)
Vivian Kellogg (FW)
Edythe Perlick (RAC)
156
130
115
110
110
109
109
107
107

Pitching statistics

class="wikitable"

!Statistic!!Player!!Record

align=center

|Wins

Connie Wisniewski (GR)
Dorothy Wiltse (FW)
Carolyn Morris (ROC)
Helen Nicol (KEN)
Olive Little (ROC)
Doris Barr (SB/RAC)
  Charlotte Armstrong (SB)   
Audrey Haine (FW)
Josephine Kabick (FW)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Betty Luna (SB)
32
29
28
24
22
20
18
16
16
16
14
14
align=center

|Earned run average

Connie Wisniewski (GR)
Dorothy Wiltse (FW)
Carolyn Morris (ROC)
Helen Nicol (KEN)
Betty Luna (SB)
Annabelle Lee (FW)
Olive Little (ROC)
Doris Barr (SB/RAC)
Josephine Kabick (FW)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
0.81
0.83
1.08
1.34
1.53
1.56
1.68
1.71
1.85
1.87
align=center

|Strikeouts

Dorothy Wiltse (GR)
Helen Nicol (KEN)
Olive Little (ROC)
Nalda Bird (SB)
Carolyn Morris (ROC)
Doris Barr (SB/RAC)
Amy Applegren (ROC)
293
220
142
128
119
104
101
align=center

|Games pitched

Charlotte Armstrong (SB)
Helen Nicol (KEN)
Dorothy Wiltse (GR)
Connie Wisniewski (GR)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Carolyn Morris (ROC)
Josephine Kabick (GR)
Olive Little (ROC)
Viola Thompson (GR)
Joanne Winter (RAC)
Audrey Haine (FW)
Annabelle Lee (FW)
46
46
46
46
43
42
35
34
34
34
32
31
align=center

|Innings pitched

Connie Wisniewski (GR)
Helen Nicol (KEN)
Charlotte Armstrong (SB)
Dorothy Wiltse (GR)
Carolyn Morris (ROC)
Elise Harney (KEN)
Olive Little (ROC)
Josephine Kabick (GR)
Mary Nesbitt (RAC)
Viola Thompson (GR)
Joanne Winter (RAC)
Doris Barr (SB/RAC)
391
357
355
345
333
301
295
292
284
260
260
256

All-Star Game

{{main|All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-Star Team}}

See also

Sources

{{reflist}}