Connie Morgan
{{short description|American baseball player (1935–1996)}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Connie Morgan
|image=Connie Morgan Baseball.jpg
|position=Second Base
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{birth date|mf=yes|1935|10|17}}
|birth_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
|death_date={{death date and age|mf=yes|1996|10|14|1935|10|17}}
|death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
|debutleague=Negro leagues
|debutyear=1954
|debutteam=Indianapolis Clowns
|finalleague=Negro leagues
|finalyear=1955
|finalteam=Indianapolis Clowns
|teams=
- Indianapolis Clowns ({{by|1954}}–{{by|1955}})
}}
Constance Enola Morgan (October 17, 1935 – October 14, 1996) was the third woman to play professional baseball in the Negro league.
Career
A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan graduated John Bartram High School in 1953 and attended William Penn Business Institute.{{cite web|author= |url=https://www.nlbemuseum.com/history/players/morgan.html |title=Connie Morgan |publisher=nlbemuseum.com |date= |accessdate=May 6, 2020}}{{cite web|author=Joe Swide |url=https://www.ebbets.com/blogs/news-and-history/connie-morgan |title=Connie Morgan: A Female Baseball Powerhouse |work=Ebbets Field Flannels |publisher=ebbets.com |date= |accessdate=May 6, 2020}} She joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1954, playing second base under Baseball Hall of Fame skipper Oscar Charleston. She was signed "to a contract estimated at $10,000 per season" by Clowns owner Syd Pollock at the same time as female pitcher Mamie "Peanut" Johnson.{{cite web |last1=Delmont |first1=Matthew |title=Connie Morgan and Women in Negro League Baseball |url=https://about.proquest.com/blog/pqblog/2016/Connie-Morgan-and-Women-in-Negro-League-Baseball.html |website=Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African-American Newspapers |accessdate=28 June 2020|id={{ProQuest| }} |language=en}} She replaced Toni Stone, who had been the first woman to compete in the league, and who had been traded to the Kansas City Monarchs prior to the season. Described as standing {{height|ft=5|in=4|abbr=no}} tall and weighing 140 pounds (64 kilos), she was "slated to get the regular female assignment in the starting lineup."{{cite news |title=Hometown Miss To Replace Toni Stone At Second Base |url=http://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/bq/media/PT%203-9-54.pdf |work=Philadelphia Tribune (1912–2001) |date=9 March 1954 |page=10}} On opening day, 23 May 1954, "she went far to her right to make a sensational stop, flipped to shortstop Bill Holder and started a lightning doubleplay against the Birmingham Barons."{{cite news |title=6,000 see Connie Morgan in sparkling performance |url=http://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/bq/media/BAA%20-%205-29-54.pdf |accessdate=28 June 2020 |work=Afro-American (1893–1988) |date=29 May 1954 |page=15}} Making her first appearance in her native Philadelphia in July, the Clowns took both games of a doubleheader from the Monarchs, one of the preeminent teams in the league.{{cite news |title=Schoolmates Greet Star |url=http://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/bq/media/philadelphia-tribune---july-24-1954?t=1457877183135 |accessdate=28 June 2020 |work=Philadelphia Tribune |publisher=Black Quotidian |date=24 July 1954 |language=en}} Morgan played with the Clowns through 1955. Before her tenure with the Indianapolis, she played catcher for five seasons with the North Philadelphia Honey Drippers, an all-women baseball team, batting .338 in that time.{{Cite web |last1=Nielsen | first1=Euell A. |date=13 October 2016 |url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/morgan-constance-enola-1935-1993|title=Morgan, Constance Enola (1935–1993)|website=BlackPast.org}}{{cite news |title=Indianapolis Clowns Sign Female Player |url=http://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/bq/media/CCP%203-13-54.pdf |work=Cleveland Call and Post (1934–1962) |date=13 March 1954 |page=5C}}
Post-baseball life
At the end of the Clowns' championship season, she "switched from bats to books as she resumed her studies" in accounting at William Penn Business Institute, with the goal of becoming a "top-flight worker in a business office".{{cite news |title=Connie Morgan A Student: Clowns' Star Returns To Accounting Course |url=http://blackquotidian.supdigital.org/bq/media/NJG%20-%2010-30-54.pdf |accessdate=28 June 2020 |work=New Journal and Guide (1916–2003) |date=30 October 1954 |page=20}} She completed her program in 1955 and eventually worked for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) until her retirement in 1974. 1995 saw her inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and she died in Philadelphia 14 October 1996, 3 days short of her 61st birthday.
See also
References
External links
- [https://www.nlbemuseum.com/history/players/morgan.html Negro League Baseball Museum]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Connie}}
Category:American women baseball players
Category:Indianapolis Clowns players
Category:20th-century American sportswomen
Category:20th-century African-American sportswomen