Jackie Mitchell

{{other people}}{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Jackie Mitchell

| image = Jackie Mitchell, full-length portrait, facing left, in baseball uniform, with left arm raised to throw ball-3c19162 150px.jpg

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| position = Pitcher

| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|8|29}}

| birth_place = Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|1|7|1913|8|29}}

| death_place = Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, U.S.

| bats =

| throws = Left

| debutleague = Southern Association

| debutdate = April 2

| debutyear = {{baseball year|1931}}

| debutteam = Chattanooga Lookouts

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| finalyear = {{baseball year|1937}}

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| teams = * Chattanooga Lookouts ({{baseball year|1931}})

Chattanooga Engelettes
House of David

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Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell Gilbert (August 29, 1913 – January 7, 1987){{cite news |last1=Minsberg |first1=Talya |title=Overlooked No More: Jackie Mitchell, Who Fanned Two of Baseball's Greats |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/obituaries/jackie-mitchell-overlooked.html |accessdate=29 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=7 November 2018}} was one of the first female American pitchers in professional baseball history. She was 17 years old when she pitched for the Chattanooga Lookouts Class AA minor league baseball team in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.{{citation | url = http://sportsmanagementdegree.org/2010/20-inspirational-female-athletes-who-won-in-a-mans-sport/ | publisher = Sports management degree | year = 2010 | title = Inspirational female aþletes who won in a man's sport}}

Early life

Jackie Mitchell was born August 29, 1913, in Chattanooga, Tennessee,{{cite web|last1=Doster|first1=Adam|title=The Myth of Jackie Mitchell, the Girl Who Struck Out Ruth and Gehrig|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/18/the-myth-of-jackie-mitchell-the-girl-who-struck-out-ruth-and-gehrig.html|website=The Daily Beast|accessdate=3 August 2015|date=May 18, 2013}} to Virne Wall Mitchell and Dr. Joseph Mitchell.{{cite book|last=Broome|first=Andy|title=Her Curves Were Too Much for Them|year=2009|url=http://www.andybroome.com/?page_id=169|accessdate=2009-09-26|archive-date=2014-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812165932/http://www.andybroome.com/?page_id=169|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/05/27/mf.women.who.beat.guys/index.html|title=Six women who beat the boys - CNN.com|publisher=CNN|accessdate=2009-09-26 | date=2009-05-27}} When she learned how to walk, her father took her to the baseball diamond and taught her the basics of the game. Her next door neighbor, Dazzy Vance, taught her to pitch and showed her his "drop ball", a type of breaking ball.{{cite web | last = Patrick | first = Jean L.S. | title = Jackie Mitchell The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth | year = 2004 | url = http://www.jeanpatrick.com/jackielife.htm | accessdate = 2008-05-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080529075803/http://www.jeanpatrick.com/jackielife.htm | archive-date = 2008-05-29 | url-status = dead }} Vance was a major league pitcher and would eventually be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=123630|title=National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: Hall of Famer detail: Arthur Charles Vance|accessdate=2009-09-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070820092107/http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=123630|archivedate=2007-08-20}}

At the age of 17, Mitchell began playing for the Engelettes, a women's team in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and went on to attend a baseball training camp in Atlanta, Georgia. In doing so she attracted the attention of Joe Engel, the president and owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts, who was known for using publicity stunts as a way to draw crowds during the Great Depression. Seeing Mitchell as an opportunity to draw attention to the Lookouts, he signed her to the team on March 25, 1931.{{cite web|last1=Blattman|first1=Elissa|title=Historical Women Who Rocked: Jackie Mitchell|url=https://www.nwhm.org/blog/historical-women-who-rock-jackie-mitchell/|website=National Women's History Museum|accessdate=3 August 2015|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906010011/http://www.nwhm.org/blog/historical-women-who-rock-jackie-mitchell/|url-status=dead}} She appeared in her first professional game on April 2, becoming only the second woman to play organized baseball, behind Lizzie Arlington who pitched for the Reading Coal Heavers against the Allentown Peanuts in a minor league game in 1898.{{cite web|last1=Horwitz|first1=Tony|title=The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-woman-who-maybe-struck-out-babe-ruth-and-lou-gehrig-4759182/?all|website=Smithsonian.com|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=3 August 2015|date=July 2013}}

Against the New York Yankees

The New York Yankees and the Chattanooga Lookouts were scheduled to play an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 1, 1931; however, due to rain the game was postponed until the next day. Seventeen-year-old Mitchell was brought in to pitch during the first inning by Lookouts manager Bert Niehoff after the starting pitcher, Clyde Barfoot, gave up a double and a single. The next two batters were Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. After taking a ball, Ruth swung and missed at the next two pitches. Mitchell's fourth pitch to Ruth was a called third strike. Babe Ruth glared and verbally abused the umpire before being led away by his teammates to sit to wait for another batting turn. The crowd roared for Jackie. Babe Ruth was quoted in a Chattanooga newspaper as having said:

"I don't know what's going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball. Of course, they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball every day."{{cite news | last = Cronin | first = Brian | title = Sports Legend Revealed: Did a female pitcher strike out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig? | date = 2011-02-23 | url = http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/02/sports-legend-revealed-did-a-female-pitcher-strike-out-babe-ruth-and-lou-gehrig.html | accessdate = 25 January 2016 | work=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite web | last = Hellman | first = Neal | title = Jackie Mitchell | date = April 6, 2008 | url = http://gourdmusic.blogspot.com/2008/04/jackie-mitchell.html | accessdate = 2008-05-18}}

Next up was "the Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig, who swung through the first three pitches to strike out, and Jackie Mitchell became famous for striking out two of the greatest baseball players in history.

Later career

A few days after Mitchell struck out Ruth and Gehrig, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided her contract and declared that women were unfit to play baseball as the game was "too strenuous."{{cite web|last= Aubrecht| first =Michael|title=Jackie Mitchell – The Pride of the Yankees|publisher=Baseball Almanac|year=2003|url = http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/aubrecht8.shtml| accessdate = 2008-05-18}} However, Mitchell continued to play professionally, barnstorming with the House of David, a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards.{{cite web|url=http://www.maryscityofdavid.org/html/baseball.html|title=Mary's City of David: The Famous Israelite Baseball Team|accessdate=2009-09-26}} While traveling with the House of David team, she would sometimes wear a fake beard for publicity.

Mitchell retired in {{baseball year|1937}} at the age of 23 after becoming furious since her story about playing baseball was being used as something of a side show – once being asked to pitch while riding a donkey. She refused to come out of retirement when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed in 1943.{{cite web|last=Broome|first=Andy|title=Jackie Mitchell Q & A ©2009 Andy Broome|year=2009|accessdate=2009-09-26|url=http://www.andybroome.com/jackieqanda.htm|archive-date=2011-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126131039/http://www.andybroome.com/jackieqanda.htm|url-status=dead}} Major League Baseball would formally ban the signing of women to contracts on June 21, {{baseball year|1952}}. The ban lasted until {{baseball year|1992}} when Carey Schueler was drafted by the Chicago White Sox for the 1993 season.{{Cite web |title=We're not laughing: The White Sox have... |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-06-15-9306150198-story.html |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=Chicago Tribune}}{{Cite web |title=Carey Schueler Leagues Statistics & History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=schuel000car |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}

In {{baseball year|1982}} Mitchell was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Chattanooga Lookouts on their season opening day.{{cite web | last = Holmes | first = Dan | title = When Jackie Mitchell Struck OUT Ruth, Gehrig | publisher = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum | date = February 15, 2007 | url = http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070215&content_id=280&vkey=hof_news | accessdate = 2008-05-18 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080408144208/http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070215&content_id=280&vkey=hof_news |archivedate = 2008-04-08}}

Jackie Mitchell died in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, on January 7, 1987, and was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Chattanooga.{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/49913587.html?dids=49913587:49913587&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+11%2C+1987&author=&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=15.B&desc=Virne+Mitchell+Gilbert%2C+woman+who+struck+out+Babe+Ruth+Series%3A+obituaries|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131230213/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/49913587.html?dids=49913587:49913587&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+11,+1987&author=&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=15.B&desc=Virne+Mitchell+Gilbert,+woman+who+struck+out+Babe+Ruth+Series:+obituaries|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|title=Virne Mitchell Gilbert, woman who struck out Babe Ruth Series: obituaries|work=St. Petersburg Times|date=January 11, 1987|page=15 B|accessdate=2009-09-26}}

Legacy

A musical about Mitchell's life entitled Unbelievable was developed by Kevin Fogarty (lyrics), Rachel DeVore Fogarty (music), and John Robert DeVore (book). It debuted in a staged reading on March 17, 2017, at Skyline Theatre Company in Bergen County, New Jersey.[https://myemail.constantcontact.com/World-premiere-of-the-musical-Unbelievable---Skyline.html?soid=1103636084280&aid=lDE8wFJblgs World premiere of the musical Unbelievable @ Skyline]

On May 27, 2017, the Chattanooga Lookouts honored Mitchell with a limited edition bobblehead to the 1st 1,000 fans who entered the stadium.{{cite web | url-access=limited |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/159893660735011/1405151459542552 |archive-date = 2022-04-27| url = https://www.facebook.com/ChattanoogaLookouts/posts/join-us-for-our-jackie-mitchell-bobblehead-giveaway-tonight-as-your-lookouts-go-/1405151459542552/ |title = Chattanooga Lookouts on Facebook |website=Facebook}}{{cbignore}}{{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}

In his "60 Moments" series with The Athletic, sportswriters Joe Posnanski ranked Mitchell's game against the Yankees as No. 27 on the list of most memorable baseball moments.{{cite news |last1=Posnanski |first1=Joe |title=60 Moments: No. 27, Jackie Mitchell strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1871372/2020/06/14/60-moments-no-27-jackie-mitchell-strikes-out-babe-ruth-and-lou-gehrig/ |work=The Athletic |date=June 14, 2020}}