Dottie Green
Encyclopedia
Dorothy M. Green (April 30, 1921 - October 26, 1992) was a female catcher
who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
. Listed at 5' 10" & 150 lbs., she batted and threw right-handed.
. During four seasons she was one of the most respected catchers in the league, until a knee injury forced her to abandon her promising career. A championship team member in 1945, she committed only 55 errors
in 1355 total chances
for a sterling .957 career fielding average.
, Green grew up as an all-round athlete. She started playing baseball with the boys of the neighborhood when she was about eight or ten years old. Later she attended and graduated from Natick High School
, and was a competent athlete in any sport she could find to play. During her senior year at school she was captain of the girls' basketball
, softball
and field hockey
teams. Following her graduation, Green played from 1939 to 1941 for the Boston Olympettes, a semi-professional
softball women's team that played in the Boston Garden
. Walter Brown
, the original owner of the Boston Celtics
, organized the team as a means of having a weekly sports program during the summer months. Games were scheduled with teams from the New England
area, the highlight being a game scheduled with teams from the New York
area at Madison Square Garden
.
In February 1943, Green knew that Philip K. Wrigley
had founded a league exclusively for women players. Wrigley, a chewing gum
manufacturer and owner of the Chicago Cubs
Major League Baseball
club, materialized his idea as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball as the World War II
military draft was depleting Major League
rosters of first-line players. Green was one of three Olympettes recruited by the new league, along with Maddy English
and Mary Pratt
. Green and Pratt were assigned to the Rockford Peaches
; English to the Racine Belles
. Another two teams, the Kenosha Comets
and South Bend Blue Sox
, completed the original roster of the league.
in 48 games, while the Peaches finished in last place with a 55-90 record. At the end of the season, the Belles defeated Kenosha in a best-of-five series to become the first Champions in All-American Girls history.
Green saw more action in 1944, appearing in 98 games while hitting .145 with a career-high 23 stolen base
s. She also led all catchers with a .962 average (18 errors in 477 chances). In 1945 she hit .145 and posted a .966 fielding average, while the Peaches, with Bill Allington
at the helm, defeated Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs and dispatched Fort Wayne, 4 to 1 games, to clinch the Championship Title.
In 1946, Greene dropped to .116 but again showed her solid defense with a .958 average. For the second consecutive year Rockford reached the playoffs, but lost in the first round to Grand Rapids, 3 games to 2. In 1947 she batted .115 in only 14 games, before suffering a serious knee injury which ended her career. After her playing days were over, she became became a AAGPBL chaperone until the folding of the league after the 1954 season, joining Dottie Hunter
(1B/chaperone) and Dorothy Schroeder
(SS
) as the only girls to participate in all 12 seasons for the league. The Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox also were the two teams to be active in every AAGPBL season.
plant. She also was an accomplished music
ian, playing trumpet
and harmonica
. Following her baseball career, she became a recreation officer at the state prison for women at Framingham, Massachusetts
, and was captain of the prison guards team for several years. Although Green was not a fan of Major League Baseball until later life, she began rooting for the Boston Red Sox
. She died at her home in Natick, Massachusetts at the age of 71, following complications from cancer
.
launched a newsletter project to get in touch with friends, teammates and opponents, that resulted in the league’s first-ever reunion in Chicago, Illinois in 1982. Starting from that reunion, a Players Association was formed five years later and many former players of the defunct league continued to enjoy reunions.
since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience.
is a 1992 film about the first season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While the film does not use real names, filmmaker Penny Marshall
seemed to be aiming for realism, as her film includes fake newsreel footage and pseudo-documentary present day scenes at the beginning and end of the fictitious
story. Although Dottie Green had the same first name, and played the same position on the same team as the character Dottie Hinson portrayed by Geena Davis
in the film, that was merely a coincidence, according to those familiar with the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, including Kelly Candaele, one of the five sons of Helen Callaghan
, who in 1945 won the AAGPBL batting championship with a .299 average. A League of Their Own itself was inspired by the 1987 documentary of the same title, written and produced by Candaele, who also collaborated with Kim Wilson in the story for the film. The AAGPBL players were relatively unknown until the Marshall's film was exhibited for the first time. After that, the AAGPBL Players Association reunions became formal annual events in 1998.
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...
. Listed at 5' 10" & 150 lbs., she batted and threw right-handed.
Overview profile
The lanky and thin Green was one of the 60 original founding players of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943. She possessed the ideal qualities for a catcher: a strong arm with a quick release and a deep knowledge to handle a pitching staffPitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
. During four seasons she was one of the most respected catchers in the league, until a knee injury forced her to abandon her promising career. A championship team member in 1945, she committed only 55 errors
Error (baseball)
In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...
in 1355 total chances
Total chances
In baseball statistics, total chances , also called chances offered, represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is calculated as follows: Total Chances = assists + putouts + errors. Chances accepted refers to the total of putouts and assists only. Fielding...
for a sterling .957 career fielding average.
Early life
A native of Natick, MassachusettsNatick, Massachusetts
Natick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 33,006 at the 2010 census. Only west from Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area...
, Green grew up as an all-round athlete. She started playing baseball with the boys of the neighborhood when she was about eight or ten years old. Later she attended and graduated from Natick High School
Natick High School
Natick High School is a public high school serving students in grades 9-12 in Natick, Massachusetts. The school is located on the banks of Lake Cochituate. It enrolled 1189 students as of the 2005-06 school year. Rose Bertucci is currently the interim principal after the retirement of former...
, and was a competent athlete in any sport she could find to play. During her senior year at school she was captain of the girls' basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
and field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
teams. Following her graduation, Green played from 1939 to 1941 for the Boston Olympettes, a semi-professional
Semi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
softball women's team that played in the Boston Garden
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
. Walter Brown
Walter A. Brown
Walter A. Brown was the original owner of the Boston Celtics as well as an important figure in the development of ice hockey in the United States.-Life:...
, the original owner of the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, organized the team as a means of having a weekly sports program during the summer months. Games were scheduled with teams from the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
area, the highlight being a game scheduled with teams from the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
area at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
In February 1943, Green knew that Philip K. Wrigley
Philip K. Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley , sometimes also called P.K. or Phil. Born in Chicago, he was an American chewing gum manufacturer and executive in Major League Baseball, inheriting both those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr. After his father died in 1932, Philip...
had founded a league exclusively for women players. Wrigley, a chewing gum
Chewing gum
Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
manufacturer and owner of the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
club, materialized his idea as a promotional sideline to maintain interest in baseball as the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
military draft was depleting Major League
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
rosters of first-line players. Green was one of three Olympettes recruited by the new league, along with Maddy English
Maddy English
Madeline Catherine English [Maddy] was a third basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 130 lb., English batted and threw right-handed...
and Mary Pratt
Mary Pratt (baseball)
Mary Pratt is a former pitcher who played from 1943 through 1947 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw left-handed.-Early life:...
. Green and Pratt were assigned to the Rockford Peaches
Rockford Peaches
The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....
; English to the Racine Belles
Racine Belles
The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The team played its home games at Horlick Field.-History:...
. Another two teams, the Kenosha Comets
Kenosha Comets
Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but later moved to Simmons Field.The Kenosha Comets were one...
and South Bend Blue Sox
South Bend Blue Sox
The South Bend Blue Sox were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
, completed the original roster of the league.
AAGPBL career
Green was one of four catchers for Rockford in the 1943 season. hit a .164 batting averageBatting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
in 48 games, while the Peaches finished in last place with a 55-90 record. At the end of the season, the Belles defeated Kenosha in a best-of-five series to become the first Champions in All-American Girls history.
Green saw more action in 1944, appearing in 98 games while hitting .145 with a career-high 23 stolen base
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
s. She also led all catchers with a .962 average (18 errors in 477 chances). In 1945 she hit .145 and posted a .966 fielding average, while the Peaches, with Bill Allington
Bill Allington
William Baird Allington was an American Minor league baseball player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" , 160 lb., Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan....
at the helm, defeated Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs and dispatched Fort Wayne, 4 to 1 games, to clinch the Championship Title.
In 1946, Greene dropped to .116 but again showed her solid defense with a .958 average. For the second consecutive year Rockford reached the playoffs, but lost in the first round to Grand Rapids, 3 games to 2. In 1947 she batted .115 in only 14 games, before suffering a serious knee injury which ended her career. After her playing days were over, she became became a AAGPBL chaperone until the folding of the league after the 1954 season, joining Dottie Hunter
Dottie Hunter
Dorothy Hunter [Dottie] was a first basewoman who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the season. Listed at 5' 6", Hunter batted and threw right-handed...
(1B/chaperone) and Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy Schroeder [″Dottie″] was a shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 7", 150 lb., Schroeder batted and threw right-handed...
(SS
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
) as the only girls to participate in all 12 seasons for the league. The Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox also were the two teams to be active in every AAGPBL season.
Fielding
| G Games played Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,... | PO | A Assist (baseball) In baseball, an assist is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is awarded to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional... | E Error (baseball) In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ... | TC Total chances In baseball statistics, total chances , also called chances offered, represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is calculated as follows: Total Chances = assists + putouts + errors. Chances accepted refers to the total of putouts and assists only. Fielding... | DP Double play In baseball, a double play for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two".... | FA Fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 280 | 1129 | 151 | 55 | 1355 | 19 | .957 |
Life after baseball
The off season found Green managing and operating a dry cleaningDry cleaning
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
plant. She also was an accomplished music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
ian, playing trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. Following her baseball career, she became a recreation officer at the state prison for women at Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham, Massachusetts
Framingham is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 68,318 as of the United States 2010 Census. -History:...
, and was captain of the prison guards team for several years. Although Green was not a fan of Major League Baseball until later life, she began rooting for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. She died at her home in Natick, Massachusetts at the age of 71, following complications from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
Players Association
When the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was unable to continue in 1955, its history and its significance were soon forgotten. Many people in the 1950s thought that women were not supposed to play baseball, so most female athletes competed on other fields of endeavor. Finally, in 1980, former pitcher June PeppasJune Peppas
June Peppas is a former first basewoman and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 145 lb., she batted and threw left-handed.-Early life:...
launched a newsletter project to get in touch with friends, teammates and opponents, that resulted in the league’s first-ever reunion in Chicago, Illinois in 1982. Starting from that reunion, a Players Association was formed five years later and many former players of the defunct league continued to enjoy reunions.
Hall of Fame honors
The AAGPBL Players Association movement helped to bring the league story to the public eye. The association was largely responsible for the opening of a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New YorkCooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience.
A League of Their Own
A League of Their OwnA League of Their Own
A League of Their Own is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League . Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O'Donnell...
is a 1992 film about the first season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While the film does not use real names, filmmaker Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley...
seemed to be aiming for realism, as her film includes fake newsreel footage and pseudo-documentary present day scenes at the beginning and end of the fictitious
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
story. Although Dottie Green had the same first name, and played the same position on the same team as the character Dottie Hinson portrayed by Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
in the film, that was merely a coincidence, according to those familiar with the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, including Kelly Candaele, one of the five sons of Helen Callaghan
Helen Callaghan
Helen Callaghan Candaele St. Aubin was a left-handed center fielder who appeared in five seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League , playing under the name Helen Callaghan.As a rookie with the Minneapolis Millerettes Callaghan hit a .287 average in 111...
, who in 1945 won the AAGPBL batting championship with a .299 average. A League of Their Own itself was inspired by the 1987 documentary of the same title, written and produced by Candaele, who also collaborated with Kim Wilson in the story for the film. The AAGPBL players were relatively unknown until the Marshall's film was exhibited for the first time. After that, the AAGPBL Players Association reunions became formal annual events in 1998.
Sources
- A League Of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls – Patricia I. Brown. Publisher: Macfarland & Company, 2003. Format: Paperback, 216pp. Language: English. ISBN 9780786414741
- All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English. ISBN 0786437472
- Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball – Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006. Format: Paperback, 438pp. Language: English. ISBN 0786421002
- Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History – Gai Ingham Berlage, Charley Gerard. Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. Format: Hardcover, 224pp. Language: English. ISBN 0275947351
- When Women Played Hardball – ßusan Johnson. Publisher: Seal Press, 1994. Format: Paperback, 320pp. Language: Language: English. ISBN 1878067435