August 15, 1943: Canada’s Olive Little tosses first no-hit, no-run game in AAGPBL history

Olive Little wasn’t particularly interested in joining the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) for its inaugural 1943 season – at least initially.1 She had a good teaching job in Poplar Point, Manitoba, and had been recently married. “Then they offered me twice as much in a week as I had been making in a month teaching,” she explained. “How could I say no?”2 With her husband in the Canadian Army, Little jumped at the chance. Her $100-per-week contract made her one of the highest-paid players in the league.

Although the AAGPBL used baseball rules, it gradually transitioned the pitching style, ball, and field dimensions from softball-like to nearly regulation baseball between 1943 and 1954.3 Little unleashed her blazing fastball using an underhand delivery of a 12-inch ball that first season. The fledgling league initially positioned the mound 40 feet from home plate and the bases 65 feet apart; the dimensions for regulation softball at the time were 35 and 55 feet, respectively.4

Little quickly established herself as the ace of the Rockford Peaches pitching staff. The 26-year-old fireballer wasn’t afraid to use a brushback pitch whenever a hitter dug in a little too close to the plate.5 Her popularity soared in Rockford, and fans rewarded her first-half efforts by voting her to the Illinois-Indiana All-Star team.6 The All-Star Game was played under temporary lights at Wrigley Field on July 1 – more than 45 years before the Chicago Cubs played what many mistakenly believed was the first night game at the historic ballpark.7

Five weeks after making history at Wrigley, she was fêted by Rockford fans with an “Olive Little Night,” and presented with a wristwatch.8 She responded by tossing a three-hitter against the Racine Belles.

Despite Little’s outstanding pitching, Rockford came into its August 15 doubleheader against the South Bend Blue Sox in third place in the second-half standings with a 13-20 record.9 The Blue Sox boasted a 22-11 mark, giving them a three-game lead over the second-place Kenosha Comets.

The first game of the twin bill, which was seven innings in duration, featured an all-Canadian pitching matchup.10 Little got the start for the Peaches, while the Blue Sox countered with 21-year-old southpaw Doris “Dodie” Barr. Both hurlers came from small towns in southern Manitoba. Barr grew up in Starbuck, less than 40 miles from Little’s hometown of Poplar Point.

The two catchers in this game were also Canadian: South Bend’s Lucella MacLean (Lloydminster, Alberta) and Rockford’s Helen “Swede” Nelson (Toronto).

MacLean was starting in place of South Bend’s star catcher, Mary “Bonnie” Baker (Regina, Saskatchewan), who had broken a finger on her throwing hand three nights earlier and was out for the season. Baker was hurt on a foul tip in the first inning of a doubleheader, yet she played the remainder of the first game and even drove in a run after suffering the injury.11

Nelson suited up despite getting knocked out cold the night before in a home-plate collision with 15-year-old phenom Dorothy “Dottie” Schroeder.12 The slightly built Nelson had to be carried off the field and taken to the clubhouse. The South Bend Tribune reported that she “received nothing more serious than a bump on the head.”13

Rockford manager Eddie Stumpf penciled two more Canadians into his starting lineup: Hard-hitting Gladys “Terrie” Davis (Toronto) played center field,14 and Mildred Warwick (Regina, Saskatchewan) was stationed at the hot corner.15

Barr retired the game’s first two batters before Rockford’s Irene Ruhnke singled into center field. The next two batters, Davis and Mildred Deegan, walked to load the bases. Betty Jane “Moe” Moczynski followed with a sharp single into left field to give the Peaches an early 2-0 lead.

Little opened the bottom of the first inning by walking Betsy “Sockum” Jochum. The speedy Jochum stole second and went to third on Marge Stefani’s groundball out. MacLean followed with a short fly ball that was tracked down by an onrushing Davis, and Jochum had to remain at third. Little escaped the inning unscathed by getting Lois “Flash” Florreich to ground out.16

Barr and Little settled into a tight pitchers’ duel. Neither hurler allowed another baserunner until the bottom of the fifth, when Little walked Barr to open the frame. Josephine “Jo Jo” D’Angelo followed with what would have been a single with the bases empty, but Barr thought the ball was going to be caught by the left fielder Moczynski and held up at first. The ball fell in front of Moczynski, who relayed it to Ruhnke for the force play at second. D’Angelo’s potential single went as a force play, keeping Little’s no-hitter intact. The Rockford hurler surrendered her third (and final) walk of the game to the next batter, Johanna Hargraves, before getting a pair of popups to end the inning.

Neither team had a batter reach base for the remainder of the game. Little retired the Blue Sox in order in the final two innings to secure her no-hit, no-run game and give the Peaches a much-needed 2-0 victory. Despite throwing a two-hitter and retiring the last 19 Rockford batters, Barr was charged with the hard-luck loss. The errorless game was completed in a brisk 60 minutes.

Although Little recorded the first no-hit, no-run game in the history of the AAGPBL, it wasn’t the league’s first no-hitter. That was thrown on June 10, 1943, in Rockford’s 7-2 victory over Kenosha by none other than Olive Little.17

Little finished the season with a 21-15 record and a 2.56 ERA. Her ERA ranked third in the league, behind fellow Canadian Helen Nicol (1.81) and Margaret “Sonny” Berger (1.91).18 Little’s eight shutouts tied her with Nicol for the league lead.

Rockford stumbled through the remainder of the 1943 season, finishing in last place in the second-half standings with a 20-34 mark. The Peaches’ overall record of 43-65 was also the league’s worst.

South Bend was a different team without Baker, the league’s top catcher. The Blue Sox went 10-14 from August 13 onward and missed the playoffs. They finished the second half of the season three games behind Kenosha.19

Little sat out the 1944 season and gave birth to her first child, Bobbi, on June 3. There were reports in late July that Little would return to the Peaches before the end of the season,20 but she eventually decided there wasn’t enough time to get herself back into playing shape.21

Rockford held a second “Olive Little Night” on August 6, 1944, with 3,127 fans coming out to celebrate their former top hurler. The large crowd pushed Rockford’s season attendance past its 1943 total with a month still left on the schedule.22 With Little looking on, the Peaches’ new pitching ace, Carolyn “India” Morris, tossed a seven-inning no-hit, no-run game to open the twin bill.23

Little returned to action in 1945 better than ever. The flamethrowing right-hander struck out 15 Fort Wayne batters on June 28, and less than two weeks later she tossed a nine-inning no-hit, no-run game against those same Daisies.24 Four days after Little’s third no-no, the league moved the mound from 40 to 42 feet away from home plate to reduce the number of no-hitters.25 She finished the season with a 22-11 record and a minuscule 1.68 ERA.

The mighty pitching duo of Morris and Little propelled Rockford to the 1945 pennant with a 67-43 record. That season the league scrapped the split-season setup and instituted the Shaughnessy playoff format.26 Rockford defeated the third-place Grand Rapids Chicks three games to one in the first round of the playoffs before downing the Daisies four games to one to claim the championship.27 It was the first of Rockford’s four postseason titles in a six-year period.28

Little returned in 1946 for one final season, posting a 14-17 record and a 2.51 ERA with the Peaches. She retired from professional baseball after the season and returned to Poplar Point, where she spent the remainder of her life.

She was admitted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame in 1983; two years later she entered the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Little was inducted posthumously into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 as a member of the pioneering group of 68 Canadian women who played in the AAGPBL.29

Little displayed typical Canadian modesty when she was asked about her professional baseball accomplishments, preferring instead to give much of the credit to her father, Jack Bend, and her sports-mad hometown. “Anybody who had the kind of coaching and encouragement I had could have done what I did,” she said. “Maybe more.”30

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted AAGPBL.org and AncestryLibrary.ca.

Notes

1 The professional women’s circuit was originally known as the All-American Girls Soft Ball League. It was renamed the All-American Girls Base Ball League in midseason 1943. Other titles used by the league included All-American Girls Professional Ball League (1944-45), All-American Girls Base Ball League (again, 1946-50), and American Girls Baseball League (1951-54). The league became known as the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League after the creation of the Players’ Association in 1986. William McMahon, Helen Nordquist, and Merrie A. Fidler, “AAGPBL History: The International Girls Baseball League,” All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, https://www.aagpbl.org/articles/show/51, accessed March 26, 2021; “League History,” All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, https://www.aagpbl.org/history/league-history, accessed March 26, 2021.

2 Canadian Press, “Wartime Women’s Baseball League Almost Forgotten,” Toronto Globe and Mail, May 26, 1983: 22.

3 In 1954, the AAGPBL’s final season, the mound was 60 feet from home plate and the bases were 85 feet apart. The pitchers threw overhand that season and used a regulation nine-inch baseball.

4 Anika Orrock, The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2020), 62-63. As of 2021, NCAA softball used a 12-inch ball; the mound was 43 feet from home plate, and the bases were 60 feet apart.

5 Dan Turner, Heroes, Bums, and Ordinary Men: Profiles in Canadian Baseball (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1988), 262.

6 “Belles to Play Sox Tonight; Name All Star Team Lineup,” Racine (Wisconsin) Journal-Times, June 30, 1943: 10.

7 Merrie A. Fidler and Jim Nitz, “July 1, 1943: All-American Girls Play First Game Under the Lights at Wrigley Field,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-1-1943-all-american-girls-play-first-game-under-the-lights-at-wrigley-field/, accessed March 25, 2021.

8 “Belles Divide Doubleheader with Rockford Team Sunday; Lose Saturday Contest, 8-3,” Racine Journal-Times, August 9, 1943:10.

9 “Girls’ Softball,” South Bend Tribune, August 15, 1943: 23.

10 AAGPBL doubleheaders consisted of one seven-inning game and one nine-inning game. The second game of the twin bill on August 15, 1943, was washed out in the top of the fifth inning with Rockford leading South Bend, 4-2. The game was replayed on August 16, which was supposed to have been an offday for both teams.

11 Jim Costin, “Injury Puts Bonnie Baker Out for Year,” South Bend Tribune, August 13, 1943: 21.

12 Nelson is listed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book as being 5-feet-1, 100 pounds. Schroeder is listed at 5-feet-7, 150 pounds, although she may have been smaller at 15 years of age when this game was played. Schroeder scored on the play, extending South Bend’s healthy eighth-inning lead to 8-1. Two nights later, Schroeder was called out for interference when she crashed into Rockford shortstop Eileen Burmeister, who was in the process of fielding a groundball. “Doris Barr to Face Comets in Series Opener Tonight,” South Bend Tribune, August 17, 1943:12.

13 Jim Costin, “Sox Win, 8-1; Lead by Three Games,” South Bend Tribune, August 15, 1943: 23. Concussion protocols in professional baseball were still almost 70 years away.

14 Canadian slugger Gladys Davis won the 1943 AAGPBL batting title with a .332 batting average, and she led the league with 155 total bases. No other batter in the league (54-game minimum) hit more than .280. Davis also led Rockford with 4 home runs, 58 RBIs, 116 hits, 52 walks, 10 triples, and 78 runs scored in 349 at-bats.

15 In 1943 seven Canadians played for the Rockford Peaches, and five more suited up for the South Bend Blue Sox. In addition to those previously mentioned, utility player Ethel McCreary (Regina, Saskatchewan) and pitcher Thelma Golden (Toronto) donned a Peaches uniform that season; pitcher Catherine Bennett (Regina) also played for the 1943 Blue Sox. Pitcher Muriel Coben (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) appeared in games for both Rockford and South Bend that season.

16 Jim Costin, “Little Stops Sox; 2-0, in No-Hitter,” South Bend Tribune, August 16, 1943: 10.

17 Little’s first no-hitter was thrown in only the 14th game in the history of the Rockford Peaches. Shirley Jameson scored both runs for Kenosha. Twice in the game the speedy Jameson walked, stole second, and then stole third. She scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and on an error in the third. Jameson led the league with 126 stolen bases in 1943.

18 Helen Nicol, a native of Ardley, Alberta, won her second consecutive ERA title in 1944 with a 0.93 ERA and tossed a nine-inning no-hit, no-run game on September 4, 1944, against the Racine Belles. She got married and played under the name Helen Nicol Fox beginning in 1945. She pitched for 10 seasons, eventually becoming the Cy Young of the AAGPBL. She is the career leader in wins (163), losses (118), pitching appearances (313), innings pitched (2382), strikeouts (1076), hits allowed (1579), and earned runs (499).

19 The first-place teams from the first and second half qualified for the playoffs in 1943 and 1944. Racine swept Kenosha in the 1943 league championship series.

20 Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, July 26, 1944:10.

21 Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, August 9, 1944:10.

22 “Morris Pitches No-Hit, No-Run Rockford Win,” Kenosha News, August 7, 1944: 8.

23 The AAGPBL ball was reduced from 12 to 11½ inches at the start of the 1944 season. The distance between the bases was increased from 65 to 68 feet on July 19, 1944, to reduce the number of stolen bases. Eddie McKenna, “Belles Beat Comets in Series Opener, 5-2,” Kenosha News, July 20, 1944:12.

24 “Players Scrap as Rockford Beats Daisies, 2-0,” Racine Journal-Times, June 29, 1945: 12; “Little Pitches No-Hitter as Rockford Wins, 2-0,” Racine Journal-Times, July 11, 1945:10.

25 Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, July 9, 1945: 10. A record eight no-hitters were thrown in 1945. Doris Barr threw a seven-inning no-hit, no-run game for Racine in the nightcap of a July 1, 1945, doubleheader against Fort Wayne – 13 days before the mound was moved back. Racine won the game, 2-0, and Barr knocked in both runs herself in the top of the seventh. It was the first no-hitter in the history of the Racine Belles.

26 The AAGPBL operated as a six-team circuit in 1945. The top four teams qualified for the playoffs, with the first- and third-place teams squaring off in one of the first-round series and the second- and fourth-place teams meeting in the other series.

27 W.C. Madden, The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000), 100-106.

28 The Rockford Peaches were also AAGPBL playoff champions in 1948, 1949, and 1950.

29 Most of the Canadian players in the AAGPBL were from the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. A big reason why there were so many Canadians in the league was that the Prairie provinces were scoured for talent by AAGPBL scouts, including Johnny Gottselig. Gottselig, who was from Saskatchewan, played in the NHL for 16 seasons with the Chicago Black Hawks. He had also managed women’s softball in Saskatchewan. In addition to being an AAGPBL scout, Gottselig managed the Racine Belles (1943-44), Peoria Red Wings (1946-47), and Kenosha Comets (1949-51). Matt Rothenberg, “A Hockey Hero and the AAGPBL,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/short-stops/johnny-gottselig-and-the-all-american-girIs-professional-baseball-league, accessed April 7, 2021.

30 “Olive Bend Little (May 7, 1917 – February 2, 1987),” Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, http://honouredmem-bers.sportmanitoba.ca/inductee.php?id=63, accessed March 26, 2021.