Vargas: Did a teenage girl really strike out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig?
From Theresa Vargas at the Washington Post on April 5, 2017, with mention of SABR Vice President Leslie Heaphy:
There she stands on the pitching mound. The black-and-white video footage is grainy, but clear enough to see Jackie Mitchell’s hat is tilted just slightly to the right.
In front of her, on home plate, stands the familiar figure of Babe Ruth in a number 3 jersey, bat in hand.
She winds her left arm and lets the ball fly.
He swings. He misses.
This happens once more. With her next pitch, Ruth pulls the bat toward him, avoiding contact with the ball, but it’s declared a strike. He flings the bat to the ground.
Mitchell was 17, one of the first female pitchers with a baseball contract, and on that day, April 2, 1931, she had just struck out the Great Bambino.
She then did it again with the next person up to bat – Lou Gehrig.
Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/04/05/a-baseball-mystery-did-a-teenage-girl-really-strike-out-babe-ruth-and-lou-gehrig/?utm_term=.9a769f0d37f2
Originally published: April 5, 2017. Last Updated: April 5, 2017.