August 30, 1945: Racine’s Janet Jacobs knocks catcher unconscious for walk-off, inside-the-park homer

The Racine Belles had a tenuous hold on the fourth and final playoff spot in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with six games remaining in the 1945 season.1 When the Belles came to bat on August 30 in the bottom of the ninth, trailing the Rockford Peaches, 3-1, they were on the verge of falling into fifth place. But 16-year-old rookie Janet Jacobs (later Murk) capped a three-run rally by driving a ball over the head of Rockford’s right fielder to knock in the tying run, then circling the bases and bowling catcher Kay Rohrer over to score the winning run, giving Racine a crucial 4-3 victory.2

Jacobs had joined the Belles in mid-June 1945 after finishing her junior year of high school in Englewood, New Jersey.3 She had made history by becoming the first girl to make the boys’ baseball team at Dwight Morrow High School, although her time on the team was brief. “They called me into the principal’s office and said it wasn’t the proper way for a young lady to conduct herself, playing ball,” Jacobs said many years later.4 Despite getting removed from the roster, she continued to practice with the boys’ team for the remainder of the season.5

Jacobs got her first stint of regular playing time in the AAGPBL in late June when star second sacker Sophie Kurys was injured.6 Another huge opportunity presented itself on August 26 when right fielder Eleanor Dapkus (later Wolf) suffered a season-ending knee injury.7 Jacobs played the next few games in right field before swapping positions with shortstop Betty Emry.8

Racine came into its August 30 game with a 48-57 record, 16 games behind first-place Rockford and just a half-game ahead of the fifth-place South Bend Blue Sox. The Peaches, the best offensive team in the league, had a 64-41 record, 4½ games ahead of the second-place Fort Wayne Daisies.9 Rockford’s magic number was down to 3, and it had an outside chance of clinching the regular-season title that night by beating Racine and having South Bend sweep its doubleheader against Fort Wayne.

The pitching matchup featured a pair of dominant Canadian hurlers, both of whom were from small communities in Southern Manitoba.10 Olive Little, a fan favorite in Rockford,11 had a 22-9 record and had not lost in her previous 10 starts.12 The 28-year-old righty had fired the first two no-hitters in AAGPBL history in 1943 before taking the 1944 season off to have her first child.13 She soon returned to form, tossing the third and final no-hitter of her career on July 10, 1945. Four days later, the league moved the mound back two feet in an attempt to increase offense and reduce the number of no-hitters.14

Southpaw Doris “Dodie” Barr got the start for Racine. The 24-year-old Barr was an extremely difficult pitcher to hit, but she struggled to throw strikes – she walked almost one batter per inning in 1944 with South Bend. After she had control problems in her first outing of 1945, the Blue Sox put her on waivers and she was claimed by the Belles.15 Barr improved her control with Racine, and she tossed the first of two career no-hitters in the second game of a twin bill on July 1. She entered the game against the Peaches with an 18-8 record.16

Neither team could score in the first two innings. In the top of the third, Rockford first baseman Dorothy “Dottie” Kamenshek singled and went to second on Barr’s balk. The next batter, center fielder Margaret Wigiser, singled to score Kamenshek.17

Racine center fielder Clara Schillace (later Donahoe) led off the fourth with a triple. One out later, Peaches shortstop Dorothy “Snookie” Harrell (later Doyle) fielded Edythe Perlick’s (later Keating) grounder and threw Schillace out at the plate. The speedy Perlick advanced to second on the throw home. She stole third and scored when Rohrer threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt, tying the game, 1-1.

Rockford regained the lead in the sixth. Peaches second baseman Millie Deegan walked, stole second, and scored when shortstop Emry overthrew first base after fielding Harrell’s grounder.18

In the seventh, Kamenshek, who finished second to Fort Wayne’s Helen Callaghan (later Candaele, St. Aubin) for the batting championship,19 reached on a bunt single. Barr uncorked a wild pitch, advancing Kamenshek to third. Right fielder Rose Gacioch, the league leader with 44 RBIs in 1945, doubled, scoring Kamenshek and giving the Peaches a 3-1 lead.

The Belles loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, only to have Rockford escape the jam when Rohrer picked Mary Crews (née Nesbitt, later Wisham) off first base.

Things didn’t look great for the Belles as they went to bat in the bottom of the ninth down by two runs. Little had limited Racine to just four hits and two walks in the first eight innings. After Little issued a free pass to veteran catcher Irene “Choo-Choo” Hickson, Perlick, the cleanup hitter, tripled to right-center field, scoring Hickson. Suddenly, the Belles had the potential tying run on third base.

The switch-hitting Jacobs, batting from the left side against Little, slammed the ball to deep right field, over the head of Gacioch.20 Perlick scored easily and Jacobs rounded third and headed for home. Just as the ball arrived at the plate, Jacobs – just 5-feet-4 and 115 pounds – collided with the 5-foot-7, 139-pound Rohrer, knocking her out cold.21 Jacobs’ inside-the-park, two-run homer gave Racine a thrilling 4-3 win.

Barr earned the complete-game victory, limiting Rockford to seven hits and three walks, while striking out three batters.22

South Bend swept its doubleheader against Fort Wayne, so Racine’s come-from-behind victory kept them in the final playoff spot by percentage points, .4623 to .4615. The Belles held onto fourth place the rest of the way, and they punched their ticket to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.23 Rockford clinched first place on August 31 when Fort Wayne was rained out in the second game of its doubleheader, and the game was not rescheduled.24

Jacobs finished the regular season 17-for-100 (.170) with 2 homers, 11 walks, and 7 RBIs, a respectable showing for a rookie considering that the league-wide batting average was .188 and no player hit more than 3 home runs.

Racine faced Fort Wayne in a best-of-five series in the first round of the playoffs. After the Daisies won the first two games, the Belles were facing elimination in Game Three. With Racine trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Jacobs launched a two-run homer off righty Betty Carveth (later Dunn) to send the game into extra innings.25 In the bottom of the 11th, Jacobs sacrificed Perlick to third, which helped score the game-winning run.

Fort Wayne won Game Four handily and advanced to the best-of-seven finals against Rockford.26

The Peaches’ potent one-two punch on the mound, Carolyn “India” Morris and Little, combined to allow just five earned runs in 35 innings pitched, and the Peaches defeated the Daisies in five games. It was the first of four playoff championships for Rockford in a six-year period.

Although the Belles wanted Jacobs to return in 1946, she declined their offer.27 She never appeared in the AAGPBL again.

Jacobs graduated from Purdue University in June 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry.28 While at university, she competed in varsity tennis and swimming.29 Jacobs married Gordon Murk, an accountant, in the fall of 1950 and started a career as a chemical librarian.

In 1952 she began managing a Little League team in Englewood, mentoring players who included future big-leaguer Richie Scheinblum and Jim Reynolds, the son of New York Yankees star hurler Allie Reynolds.30 Scheinblum went on to play eight seasons in the majors and was an All-Star with the Kansas City Royals in 1972. “If I had to single out any one person who has helped my career it would be Janet Murk, my coach in Little League,” Scheinblum said in 1966. “She was quite a hitter. … She was the one who made me a switch-hitter.”31

Janet transitioned to becoming a stay-at-home mom in 1960 after giving birth to the first of her four children.32 Gordon went on to buy a newspaper distribution business and Janet helped keep track of the firm’s finances. She continued to play competitive tennis and in 1979 and 1980 she was the runner-up in the 50-and-over division of the American Platform Tennis Association’s national women’s championship.33

Janet lived to be 88 years old. She died in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, in January 2017 of age-related causes.34

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Janet Jacobs, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted AAGPBL.org, The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book, Baseball-Reference.com, and NoNoHitters.com. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information was taken from the article “Janet Jacobs’ Ninth-Inning Homer Wins Game for Belles,” in the August 31, 1945, edition of the Racine Journal-Times. Box scores and standings were referenced in the Racine Journal-Times and the South Bend Tribune.

Notes

1 There were six teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1945. The first- and third-place teams met in one best-of-five semi-final playoff round, while the second- and fourth-place teams met in the other.

2 Janet Jacobs (later Murk) is not to be confused with her Racine Belles teammate, pitcher Jane Jacobs (later Badini).

3 Jacobs graduated from high school in June 1946. “247 to Receive Their Diplomas,” Bergen (New Jersey) Evening Record, June 19, 1946: 5; Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine (Wisconsin) Journal-Times, June 18, 1945: 10.

4 Bob Hertzel, “Janet Murk a True Pioneer for Women’s Athletics,” Clarksburg (West Virginia) Exponent Telegram, July 9, 2015, https://www.wvnews.com/theet/janet-murk-a-true-pioneer-for-women-s-athletics/article_4f12222f-2618-5871-831c-37a7161ac787.html.

5 Rod Martin, “For the Record,” Bergen Evening Record, August 11, 1947: 12.

6 Jim O’Brien, “Belles Out-Slug Ft. Wayne Girls in Opener, 12-3; Drop Nightcap,” June 25, 1945: 10; Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, June 26, 1945: 10.

7 “Belles Regain 4th Place with Three Week-End Wins,” Racine Journal-Times, August 27, 1945: 7; Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, September 5, 1945: 12.

8 Emry and Jacobs swapped positions during the August 30 game. Jacobs played shortstop for the remainder of the season. “Box Scores,” Racine Journal-Times, September 4, 1945: 12.

9 Rockford scored an average of 3.8 runs per game in 1945. Fort Wayne was second with 3.4 runs per game.

10 Doris “Dodie” Barr grew up in Starbuck, Manitoba, which was less than 40 miles from Olive Little’s hometown of Poplar Point.

11 Gary Belleville, “August 15, 1943: Canada’s Olive Little Tosses First No-Hit, No-Run Game in AAGPBL History,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-15-1943-canadas-olive-little-tosses-first-no-hitter-in-aagpbl-history/, accessed November 7, 2025.

12 Little finished the season with a 22-11 record and a 1.68 ERA. She was tagged with the loss in the second game of a doubleheader on September 3, her final start of the regular season. “Peaches Lose to Racine, 4-3,” Rockford Morning Star, August 31, 1945: 14; Dick Day, “To Meet Chicks in Play-Offs,” Rockford Register-Republic, September 4, 1945: 10.

13 Belleville, “August 15, 1943: Canada’s Olive Little Tosses First No-Hit, No-Run Game in AAGPBL History.”

14 The pitching distance was increased from 40 to 42 feet on July 14, 1945. Six no-hitters were thrown in 1945 prior to the change, excluding the six innings of no-hit ball thrown by both Helen Nicol Fox and Audrey Haine (later Daniels) in a rain-shortened contest on June 15; just two no-hitters were thrown during the remainder of the season. Throughout the 1945 season, pitchers threw a ball that was 11½ inches in circumference using an underhand delivery, and the bases were 68 feet apart. Anika Orrock, The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2020), 62-63; Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, July 9, 1945: 10.

15 “Sox Drub Belles, 15 to 3; Racine Club Signs Pitcher,” Racine Journal-Times, June 8, 1945: 16.

16 Barr had a career year in 1945, finishing with a 20-8 record and a 1.71 ERA. She pitched a shutout in her final start of the season, on September 2. “Box Scores.”

17 The Racine Journal-Times incorrectly reported Wigiser’s hit as a triple. According to the Rockford Morning Star, it was a single, which is consistent with the published box scores. “Peaches Lose to Racine, 4-3.”

18 “Peaches Lose to Racine, 4-3.”

19 Mary Crews (née Nesbitt, later Wisham) batted .319, but she didn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title. She had only 135 at-bats in Racine’s 110 games. Callaghan batted .299 and Kamenshek hit .274. Jim O’Brien, “Sidelines,” Racine Journal-Times, September 14, 1945: 12.

20 According to the Racine Journal-Times, Jacobs hit the ball over the head of the right fielder, Wigiser, but published box scores show Gacioch playing in right.

21 The Racine Journal-Times reported that Rohrer was not seriously injured. She played in Rockford’s next game. “Box Scores.”

22 Barr spent eight seasons in the AAGPBL (1943-50). According to The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book, Barr is the league’s career leader in walks (959) and wild pitches (120). She compiled a 79-96 record and a 2.80 ERA.

23 “Racine Belles Finish Fourth, Win Playoff Berth,” Racine Journal-Times, September 4, 1945: 12.

24 Dick Day, “Rockford’s Peaches Enthroned as 1945 Pennant Winners,” Rockford Register-Republic, September 1, 1945: 7.

25 Jim O’Brien, “Belles Win 4 to 3, in 11 Innings to Stay in Playoffs,” Racine Journal-Times, September 8, 1945: 8.

26 Rockford defeated the Grand Rapids Chicks three games to one in the other semi-final series.

27 “Murphy to Seek Pitching Aid for Belles in Training Camp,” Racine Journal-Times, April 20, 1946: 4.

28 “Miss Janet Jacobs Is Bride,” Bergen (New Jersey) Evening Record, November 13, 1950: 10.

29 Associated Press, “Talbert and Segura Advance in Invitational Tennis Play,” Newark Star-Ledger, March 20, 1947: 21; “Miss Janet Jacobs Is Bride.”

30 “Plumbing Team in Englewood Loop Has a Female Baseball Manager,” Bergen (New Jersey) Evening Record, June 28, 1952: 11.

31 Jim Ogle Jr., “Little League Coaching – Big Break for Scheinblum,” Newark Star-Ledger, January 24, 1966: 19.

32 “Janet Murk,” All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, https://aagpbl.org/profiles/janet-jacobs-murk-jay-jay/205, accessed November 7, 2025.

33 “Women’s Masters National Champions,” American Platform Tennis Association, https://www.platformtennis.org/tournaments/apta-tour-apta-cup/national-champions/women-s-masters-national-champions#womenmst50, accessed November 7, 2025.

34 “Obituaries,” Englewood (New Jersey) Northern Valley Suburbanite (South), January 26, 2017: A-14.