Doctor Curmudgeon: Baseball Pitcher Jackie Mitchell – Just a Teenager

By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist

She was only seventeen years old. Yet, Jackie Mitchell was already known for her pitching skill.

Born in 1913, it was rare for girls to excel in a “man’s” sport. But Jackie had learned to play baseball.

How on earth could this happen? Women weren’t allowed to vote, so how could they compete in baseball? Cultural and social pressures prevented women from playing baseball on a professional level. How very unladylike to don a uniform, get sweaty and pitch and catch and run!

Well, Jackie had the good fortune to be a neighbor of Dazzy Vance. Vance had pitched for the Dodgers and was the National League MVP in1924. Vance was the only pitcher to lead the national league in strikeouts for seven consecutive seasons.

So, Jackie had a good teacher, and Vance had a good student. After mastering a fast ball, she was soon throwing *sinkers.

It was April 2, 1931. Mitchell had been signed as a pitcher for the Chattanooga Lookouts. At that time, it was common for major and minor league teams to play exhibition games.

And so it came to pass that a seventeen year old girl struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Babe Ruth, the “Sultan of Swat,” stepped up to the plate. And Jackie threw a *sinker to Ruth. He let it slide and it was a called ball. But on the next two pitches, Ruth swung fiercely and missed the ball by about a foot. The great Babe was angry and had the umpire inspect the ball to be sure it had not been tampered with.

And Jackie threw her next pitch. Beautiful! Perfect and just inside the box for strike three.

The mighty Babe had struck out.

And then another great hitter took his place in the batter’s box Lou Gehrig stepped up to the plate.

Gehrig swung at everything Jackie dished up. And, missed every pitch. Gehrig was out.

To this day, there are skeptics among baseball historians. Was this just a publicity stunt? How could a skinny seventeen year old girl strike out two of the greatest players in history?

Through the years, Gehrig and Ruth had been questioned about the incident and they denied having stuck out purposely.

Fifty six years later, Jackie said “Why, hell, they were trying, damn right, Hell, better hitters than them couldn’t hit me. Why should they’ve been any different?

I am reminded of a wonderful baseball poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Casey at the Bat
By Ernest Lawrence Thayer
“…Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville―mighty Casey has struck out.”

*(EDITOR’S NOTE FROM GALAHAD, DOCTOR CURMUDGEON’S SIBERIAN HUSKY COUSIN: For those who are not baseball followers—a “sinker” is also known as a drop ball. It is a fast ball that drops as it reaches the plate. Pitchers like to use it because it can force the batter to hit a ground ball, by making the batter hit the top half of the ball. My cousin is looking over my shoulder and wants me to add that it can be very effective because it looks like a juicy fastball coming toward your waiting bat)

Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.
Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon

Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.
SERMO www.sermo.com

Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt