{"id":127104,"date":"2025-04-13T10:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T15:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127104"},"modified":"2025-04-13T10:55:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T15:55:44","slug":"doctor-curmudgeon-baseball-pitcher-jackie-mitchell-just-a-teenager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127104","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Curmudgeon: Baseball Pitcher Jackie Mitchell &#8211; Just a Teenager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-127106\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jackie-correct.heic\" alt=\"\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127104\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127104\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-127109 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/download-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>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<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She was only seventeen years old. Yet, Jackie Mitchell was already known for her pitching skill.<\/p>\n<p>Born in 1913, it was rare for girls to excel in a \u201cman\u2019s\u201d sport. But Jackie had learned to play baseball.<\/p>\n<p>How on earth could this happen? Women weren\u2019t 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!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>So, Jackie had a good teacher, and Vance had a good student. After mastering a fast ball, she was soon throwing *sinkers.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>And so it came to pass that a seventeen year old girl struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.<\/p>\n<p>Babe Ruth, the \u201cSultan of Swat,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p>And Jackie threw her next pitch. Beautiful! Perfect and just inside the box for strike three.<\/p>\n<p>The mighty Babe had struck out.<\/p>\n<p>And then another great hitter took his place in the batter\u2019s box Lou Gehrig stepped up to the plate.<\/p>\n<p>Gehrig swung at everything Jackie dished up. And, missed every pitch. Gehrig was out.<\/p>\n<p>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?<\/p>\n<p>Through the years, Gehrig and Ruth had been questioned about the incident and they denied having stuck out purposely.<\/p>\n<p>Fifty six years later, Jackie said \u201cWhy, hell, they were trying, damn right, Hell, better hitters than them couldn\u2019t hit me. Why should they\u2019ve been any different?<\/p>\n<p>I am reminded of a wonderful baseball poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Casey at the Bat<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>By Ernest Lawrence Thayer<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>\u201c\u2026Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>But there is no joy in Mudville\u2015mighty Casey has struck out.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>*(EDITOR\u2019S NOTE FROM GALAHAD, DOCTOR CURMUDGEON\u2019S SIBERIAN HUSKY COUSIN: For those who are not baseball followers\u2014a \u201csinker\u201d 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)<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Curmudgeon suggests &#8220;Bitter Medicine\u201d, Dr. Eugene Eisman&#8217;s story of his experiences&#8211;from the humorous to the intense&#8212;as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.<br \/>\nBitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. &#8211;on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bitter-Medicine-Doctors-Year-Vietnam\/dp\/0615874347\"><strong>Amazon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Doctor Curmudgeon\u00ae is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.<br \/>\nSERMO <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sermo.com\">www.sermo.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F127104\" data-token=\"6c9afb880c378b3bfa48e5385d03b33c\" data-token-time=\"1778418963\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\">\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >Email Comment Message<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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Yet, Jackie Mitchell was already known for her pitching skill. Born in 1913, it was rare for girls to excel in a \u201cman\u2019s\u201d sport. But Jackie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32706],"class_list":["post-127104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-doctor-curmudgeon-baseball-pitcher-jackie-mitchell-just-a-teenager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127104"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/127109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}