Betsy Jochum

Betsy Jochum
Jochum in the 1946 South Bend Blue Sox Yearbook
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Outfielder/Pitcher/First base
Born: (1921-02-08) February 8, 1921 (age 96) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Teams
South Bend Blue Sox (1943–1948)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star Game (1943) Three playoff appearances (1946-'48) Batting crown champion (1944) Single-season leader in: Hits and Doubles (1943) Hits and Singles (1944) Tied a league record for the most stolen bases in a single game (seven, on August 2, 1944) Ohio Baseball of Fame Induction (1999)

Betsy Jochum [″Sockum″] (born February 8, 1921) is a former outfielder and pitcher who played from 1943 through 1948 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 7", 140 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

A native of Cincinnati, Jochum was one of the sixty original founding members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. An ideal leadoff hitter, she was one of the fastest runners in the early years of the league and rarely struck out, fanning only 104 times in 2,401 plate appearances, which combined with a stellar defense and a strong and secure throwing arm. In addition, she was an All-Star, won a batting title, collected 354 stolen bases, and pitched a full season during her six seasons in the league.

Chewing gum magnate and Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley decided, in 1942, to start a women's professional baseball league, concerned that the 1943 Major League Baseball season might be canceled because of World War II. Since the only organized ball for women in the country was softball, the league created a hybrid game which included both softball and baseball. Wrigley had scouts all over the United States, Canada and even Cuba signing girls for tryouts. About 500 girls attended the call. Of these, only 280 were invited to the final try-outs in Chicago, where 60 of them were chosen to become the first women to ever play professional baseball. The girls were placed on the rosters of four fifteen-player teams: Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox. The first spring training was set for May 17, 1943, at Wrigley Field. By then, the average full-time worker made $1,299 a year or about $25 a week, according to one estimate. Players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League were offered between $50 and $125 a week during a three-month, 108-game season. Of the six girls from Ohio who went to Chicago, Betsy Jochum and Dorothy Kamenshek were selected for the new league. Jochum was allocated to the Blue Sox and Kamenshek joined the Peaches.