Elise Harney
| Elise Harney | |||
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| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | |||
| Pitcher | |||
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Born: July 22, 1924 Franklin County, Illinois |
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Died: November 1, 1989 (aged 65) Ann Arbor, Michigan |
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| debut | |||
| 1943 | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1947 | |||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Elise "Lee" Harney (July 22, 1924 – November 1, 1989) was a female pitcher who played from 1943 through 1947 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Franklin County, Illinois, Elise Harney became one of the sixty founding members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While at school, she made her mark as a fast-pitch softball hurler in Chicago before joining the league. However, she ended her career prematurely after developing a sore pitching arm while trying to adapt to a new pitching motion in 1947.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a circuit that began to operate in the early 1940s in cities located on or near Lake Michigan. The main promoter was Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, who worried about the viability of Major League Baseball players during World War II decided to establish an alternate attraction. Since the only organized ball for women in the country was softball, the league officials created a game which included both fast-pitch 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 sixty were chosen to become the first girls to ever play professional baseball. The circuit was initially called the All-American Girls Softball League, though early in the first season the name was changed to All American Girls Baseball League. In its twelve years of history the AAGPBL evolved through many stages. These differences varied from the beginning of the league, progressively extending the length of the base paths and pitching distance and decreasing the size of the ball until the final year of play. For the first five years the circuit used a fastpitch underhand motion, shifted to sidearm in 1947, and never really became baseball until overhand pitching began in 1948. The inaugural season took place in 1943 with the teams Kenosha Comets, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox, and each team was made up of fifteen girls. Harney was allocated to the Kenosha Comets, a team managed by former big leaguer Josh Billings.
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