Evelyn Wawryshyn

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Second base

Born: November 11, 1924 (age 92)
Tyndall, Manitoba, Canada

Batted: right

Threw: right

debut

1946

Last appearance

1951

Teams

Career highlights and awards

All-Star Team (1950)
Four playoff appearances (1947, 1949–51)
Ranks 13th all-time in batting average

Inductions

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (1992)
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (1998)
Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame (1998)

Inductions

Evelyn Wawryshyn [Litwin/Moroz] (born November 11, 1924) is a former Canadian second basewoman who played from 1946 through 1951 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 3", 130 lb., Wawryshyn batted and threw right-handed. She was nicknamed Evie by her friends and teammates.

Wawryshyn played second base, taking the field for four different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in a span of six years. She posted a career .266 batting average in 544 games. Despite hitting only one home run in 1943 at bats, she contributed with 463 singles, 37 doubles and 16 triples to collect a .303 of slugging. She also brought her Player of the Year honourable mention status in 1948 as well as steadily improving All-Star recognition, joining the third All-League team in 1948, the second team in 1949, and a first selection for the All-Star Game at second base in the 1950 season. In addition, her .266 average ranks her thirteen on the AAGPBL career batting list.

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 hybrid game that included both fast-pitch softball and baseball. Wrigley had scouts all over the United States, Canada and even Cuba signing girls for tryouts. 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 progressing far enough to become a regulation baseball game. These differences varied from the beginning of the league in 1943, progressively extending the length of the base paths and pitching distance and decreasing the size of the ball until the final season of play in 1954.

...
Wikipedia