Katie Horstman
| Katie Horstman | |||
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| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | |||
| Utility | |||
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Born: April 14, 1935 Minster, Ohio |
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Catherine Horstman [″Horsey″] (born April 14, 1935) is a former female utility who played from 1951 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 150 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
A dependable and versatile utility, Horstman excelled as a pitcher and catcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, being also able to play at third base and all outfield positions. As a pitcher, she was the dream of every manager, being a long reliever one day, volunteering to make an emergency start the next, and saving a game out the day after that. Horstman also was a good defensive catcher, with a good throwing arm and the ability to get most out of a pitching staff. But she was a superb defender at third base, demonstrating good range and throwing from any angle with remarkable accuracy. As a hitter, she ranks in the AAGPBL all-time list with a career .286 average (6th) and 23 home runs (11th), despite playing just four of the league's twelve seasons.
A native of Minster, Ohio, Horstman was the youngest girl in a home of six children. Whenever they played baseball she did it. She started to play on the Catholic Youth Organization softball team in Minster since the fifth grade. At 16, she was invited to tryouts for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and signed a contract for $250 a month to play with the Kenosha Comets before the 1951 season.
Horstman started 1951 with Kenosha but was traded to the Fort Wayne Daisies during the midseason, playing for them until the demise of the league in 1954. In her rookie season, she pitched, caught and played at outfield, hitting a combined .256 batting average in 38 games, and going 3–0 with nine strikeouts and a 2.35 earned run average in six pitching appearances. Fort Wayne reached the playoffs, but lost to the South Bend Blue Sox in the first round, two games to one. Horstman saw more action in 1952, appearing at third base and pitching. She hit .250 in 90 games, and posted a 5–2 record with 28 strikeouts and a 2.35 ERA in ten decisions. The Daisies advanced to the playoffs for the second year in a row, this time finishing in first place with a 67–42 record, but again lost the first round, 2-to-1, to the Rockford Peaches.
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