Louise Arnold (baseball)
| Louise Arnold | |||
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| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | |||
| Pitcher | |||
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Born: May 11, 1923 Pawtucket, Rhode Island |
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Died: May 27, 2010 (aged 87) South Bend, Indiana |
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| debut | |||
| 1948 | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1952 | |||
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Louise Veronica Arnold [Lou] (May 11, 1923 – May 27, 2010) was a female pitcher who played during four seasons for the South Bend Blue Sox of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a circuit that began to operate in 1943. Since the only organized ball for women in the United States was softball, the league officials created a game which included both fast-pitch softball and baseball. Compared to softball, the crucial differences were that nine (not ten) players were used, and runners could lead off, slide and steal bases. 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 in 1954. 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.
A native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Arnold was the youngest of 13 children into the family of George and Mary Ann (née McCormick) Arnold, of English and Irish ancestry. She was a top all-around athlete in high school, and an AAGPBL scout signed her thinking that she had athletic abilities, endurance and fitness necessary to play baseball. Arnold attended to a league tryout in 1948. She had no baseball position, but the league was desperate for overhand pitchers, so she seemed like a good pitching prospect.
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