Gloria Schweigerdt

Gloria Schweigerdt
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Pitcher
Born: (1934-06-10)June 10, 1934
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died: July 10, 2014(2014-07-10) (aged 80)
Wauconda, Illinois, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display
    at Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (1988)

Gloria June Schweigerdt [״Tippy״] (June 10, 1934 – July 10, 2014) was an American pitcher who played from 1950 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m), 120 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.[1]

Born in Chicago, to Emily (née Hardt) and Gottlieb Schweigerdt,[2] Gloria Schweigerdt started playing sandlot ball with her brother and the boys of her neighborhood at age seven. When she turned fifteen, she went to a league tryout held at Thillens Stadium in Skokie. In 1950, she was assigned to the Chicago Colleens/Springfield Sallies rookie touring teams. She traveled all over the country and posted an 8–7 record while pitching for the Colleens. During the trip, she hurled a no-hitter at the old Yankee Stadium. "No other woman had ever pitched off that mound before me", she recalled in an interview.[3][4]

Schweigerdt was promoted to the Grand Rapids Chicks in the 1951 season and ended up pitching for the Battle Creek Belles during the midseason. In all, Schweigerdt went 3–4 with a 2.72 earned run average in 14 games.[5]

She recalled winning a pitching duel against Jean Faut of the South Bend Blue Sox in the course of the year.[1][5] She had her best statistical season in 1952 with Battle Creek, when she compiled a 10–10 record and a 2.95 ERA. She also set personal bests in strikeouts (44) and innings (180), while tying for fourth in the league for the most games pitched (28).[5]

Personal life

She did not return to the league after marrying in 1953. After divorcing her husband, she raised two children, Gordon and Gloria, while working as a meat cutter for a long time before retiring in 1996.[5]

Last years/death

Gloria Schweigerdt lived in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago, and attended AAGPBL Players Association reunions. The association was largely responsible for the opening of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.[6] She died in 2014 in Wauconda, Illinois, at the age of 80.[7]

Career statistics

Pitching

GP W L W-L% ERA IP H RA ER BB SO HBP WP WHIP
42 13 14 .481 2.88 256 230 114 82 95 80 10 1 1.27

Batting

GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
44 87 6 11 3 0 0 6 1 3 23 .126 .156 .161

Fielding

GP PO A E TC DP FA
42 12 71 6 29 0 .913

[1][5]

Sources

  1. ^ a b c "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League official website – Gloria Schweigerdt profile".
  2. ^ "Schweigerdt – Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. 2000-07-05. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
  3. ^ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295 pp. ISBN 978-0-7864-2263-0
  4. ^ 1950 Chicago Colleens
  5. ^ a b c d e The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
  6. ^ Intelius.com – Gloria J. Schweigerdt report
  7. ^ Obituary, legacy.com; accessed July 12, 2014.