Baseball Lore – Teenager Girl Strikes Out Ruth and Gehrig, Using “Drop” Learned from Dazzy Vance

On April 2, 1931, 17-year-old Chattanooga Lookouts’ hurler Virne Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell Gilbert (the second woman to sign a professional baseball contract*) walked to the mound with no outs, one run in and Yankee shortstop Lyn Lary on first base – in the first inning of an exhibition game against the vaunted New York Yankees.  Watching the petite 5’5” lefthander’s sidearm warm-up pitches (primarily sinkers) was the next scheduled batter – Babe Ruth. On deck was Ruth’s partner in power, Lou Gehrig.

That Jackie Mitchell should be in this spot was a surprise to some, but not all.  Mitchell was a skilled athlete, adept in both basketball and baseball.  Her father, Joseph Mitchell, began schooling her in the basics of baseball almost as soon as she could walk.  The finer points of pitching, in particular how to throw the sinker or drop ball, were passed on to Jackie at a very young age by her next door neighbor – future Baseball Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance.

By the time Mitchell was 17, she was playing for a traveling basketball team in the fall and winter and a women’s baseball team in the spring and summer.   Joe Engel, president of the Southern Association’s (AA) Chattanooga Lookouts, apparently liked what he saw and, on March 28, 1931, signed Mitchell to a Lookouts’ contract for the upcoming season.  Just five days after signing that contract, Mitchell walked to the mound, before a roaring crowd estimated at 4,000 – to face the great Babe Ruth.

The March 31, 1931, Chattanooga News wrote this about Mitchell just two days before her appearance.

“She uses an odd, side-armed delivery, and puts both speed and curve on the ball. Her greatest asset, however, is control. She can place the ball where she pleases, and her knack at guessing the weakness of a batter is uncanny.”

Mitchell – using a deceptive side-arm delivery and her trademark “drop ball” – started Ruth off with ball one.  Ruth then swung and missed at the next two pitches (prompting the Bambino to ask the umpire to inspect the ball). Ruth took Mitchell’s fourth offering for a called third strike on the outside corner – tossing his bat to the ground and stomping back to the dugout.  Unlike Ruth, Gehrig was in no mood to “take” any pitches and wound up swinging and missing at three straight “drops.”   Mitchell then walked Tony Lazzeri and her first (and what proved to be final) appearance for the Lookouts was done.  A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis reportedly voided Mitchell’s contract, on the grounds that baseball was too strenuous for women.

Note: Although Mitchell’s historic appearance, and the fact that this was an exhibition game, minimize the importance of the outcome, the Yankees won the contest 14-4.

Mitchell continued to play baseball, joining a number of amateur squads and popular “barnstorming” baseball teams. She spent four years (1933-37) with the barnstorming House of David team, which once again gave her the opportunity to face major leaguers.  On September 12, 1933, Mitchell was the starting pitcher in a House of David 8-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park.  Mitchell left baseball in 1937 and declined an offer to come out of retirement to join the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943.

There was some controversy after Mitchell’s historic appearance against the Yankees, with critics theorizing it was a publicity stunt cooked up by Engel and agreed to by Ruth and Gehrig. They cite Engel’s reputation for promotion, Mitchell’s signing just days before the contest, and the fact that the game was originally scheduled for April Fools’ Day (but delayed due to rain).  If Ruth and Gehrig were “in on it,” they never said so, and others assert that the rumors of their involvement surfaced to protect male egos; and that Ruth and Gehrig were fooled by Mitchell’s unusual delivery and the significant drop of her sinker. Mitchell later said the only agreement with the Yankees was that they would that they would try to avoid hitting line drives straight up the middle (back to the mound). Whatever side you come down on, it’s a great story – and Jackie Mitchell is a great charactor –  from the history of our national pastime.  BBRT says: Like Tug McGraw, “Ya Gotta Believe!”

*In 1898. Elizabeth Stroud (under the name Lizzie Arlington) played (pitched) in a game for the Reading Coal Heavers of the Class B Atlantic league.

Below: L-R: Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Jackie Mitchell before the Lookouts/Yankee contest.