On April 2, 1931, 17-year-old Chattanooga Lookouts\u2019 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 \u2013 in the first inning of an exhibition game against the vaunted New York Yankees. \u00a0Watching the petite 5\u20195\u201d lefthander\u2019s sidearm warm-up pitches (primarily sinkers) was the next scheduled batter \u2013 Babe Ruth. On deck was Ruth\u2019s partner in power, Lou Gehrig.<\/p>\n

That Jackie Mitchell should be in this spot was a surprise to some, but not all.\u00a0 Mitchell was a skilled athlete, adept in both basketball and baseball. \u00a0Her father, Joseph Mitchell, began schooling her in the basics of baseball almost as soon as she could walk.\u00a0 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 \u2013 future Baseball Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0\u00a0Joe Engel, president of the Southern Association\u2019s (AA) Chattanooga Lookouts, apparently liked what he saw and, on March 28, 1931, signed Mitchell to a Lookouts\u2019 contract for the upcoming season.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

The March 31, 1931, Chattanooga News<\/em> wrote this about Mitchell just two days before her appearance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mitchell \u2013 using a deceptive side-arm delivery and her trademark \u201cdrop ball\u201d \u2013 started Ruth off with ball one. \u00a0Ruth then swung and missed at the next two pitches (prompting the Bambino to ask the umpire to inspect the ball). Ruth took Mitchell\u2019s fourth offering for a called third strike on the outside corner \u2013 tossing his bat to the ground and stomping back to the dugout.\u00a0 Unlike Ruth, Gehrig was in no mood to \u201ctake\u201d any pitches and wound up swinging and missing at three straight \u201cdrops.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Mitchell then walked Tony Lazzeri and her first (and what proved to be final) appearance for the Lookouts was done. \u00a0A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis reportedly voided Mitchell’s contract, on the grounds that baseball was too strenuous for women.<\/p>\n

Note: Although Mitchell\u2019s historic appearance, and the fact that this was an exhibition game, minimize the importance of the outcome, the Yankees won the contest 14-4.<\/i><\/p>\n

Mitchell continued to play baseball, joining a number of amateur squads and popular \u201cbarnstorming\u201d 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. \u00a0On September 12, 1933, Mitchell was the starting pitcher in a House of David 8-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman\u2019s Park.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

There was some controversy after Mitchell\u2019s 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\u2019s reputation for promotion, Mitchell\u2019s signing just days before the contest, and the fact that the game was originally scheduled for April Fools\u2019 Day (but delayed due to rain). \u00a0If Ruth and Gehrig were \u201cin on it,\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s a great story – and Jackie Mitchell is a great charactor – \u00a0from the history of our national pastime. \u00a0BBRT says: Like Tug McGraw, “Ya Gotta Believe!”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*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.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Below: L-R: Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Jackie Mitchell before the Lookouts\/Yankee contest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n