sportsLibrary of Congress: Headlines & Heroes1953 · Indianapolis, USA
Toni Stone: First Woman to Play Big-League Baseball.
Marcenia "Toni" Stone, born in Minneapolis in 1921, became the first woman to play regularly in a major men's professional baseball league when the Indianapolis Clowns signed her in 1953 to play second base in the Negro American League. She had grown up playing sports as a tomboy and had already played semi-professional ball on the West Coast and in Louisiana before that. Although the club signed her partly to draw crowds, she batted .243 over 50 games and was respected by teammates, including future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Willie Mays. She later played for the Kansas City Monarchs before retiring in 1955.
Stone's career came just a few years after Jackie Robinson integrated the white major leagues in 1947, when Black players were still excluded from much of professional sport and women were almost entirely absent from men's teams. Her story shows that the barriers were social as much as athletic, and that she held her own on the field despite public criticism from some players. She was inducted into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
She refused a request from the Clowns' owner to wear a skirt during games.
background
Toni Stone (July 17, 1921 – November 2, 1996), born as Marcenia Lyle Stone, was an American female professional baseball player who played in predominantly male leagues. In 1953, she became the first woman to play as a regular on an American major-level professional baseball team when she joined the Indianapolis Clowns in the previously all-male Negro leagues. (Two other women, Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson and Connie Morgan, would later play on the team). A baseball player from her early childhood, she also played for the San Francisco Sea Lions, the New Orleans Creoles, and the Kansas City Monarchs before retiring from baseball in 1954. Stone was taunted at times by teammates, once being told, "Go home and fix your husband some biscuits", but she was undeterred. It was reported that during an exhibition game in 1953, she hit a single off a fastball pitch delivered by legendary player Satchel Paige, although the claim has failed verification.
From Wikipedia: Toni Stone (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗see
key facts
- Born
- 17 July 1921
- Died
- 2 November 1996
- Known as
- baseball player
Facts: Wikidata (CC0)
Library of Congress (Headlines & Heroes)
Illustrative photo · Keith Allison on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
