Team | Position | Uniform # |
---|---|---|
1946 Peoria Redwings | Pitcher | 24 |
1947 Fort Wayne Daisies | Pitcher | 13 |
1947 Grand Rapids Chicks | Pitcher | 15 |
1947 Rockford Peaches | Pitcher | Unknown |
1948 Chicago Colleens | Pitcher | 18 |
1949 Peoria Redwings | Pitcher | 7 |
Betty played on the sand lots of Detroit and brought her pitching talents to the AAGPBL. She made a successful change as an underhand pitcher to a sidearm pitcher. She displayed a great amount of speed on the diamond. In the off-season she did office work and enjoyed playing basketball and skating.
Betty also played in the Chicago-based National Girls Baseball League (NGBL) from 1950 to 1954. Although the league title included "Baseball," the NGBL played by softball rules. Betty started the 1950 season with the Music Maids before joining the Rockolas in July. She played with the Rockolas through the 1951 season. Betty played most of the 1952 season with the Belles before joining the Bloomer Girls in August, and she stayed with the Bloomer Girls through the 1953 season. In 1954, she played for the team known as the All-Stars but changed its name to the Jewels early in the '54 season. A highlight for Betty in 1954 was when she pitched a win against the first place Queens which ended their eight game win streak.
Author: Merrie Fidler
Contributed By: William McMahon and Keith Stiles
Eulah Elizabeth "Betty" Tucker was a pitcher who played from 1946 through 1949 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 123 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Tucker received an invitation in 1946 to participate in the AAGPBL spring training held in Pascagoula, Mississippi. After making the league tryout, she was allocated to the Peoria Redwings. A hard-throwing underhand pitcher, Tucker struggled through the many stages of the league, including shifting from underhand (1946) to sidearm (1947) to overhand (1948) pitching. She hurled on expansion teams that did not give her much run support.
After a year in Peoria, Tucker opened 1947 with the Fort Wayne Daisies and then found herself on the move again, this time to the Rockford Peaches and then the Grand Rapids Chicks. The next year she joined the Chicago Colleens, and returned to the Redwings in 1949, her last AAGPBL season. After that, Tucker pitched in 1950 for the Rockola Chicks of the rival National Girls Baseball League, which was based in Chicago and retained underhand pitching through 1953. At the time, many AAGPBL players also joined the NGBL because of better salaries and in some cases for not being on the road as much was also important.
The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York was opened November 5, 1988 that honors them.
Betty passed away August 20, 2012.
Author: Wikipedia
Contributed By: Helen Nordquist
Copyright: Wikipedia