Of all the strange baseball exploits of the Depression era, none was more surprising than Jackie Mitchell’s supposed feat. Days after Jackie Mitchell (center) struck out Yankee superstars (from left) Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, the duo watched the female phenom demonstrate her fastball during spring training in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 4, 1931.
Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old southpaw who pitched against the New York Yankees on April 2, 1931. The first batter she faced was Ruth, followed by Lou Gehrig, the deadliest hitting duo in baseball history. Mitchell struck them both out. There was a box score to prove it and news stories proclaiming her “organized baseball’s first girl pitcher.”
Mitchell wasn't an ordinary 17-year-old girl. For starters, she was an all-around athlete, splitting her time between basketball in the winter and baseball in the warmer months for Engel's all-girls team, the Engelettes. With the chance to sign a professional baseball contract, she ditched that right away.
So Jackie Mitchell wasn’t the first woman to play organized baseball, but her appearance on the mound in 1931 became a Depression-era sensation. As a girl in Memphis, she’d allegedly been tutored in baseball by a neighbor and minor-league pitcher, Charles Arthur “Dazzy” Vance, who would go on to lead the National League in strikeouts for seven straight seasons.
Mitchell's career, especially in the professional ranks, may not have been as long as she hoped when Engel first offered her a contract in 1931. But, in terms of what one can accomplish from facing three batters, striking out two Hall of Fame sluggers is about as good as it gets.