May 24, 2010

Because there is no crying in baseball, everyone should keep it together: Dottie Kamenshek, the female baseball player who served as inspiration for Geena Davis' character in "A League Of Their Own," died of natural causes in California last Monday. She was 84.

posted by Demophon to baseball at 04:57 PM - 6 comments

"A League Of Their Own" was what opened up my mind to female sports. Before it, I was all "hurf durf, men sports are real sports, grunt grunt." Now I'm more like "hurf durf I kind of like Women's College BB better then Men's, grunt grunt."

Ms. Kamenshek was a remarkable athlete:

After twelve games she switched to first base, and became known as an excellent fielder. Her lifetime fielding average was an astounding .950. However, it was her hitting that truly made her stand out. Kamenshek won the league batting title in 1946 with a .316 average and again in 1947 with an average of .306. After the league created an all-star team in 1946, she made the team in every season she played. In 1951, back injuries reduced her playing time and after skipping the a season she retired folloing the 1953 campaign. Kamenshek had a career batting average of .292 in 3,736 at-bats, fourth on the league's leader board. She also struck out a mere 81 times in her career.
To repeat, her fielding average was .950. She only struck out 81 times in ten years. Dude. Seriously.

posted by Joey Michaels at 05:23 PM on May 24, 2010

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posted by tommybiden at 07:01 PM on May 24, 2010

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posted by BornIcon at 09:46 PM on May 24, 2010

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posted by yzelda4045 at 08:49 AM on May 25, 2010

There may be no crying in baseball, but there is a very great loss.

Rest in peace.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:52 AM on May 25, 2010

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posted by ursus_comiter at 07:48 PM on May 25, 2010

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