Mildred Kathryn Earp (October 7, 1925 – June 27, 2017), nicknamed Mid or Millie, was an American female

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

who played from to in the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

. Listed at , 135 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. Earp was a pitcher for the

Grand Rapids Chicks The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953. History The franchis ...

in a span of four years. One of the first successful underhand pitchers in the league, Earp was selected to the All-Star Team in her rookie season, recorded the second best single-season ERA and the second best career ERA in AAGPBL history, and helped Grand Rapids win their first Championship Title. She also hurled a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

game and ranked between the top 10 in several pitching categories during her short stint in the league. She is part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...

, opened in , which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player.

Career

1940s

By 1943 a new All-American Girls Softball League was formed, playing a hybrid form of softball and baseball. The league, which started when

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

made the suspension of Major League Baseball a possibility, would eventually shift gears to become the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and was dissolved at the end of the 1954 season. A native of West Fork, Arkansas, Earp started to play

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

in a fourth grade league. She first heard about the AAGPBL when it came to play an exhibition game 50 miles away of her homeland. She contacted a league official and told him her desire to play in the circuit. By then the AAGPBL was preparing the transition from underhand to sidearm pitching. Earp was assigned to the

Racine Belles The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The Belles won the league's first championship. The team played its home games at Horlick F ...

in 1946 and tried out as a sidearm pitcher. Since she did not know anything about the

baseball game Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, she spent the entire season sit on the dugout and was paid to learn the fundamentals of the game. Prior to the next season she was allocated to the Grand Rapids Chicks. In 1947, according to a new regulation, all AAGPBL pitchers were forced to switch from underhand to sidearm. Such change adversely affected the performance of underhand pitchers, but it did not disturbed Earp, because she had developed a blazing

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

and a dropping

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

, showing a good command of her pitches. Earp posted a 20–8 record for a .714

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

in 35 pitching appearances in her first season; collecting a record 0.68 ERA and striking out 192 while walking 32 in 280 innings of work. Her 0.68 ERA was a new single-season record, although Lois Florreich would set a 0.67 ERA in 1949 to reach the all-time mark. Earp, who led a pitching staff that included

Alice Haylett Alice Haylett (April 2, 1923 – March 27, 2004), nicknamed "Al" and "Sis", was a female pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 155 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

(19–11) and Connie Wisniewski (16–14), finished second in strikeouts to

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

Dorothy Collins Dorothy Collins (born Marjorie Chandler;
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Muskegon Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...

's Doris Sams (.733), and made her first and only All-Star Team. With Johnny Rawlings at the helm, Grand Rapids finished in second place with a 65–47 record; dispatched

South Bend South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

in the first round of the playoffs, and defeated Racine in the final series, four to three games, to clinch the AAGPBL Championship Title. Even though she lost Game 1, 2–0, in 11 innings after retiring the first 21 Belles batters, she rebounded to win Game 4 on a 3–0 shutout, and then pitched a four-hit, 1–0 shutout to win decisive Game 7. In five postseason decisions, Earp went 1–1 with a 1.13 ERA against South Bend, and 2–1, 0.62 against Racine. In 1948 Earp made a new transition from sidearm to overhand pitching. She obtained mixed results, after going 15–14 (.517) with a 1.31 ERA and 166 strikeouts, while ranking sixth in ERA and seventh in strikeouts. She also recorded a

against the

Chicago Colleens The Chicago Colleens were a women's professional baseball team who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1948 to 1951, evolving into a development team. The team was based Chicago, Illinois and played their home gam ...

early in the season. At this point, Grand Rapids won the Eastern Division with a 77–47 mark and advanced to the playoffs. In the first round the Chicks defeated South Bend, three to two games, but were swept in the second round by Fort Wayne in three contests. Earp earned two of the three wins in the first round, including a one-hit shutout, but allowed six runs in six innings in decisive Game 3 of the second round. Earp produced almost identical numbers in 1949, when she went 14–10 (.583) with 143 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA. Grand Rapids finished third with a 57–54 record and classified for the postseason. She was the winner in decisive Game 3 of the first round, knocking out her nemesis Fort Wayne, but lost her only start in the semifinals to the eventual champion Rockford Peaches, who defeated South Bend in four games.

1950s

The AAGPBL used a livelier ball in 1950. As a result, offensive levels augmented significantly in all cases with more hits, scoring more runs and hitting four times as many home runs as they did in previous seasons. That year Earp dropped to 5–6 with a 1.35 ERA, while the Chicks were 59–53 and ended fourth. Grand Rapids lost to Fort Wayne in the first round of the playoffs, three games to one. Earp was 0–1 with a 6.25 ERA in one playoff appearance. In a four-season career, Earp posted a 58–38 record with a 1.35 ERA in 108 games, and went 7–5 with a 1.95 ERA in the postseason. She ranks second all-time for best career ERA (0.12 behind

Jean Faut Jean Anna Faut ''Winsch/Eastman(January 17, 1925 – February 28, 2023) was an American starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 137 lb., she batted and threw right-hande ...

) and best single-season ERA (0.01 behind Lois Florreich).

Personal life

Earp was born in October 1925 in West Fork, Arkansas to Joseph McKnight and Ona Earp. She married Ray Jackson Collins at the age of 16. Following her baseball career, Earp returned to her homeland of West Fork, Arkansas, where she died on June 27 2017.

Sources

External links

Alice Haylett, Earlene "Beans" Risinger, and Mildred Earp Photograph, 1950
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National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

''. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
Jerre DeNoble, Philomena Gianfrancisco, and Mildred Earp photograph, 1947
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''. Retrieved 2019-03-31. {{DEFAULTSORT:Earp, Mildred 1925 births 2017 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Baseball players from Arkansas Grand Rapids Chicks players People from West Fork, Arkansas Sportspeople from Arkansas 21st-century American women