Nancy Elizabeth Mudge
''Cato(October 3, 1929 – July 24, 2012) was an
infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base.
Standard arrangement of positions
In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...
who played from through 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 , 120 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Born in
Bridgeport, New York
Bridgeport is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in upstate New York, United States, located partly in the town of Sullivan in Madison County, and partly in the town of Cicero in Onondaga County. The population was 1,389 as of the 2020 c ...
, Nancy Mudge was one of 25 players who made the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League clubs, hailed from New York City and State, including
Muriel Bevis
Muriel Bevis ��Breezy″(October 7, 1928 – October 29, 2002) was an American outfielder and pitcher who played in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1950 season. Bevis batted and threw left-handed. She was born in Coron ...
,
Gloria Cordes
Gloria Cordes Elliott (September 21, 1931 – March 13, 2018) was an American starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 8", 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Ov ...
,
Mildred Deegan
Mildred Eleanor Deegan (December 11, 1919 – July 21, 2002) was an American pitcher, outfielder and second basewoman who played ten seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, from to .
Background
Deegan was one of 25 playe ...
,
Marie Kruckel,
Betty Trezza
Betty "Moe" Trezza (August 4, 1925 – January 16, 2007) was an American professional baseball player. An infield and outfield utility, she played from through for four different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
T ...
and
Margaret Wigiser.
Mudge played during five seasons in the AAGPBL, three of them with the
Kalamazoo Lassies
The Kalamazoo Lassies were a team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team represented Kalamazoo, Michigan. Home games were initially played at Lindstrom Field, but later games were played at the ...
. She was a solid, smooth-fielding
second base
In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...
man who paced the league in
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...
between 1953 and 1954. A light hitter, she had the ability to get on base, by any means, beyond the pure ability to get the
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...
. She reached
first base
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
by
walks, by a
bunt single or
being hit by the pitcher, though she was a .183 career hitter but posted a solid .311
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...
. A smart and aggressive baserunner, she knew when to take the extra base. An AAGPBL
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
** Scouts BSA, sect ...
tried to sign Mudge after seeing her playing
field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
in
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
, thinking that she had athletic abilities, endurance and fitness necessary to play baseball. Mudge refused, because she wanted to graduate college first. However, she later had a tryout with the
Fort Wayne Daisies
The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana that played from through as members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
History
The Daisies represented Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ...
.
AAGPBL career
In 1950, between her junior and senior years in college, Mudge was given a contract to play with 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 ...
, then was sent to the
Springfield Sallies
The Springfield Sallies were a women's professional baseball team who were members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1948 season and became a development team. The Sallies were based in Springfield, Illinois and playe ...
during the midseason. She hit a combined .308
average
In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
with 24
runs batted in
A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
in their first 40 games. However, she tore a cartilage in her knee that required surgery and rehabilitation for the rest of the summer.
After graduating from college, Mudge returned to baseball action and was assigned to the Kalamazoo Lassies in 1951. She played for them two and a half years before joining the
Battle Creek Belles
The Battle Creek Belles were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The Belles represented Battle Creek, Michigan, and played their home games at Bailey Park.
Hist ...
during the 1952 midseason. After that, she spent 1953 with the relocated
Muskegon Belles, when the franchise moved for a while to see if that city would support a girls baseball team, but the experiment failed and Mudge returned to Kalamazoo in 1954.
In 1954 Mudge hit .232 in 98 games, including career-numbers in runs scored (74) and hits (82), while
driving in 22 runs. She also made the league's
All-Star Team, forming part of a Lassies All-Star slick infield that included
June Peppas
June Peppas (June 16, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a first basewoman and pitcher who played from 1948 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , she batted and threw left-handed.
Early life
Peppas was bor ...
at
first base
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
,
Dorothy Schroeder
Dorothy "Dottie" Schroeder (April 11, 1928 – December 8, 1996) was an American shortstop who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 150 lb., Schroeder batted and threw right-handed. She w ...
at
shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...
, and
Fern Shollenberger
Fern Shollenberger '' helly' (May 18, 1923 – December 24, 1977) was a third basewoman who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 125 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Brief profile
S ...
at
third base
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
. Meanwhile, the called ''Home Run Twins'',
Chris Ballingall
Christina Ballingall (May 17, 1932 – May 11, 2025) was an American professional baseball catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in 1953 and 1954. Listed at and , she batted left-handed and threw rig ...
(17) and
Carol Habben (15), powered the offense with 32
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
s; Peppas and Schroeder enjoyed big numbers, and Kalamazoo advanced to the Championship Series. As a result, the Lassies defeated the Daisies in a best-of-five games series, during what turned out to be the AAGPBL final season.
″Smudgie″, as her teammates called her, returned home after the league disbanded. She married and changed her name to Nancy Mudge Cato. She later moved to
Elk River, Minnesota
Elk River is a city and the county seat of Sherburne County, Minnesota, United States, approximately 34 miles northwest of Minneapolis. It is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and Elk River (Minnesota), Elk River ...
, where she live for the rest of her life.
Since 1980, her former teammate June Peppas and a group of friends began assembling a list of names and addresses of former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players. Her work turned into a newsletter and resulted in the league’s first-ever reunion in
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, in 1982. Starting from that reunion, a Players Association was formed five years later and a significant number of former AAGPBL players continued to enjoy reunions, which became annual events in 1998. For many years, Mudge was an active participant in the events organized by the association.
The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a 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 ...
at
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 ...
, since November 5, , that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Mudge and Peppas, along with the rest of the league's girls, are now enshrined in the Hall.
The AAGPBL Players Association helped to bring the league story to the public eye. The association was largely responsible for the opening of the aforementioned exhibition. Of the approximately 560 women who had played in the league, most had lost touch with the others; at least not until the first reunion held in Chicago.
In July 1988, the
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...
(SABR) held their annual National Convention in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
with 340 people in attendance.
Andy MacPhail
Andrew Bowen MacPhail (born April 5, 1953) is an American baseball executive. He has previously served as general manager for the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs, and as president for the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies.
MacPhail i ...
was the keynote speaker, and
Minor league baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
home run legend
Joe Hauser
Joseph John Hauser (January 21, 1899 – July 11, 1997), nicknamed "Unser Choe", was an American professional baseball player who was a first baseman in the major leagues from 1922 to 1929, with the Philadelphia Athletics and Cleveland Indians. ...
was a special guest, while Nancy was part of a players panel along Hauser,
Julio Bécquer
Julio Bécquer Villegas (December 20, 1931 – November 1, 2020) was a Cuban-born American professional baseball player, a first baseman who played in 488 games over seven seasons (1955; 1957–61; 1963) for the Washington Senators / Minnesota ...
and
Howie Schultz
Howard Henry Schultz (July 3, 1922 – October 30, 2009), nicknamed "Stretch" and "Steeple", was an American baseball and basketball player from St. Paul, Minnesota. Schultz won an NBA title with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1952. Schultz played in ...
.
In 1992, Mudge, along
Jean Havlish and
Kay Heim
Katherine Ann Heim (later McDaniel; August 21, 1917 – May 11, 2015) was a Canadian catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 125 lb., Heim batted and threw right handed. She was nicknamed � ...
, two other Minnesota residents and former AAGPBL players, were invited to throw out the first pitch in a game
Angels
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
–
Twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...
played at the
Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League's (NFL) ...
. The trio also was honored by the
Colorado Silver Bullets
The Colorado Silver Bullets were an all-female professional baseball team that played in the United States from 1994 to 1997. The Bullets were the first such team since the folding of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1954.
...
all-female baseball team in their 1994 inaugural season, in which they threw out the first ball pitch of a game celebrated in Saint Paul.
Nancy Mudge Cato died in 2012 at her home in Elk River, Minnesota, at the age of 82.
Career statistics
Batting
Fielding
[''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English. ]
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudge, Nancy
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
Baseball players from Madison County, New York
People from Elk River, Minnesota
Sportspeople from Sherburne County, Minnesota
People from Bridgeport, New York
1929 births
2012 deaths
20th-century American sportswomen