The Springfield Sallies were a women's professional baseball team who were members of 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 ...

in the 1948 season and became a development team. The Sallies were based in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

and played home games at Jim Fitzpatrick Memorial Stadium.

History

The hapless Sallies were the worst in the league, getting roughed up as a last–place expansion club with a 41–84 record, ending 35.5 games behind the 1st place

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 Fi ...

in the Western Division. The club was managed by former bigleaguer

Carson Bigbee Carson Lee "Skeeter" Bigbee (March 31, 1895 – October 17, 1964) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was born in Lebanon, Oregon, and attended the University of Ore ...

, but had no All–Stars, and the only players to have a significant year were second sacker Evelyn Wawryshyn, who tied for sixth place with a .266

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

, and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("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 attempts to e ...

Doris Barr, who posted a 2.68 ERA with a career-high 116 strikeouts despite her 7–19 record. From 1949 through 1951 the Sallies joined the Chicago Colleens as touring player development teams. Their tours included exhibition contests at

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Boun ...

and

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

, then dissolved entirely by 1951. AAGPBL executive Mitch Skupien, who later managed in the league, served as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

for both touring teams.

All-time roster

Managers Manager–Chaperone Chaperone

Sources

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League historyAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League official website – Springfield Sallies seasonsAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League official website – Manager/Player profile search results
*''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book'' –

W. C. Madden W.C. Madden is a retired journalist, teacher and author who has written multiple books about baseball, including two about the AAGPBL. He has also written about the Western League and the College World Series. While much of his work is based on ba ...

. Publisher:

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its forme ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Format: Hardcover, 294pp. Language: English. *''The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary'' –

. Publisher:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

. Format: Softcover, 295 pp. Language: English.
Golden Age Era Sports
{{All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-American Girls Professional Baseball League teams 1948 establishments in Illinois 1950 disestablishments in Illinois Baseball teams established in 1948 Baseball teams disestablished in 1950 Professional baseball teams in Illinois Defunct baseball teams in Illinois