Mamie Johnson
Johnson in 2014
Pitcher
Born: (1935-09-27)September 27, 1935
Ridgeway, South Carolina
Died: December 18, 2017(2017-12-18) (aged 82)
Washington, D.C.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Negro leagues debut
1953, for the Indianapolis Clowns
Last appearance
1955, for the Indianapolis Clowns
Negro leagues statistics
Win–loss record33–8
Teams

Mamie "Peanut" Johnson (September 27, 1935 – December 18, 2017) was an American professional baseball player who was one of three women, and the first female pitcher, to play in the Negro leagues.

Early life

Johnson was born Mamie Belton in Ridgeway, South Carolina on September 27, 1935, to Della Belton Havelow and Gentry Harrison.[1][2] Soon after, her father moved to start another family and her mother moved to Washington, D.C. for economic opportunities.[3] Mamie was raised by her grandmother until the age of 8, when she moved in with her aunt and uncle in Long Branch, New Jersey.[3][4]

At a young age Mamie would "knock birds out of the trees with rocks" and played baseball with some of the neighborhood boys.[3][5] Her mother told her that her baseball skills were credit to her father who was a good ballplayer himself.[3][4] In New Jersey Mamie's athletic career began as she joined the Police Athletic League (PAL).[4] At age 11 Mamie moved to D.C. and continued to play both baseball and softball there.[3]

Johnson attended high school at Long Branch High School, and after graduating in 1949 attended New York University for a short while.[4]

Baseball career

After graduating high school, Mamie played with the St. Cyprian recreational team in D.C.[5] At 17, Johnson hoped to pursue a baseball career and tried out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.[6] Despite being a skilled player with lots of experience and Men's Major League Baseball being integrated by this time, Mamie was not allowed to try out due to the color of her skin.[6][7]

However, soon after this rejection Mamie was offered the opportunity to try out for the Indianapolis Clowns.[6] Along with Connie Morgan, she was signed by the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953, played with the team from 1953 to 1955, and had a 33–8 win–loss record.[8] A right-handed pitcher with a deceptively hard fastball, she also threw a slider, circle changeup, curveball, screwball, and knuckleball.[1][9] She received pointers on pitching the curveball from Satchel Paige.[1][10] At the plate, batting right-handed,[11] her batting average was in the range of .262 to .284.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

Johnson was known as "Peanut" during her career due to her height—5 feet, 3 inches.[16] She also weighed only 98 pounds when she was a player.[5] Johnson earned the nickname after an at-bat in which she faced Hank Baylis of the Kansas City Monarchs. After a hard strike, Baylis stepped out of the batter's box and said, "Why, that little girl's no bigger than a peanut. I ain't afraid of her." She proceeded to strike him out.[18]

In order to help sell tickets, Mamie and Morgan were played at least once a game as they were popular with the crowd.[4] This publicity was needed because at the time the Negro League was on the decline with public popularity.[19] However despite popular belief that the women played only to put on a show and sell tickets at the games, they were good baseball players.[3][20]

Post-baseball life

After retiring at 19, she earned a nursing degree from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and established a 30-year career at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C.[21][17][7][4] (Before playing professional baseball, she had been accepted to attend New York University.[22])

She married Charles Johnson; their marriage ended in divorce. She later married Edwardo Goodman.[7][23] Johnson also had a son, Charles, prior to her baseball career. Charles was raised by her mother until she ended her career in the Negro Leagues to go care for him.[17][3][4]

After her nursing career, Mamie helped to manage the Negro Leagues Gift Shop, a memorabilia store in Maryland.[6][4][3] She continued to be involved in various baseball pursuits, including appearances at tournaments and coaching little league.[3][24]

Mamie Johnson died on December 18, 2017, in a Washington, D.C. hospital of cardiac-related causes.[1][7] She was survived by her third husband, Emanuel Livingston;[1][7] five stepdaughters; a stepson; her uncle, Leo "Bones" Belton; several siblings; two grandsons; and many step-grandchildren.[1]

Honors and awards

Johnson is the subject of the children's book A Strong Right Arm, describing her life growing up and the obstacles to her becoming a professional Negro league baseball player.[25] She is also the subject of the children's book Mamie on the Mound.[26] According to Collider, she is referenced in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own when in an iconic scene DeLisa Chinn-Tyler throws a ball to Geena Davis.[27]

In 1999, Johnson was a guest of the Clintons at the White House.[3][17] She has also been recognized in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.[7] In 2001, the South Carolina Department of Education honored Johnson in its African-American History Month calendar alongside Merl Code, Tom Feelings, Sanco Rembert, Bill Pinkney, and other notable black South Carolinians.[28]

On June 5, 2008, Johnson and other players from the Negro league era were drafted by major league franchises prior to the 2008 MLB First year Draft. Johnson was selected by the Washington Nationals.[29] On October 3, 2009, Johnson spoke at Baseball Americana 2009, organized by the Library of Congress, in the company of Larry Dierker, Ernie Banks, and other figures from baseball's history.[13] In 2015, a Little League named for Johnson was formed in Washington.[1] Johnson is also featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.[17] Johnson's hometown of Ridgeway also named a street in her honor.[17]

A congested intersection of Washington, D.C. streets, known informally as "Dave Thomas Circle," is undergoing reconstruction and on completion will be formally named “Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson Plaza.”[30]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Slotnik, Daniel E. (December 20, 2017). "Mamie Johnson, Trailblazer in the Negro Leagues, Dies at 82". New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Mamie "Peanut" Johnson: National Visionary". National Visionary Leadership Project. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ardell, Jean Hastings (2001). "Mamie "Peanut" Johnson: The Last Female Voice of the Negro Leagues" (PDF). NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. 10 (1): 181–192. doi:10.1353/nin.2001.0042. ISSN 1534-1844. S2CID 107535903.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Encyclopedia of women and baseball. Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. 2006. ISBN 0-7864-2100-2. OCLC 65064298.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. 1 2 3 "Johnson, Mamie "Peanut" 1932– | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Katz, Brigit. "Remembering Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson, the First Woman to Take the Mound as a Major-League Pitcher". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Schudel, Matt (December 21, 2017). "Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson, hard-throwing woman in baseball's Negro leagues, dies at 82". Washington Post. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  8. ↑ Voss, Emily (March 12, 2013). "Mamie "Peanut" Johnson broke barriers in Negro Leagues". National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  9. ↑ Green (2002), p. 91.
  10. ↑ Green (2002), pp. 90–92.
  11. ↑ Meyer, Eugene L. (February 3, 1999). "A True American Athlete". Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  12. ↑ Green (2002), p. 97.
  13. 1 2 "Baseball Americana: Afternoon Session". Library of Congress. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  14. ↑ Ladson, Bill. "Negro Leagues pioneer 'Peanut' Johnson dies: Two-way player was one of three women to compete, only one to pitch". MLB News. MLB Advanced Media, LP. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson, last of three women to play in Negro Leagues, dies at 82". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  16. 1 2 Schwarz, Alan (June 12, 2010). "Breaking Gender Barriers in the Negro Leagues". New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Walker, Rhiannon (December 20, 2017). "Remembering Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson The first woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues dies at 82". Andscape. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  18. ↑ Green (2002), pp. 93–97.
  19. ↑ Davis, Amira Rose (May 1, 2016). "No League of Their Own: Baseball, Black Women, and the Politics of Representation". Radical History Review. 2016 (125): 74–96. doi:10.1215/01636545-3451748. ISSN 0163-6545.
  20. ↑ Everbach, Tracy (January 2005). "Breaking Baseball Barriers: The 1953–1954 Negro League and Expansion of Women's Public Roles". American Journalism. 22 (1): 13–33. doi:10.1080/08821127.2005.10677622. ISSN 0882-1127. S2CID 156912154.
  21. ↑ Ford, Sam (October 1, 2012). "Mamie Johnson, baseball trailblazer, hopes for local baseball field". WJLA. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  22. ↑ Green (2002), p. 84.
  23. ↑ Green (2002), p. 102.
  24. ↑ "Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum: Personal Profiles: Mamie "Peanut" Johnson". nlbemuseum.com. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  25. ↑ Green, Michelle; Nelson, Kadir (2004). A Strong Right Arm. New York: Penguin Puffin. ISBN 9780756930530.
  26. ↑ Henderson, Leah (2020). Mamie on the mound : a woman in baseball's Negro leagues. George Doutsiopoulos. North Mankato, Minn. ISBN 978-1-68446-023-6. OCLC 1097366638.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  27. ↑ Michael, Brendan (June 15, 2019). "The True Story Behind A League of Their Own". Collider. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Past Honorees". South Carolina African American History Calendar. South Carolina Department of Education. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  29. ↑ Hill, Justice B. (May 30, 2008). "Special Negro Leagues Draft". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  30. ↑ Moyer, Justin Wm. (October 12, 2023). "D.C.'s 'Dave Thomas Circle' renamed to honor Black baseball pioneer". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2023.

Further reading

Bibliography

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