Hear about Mary's experience in her own words through the Grand Valley State Oral history project.

Mary turns 100! November 2018

Autobiographical Sketch - By Mary Pratt:

I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and my family moved to Quincy, Massachusetts, my father's birthplace, in the height of the depression years. My Father was a draftsman during the World War II years and was employed by the Lake Torpedo in New Haven, Connecticut.

It had always been my desire to go to college and major in Physical Education. I did so in 1936 when I entered Boston University. I graduated in 1940 and started a teaching career that lasted 48 years. My advanced degrees were awarded to me from Boston University and the University of Massachusetts.

My athletic competition through most of my growing up and teaching years was limited. I competed with and against boys. Competition at the high school and college levels for girls was limited to intramural and class competition. I did, however, have the opportunity to compete in a local church basketball league and with both the Boston Field Hockey and Lacrosse Associations.

A tremendous void was filled with 50 years of officiating Basketball, Softball, Field Hockey and Lacrosse. A great deal of that competition in those early years was in the private school sector.

With the advent of Title IX, in the1970s, competition in girls' athletic programs increased, and I became very active in the local and state associations, serving in leadership roles, at every level.

It was in 1943 that I had the opportunity to become a member of the AAGPBL. In June of that year, I was contacted by personnel in Chicago and flew out to Chicago after the close of school. I was met by Mr. Ken Sells, appointed by Mr. Philip Wrigley as President of the AAGPBL. I was escorted to Rockford and joined that team. That evening, Rockford was in the process of playing a league game at the 15th ave. Stadium. That was my introduction into the All-American and the start of five wonderful summers as a member of the league, 1943-47.  I was fortunate to have particated during those eras when so many changes took place within the structure of the League.

 Prior to competing in the ,my only experience in competitive softball was during 1939-40 when I played on the Boston Olympets out of the Boston Garden. Walter Brown, then the owner of the Garden, organized the team as a means of having a weekly sports program during the summer months. Games were scheduled with teams from the New England area, the highlight being a game scheduled with teams from the New York area at Madison Square Garden.

Players that I met in 1943 from Canada and California were surprised at the lack of opportunities for girls to compete in Softball if they resided in the East Coast areas. I pitched for the Olympets during those years and brought that limited experience into the AAGPBL. Prior to this, my limited experience in Baseball was playing with and against. boys.

It was during the years that I participated in the AAGPBL when many changes were made in the game. In 1943 the game was basically Baseball with Softball style pitching. Baserunners took leads and were not required to "hold the base," until after the delivery. Additional changes occurred until 1948  when the delivery became completely overhand. As the changes were made from underhand to sidearm  to overhand, the pitching and basiline distances were lengthened.

There was a league rule, rather unique at the time. In order to maintain a high level of competition within the structure of the League, players could be shifted or traded at the discretion of League officials. It was that ruling that resulted in my being sent from Rockford to Kenosha during the early season of 1944. Two pitchers in Kenosha were handicapped with injuries at the time. Although Rockford at the time was "on the road," I was reassigned to Kenosha. I recall it being an adjustment at the time because all of my clothes were back at the Nyquist's where Dottie Green and I rented our room. The move to Kenosha will always be remembered because I had the opportunity to play for Marty McManus on the championship team for the first half of the 1944 season. Kenosha lost in the playoffs to Milwaukee. It was an honor to play with so many of the girls who signed up for the League in those first years, among them Ann Harnett and Shirley Jameson.

I returned to Kenosha for the 1945 season. Having resigned my teaching position in order to play there was little likelihood that I would be offered the opportunity to return to my teaching position in Quincy.  I did return and retired in 1986, a career that lasted 48 years, 42 in Quincy, three in Braintree, and three at Salem State.

I have been honored to have been elected to the AAGPBL Board of Directors and served from 1999-2000. During those years, I initiated an "Out and About" project in which I kept a record and responses I received from any former players, Associate members, and officials who accepted invitations to meet and speak with groups about their experiences associated with the AAGPBL.

I like to reaffirm the statement that was made by Patty Berg, a renowned professional golfer. She spoke at the AAGPBL's firs players' reunion in Chicago in 1982. She reminded us that we were pioneers. As of this date(2007), "there has been no venture in female professional sports to equate to Mr. Wrigley's venture adopted in 1943."

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