Alice Haylett

Alice Haylett

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Pitcher/Outfielder
Born: April 23, 1923(1923-04-23)
Coldwater, Michigan
Died: March 27, 2004(2004-03-27) (aged 80)
Lakeland, Florida
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Alice Haylett [Al or Sis] (April 2, 1923 - March 27, 2004) was a female pitcher who played from 1946 through 1949 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 6", 155 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.[1]

A native of Coldwater, Michigan, Haylett grew up in a farm family of English, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Indian ancestry. She graduated from Coldwater High School in 1940, and after taking a summer job in Battle Creek, Michigan she worked full-time for five years and played softball for several local teams. She heard about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from Betty Whiting, a fellow softball player who had entered the league in 1945 with the Milwaukee Chicks. Haylett attended a tryout for the league in 1946, and was assigned to the Grand Rapids Chicks, playing for them for the next four years.[2]

In her rookie season, Haylett hit a .221 batting average playing briefly at outfield. Grand Rapids finished in second place that season. In 1947, she joined the pitching staff and posted a 19-11 record, helping her team to clinch the championship. Her most productive season came in 1948, just when the league changed to pitching overhand and adopted a smaller ball. She made the adjustements, relying on a strong fastball and a breaking curve that baffled oppossite hitters who tried to analyze her pitches. Haylett finished with a 25-5 mark, led the league in winning percentage (.833) and earned run average (0.77), and tied with Joanne Winter in victories. She was named Pitcher of the Year and also earned an All-Star berth. With Haylett at the mound, the Chicks won the 1947 AAGPBL Championship Title and reached the playoffs in 1948 and 1949. However, she ended her career prematurely after developing a sore pitching arm in her last season.[3]

Haylett, who never married, worked at the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek for 30 years and retired to Lakeland, Florida in 1981. She returned to softball briefly, and eventually played golf.[4] She died in her Florida home at the age of 80.[5]

Pitching statistics

GP W L W-L% ERA IP H R ER BB SO WHIP
128 70 47 .598 1.92 1044 690 303 223 405 390 0.7213

[6]

Sources

  1. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player page
  2. ^ Biographical Dictionary of American Sports – David L. Porter. Publisher: Greenwood Press, 2000. Format: Hardcover, 2064pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-0-313-29884-4
  3. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League records
  4. ^ The Diamond Angle – An interview by Lou Parrotta
  5. ^ The Ultimate Celebrity Address & Phone Book: Autograph Collecting and Media Guide – Cord Coslor. Publisher: Lulu.com, 2004. Format: Paperback, 400pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-1-4116-1753-7
  6. ^ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Paperback, 295 pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-0-7864-3747-4
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