Edith Houghton became a professional baseball player at the age of 10, and was the first woman scout in Major League Baseball. She passed away this month at the age of 100. Words via Obit Of The Day , reprinted with permission.
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Source: mlb.mlb.com
Edith Houghton had an interesting childhood. While the rest of Edith's friends went to school, did chores around the house, or played with toys, she began playing shortstop on the Philadelphia Bobbies, an all-girls professional baseball team. She was ten. (She was so small that she had to pin her hat and her pants to make them fit.)
Ms. Houghton would spend much of her childhood on the diamond playing with various all-girls teams, commonly called "Bloomer Girls." She would play with the Bobbies for four seasons, ending in 1925 with a tour of Japan, playing men's college teams, when she was only 13. (Ms. Houghton and her teammates earned $800 a game during the tour.) She moved from Philadelphia to New York after her return from Asia and played six seasons with the New York Bloomer Girls. Her last known professional affiliation was with the Hollywood (CA) Girls in 1931, where she earned $35 a week.
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Edith is pictured, far left.
Source: spotted.heraldtribune.com
During the Depression most Bloomer Girls teams found it hard to earn enough to continue playing. The last all-women's team of the era disbanded in 1934. Ms. Houghton would get her baseball fill by playing professional softball.
Random note: If you visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY you will find Ms. Houghton's Bobbies cap and her U.S.A. jersey from the Japan tour on display in the museum.
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