Virne Beatrice Mitchell Gilbert aka "Jackie Mitchell" was just 17 in 1931 when Joe Engel, the new president of the Double-A Lookouts, signed Jackie to play an exhibition game with the NY Yankees on one of their train stops In Chattanooga, TN on April 2nd.

With 4,000 fans in attendance for the first of two games, the first two Yankees reached base. The starting pitcher was removed and in came Mitchell, with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig up next. Horwitz writes:

First up was Ruth, who tipped his hat at the girl on the mound "and assumed an easy batting stance". Mitchell wound her left arm "as if she were turning a coffee grinder." Then, with a side-armed delivery, she threw her trademark sinker (known then as "the drop"). Ruth let it pass for a ball. At Mitchell's next offering, Ruth "swung and missed by a foot." He missed the next one, too, and asked the umpire to inspect the ball. Then, with the count 1-2, Mitchell's pitch caught the outside corner for strike three. Flinging his bat down in disgust, he retreated to the dugout.

Next to the plate was Gehrig, who would bat .341 in 1931 and tie Ruth for the league lead in homers. He swung at and missed three straight pitches. But Mitchell walked the next batter, Tony Lazzeri, and the Lookouts' manager pulled her from the game, which the Yankees went on to win, 14-4.

"Girl Pitcher Fans Ruth and Gehrig," read the headline in the next day's sports page of the New York Times, beside a photograph of Mitchell in uniform.

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