Our 'Baseballer of the Week'
for this week
goes to:
the Beautiful Black Lady, a 5-3, 98 pound pitcher
who batted right and threw right and was the
second of three Big Black Women, and the
first female pitcher, to play in the Men's Negro Leagues,
and she debuted in 1953 for the Indianapolis
Clowns with female teammate Connie Morgan, with her
culminating a pitching record of 33-8, and it is
said that at a young age Mamie would
"knock birds out of the trees with rocks" and
played baseball with some of the neighborhood
boys, plus she had a hard fastball, she also
threw a slider, circle changeup, curveball,
screwball, and knuckleball (she received
pointers on pitching the curveball from Satchel Paige!),
and here's how she got her nickname:
"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 then proceeded to strike him out," and to help
sell tickets, Mamie and Morgan were played at least
once a game as they were popular with the crowd,
and publicity was needed because at the time
the Negro League was on the decline with public popularity,
because many of the men were being allowed to
play in the white major leagues, but now
there's a huge triangular space, the
Mamie "Peanut" Johnson Plaza at a popular
intersection in Washington, D.C., and there
are at least two books chronicling her
achievements, Mamie on the Mound and
A Strong Right Arm, and she is recognized in
the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City
...Mamie Johnson!
Black Basketball History Month,
celebrated in October each year, was
founded by Ralph C. Winge, D.D.S.
in 2025 to acknowledge, praise,
and hold high, with cheer, the untold
numbers of International Black Men
and Women, both past and present,
that made us go, "Wow!...Whoa!...
...and...OMGosh!" in their nonstop,
valiant, and always surprising,
individual and team
efforts to put the ball through the
hoop the most, to win games and
championships!
The Founder of Black Basketball History Month,
Ralph C.Winge, D.D.S.,
and USC Dental School Graduate.
If you know a Basketball Practitioner who should be included here,
please leave a note in the comment section. Thank you!
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