Fern Gertrude Battaglia (January 6, 1931 – March 15, 2001) was an infielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 120 lb., she batted and threw right handed.[1][2]

Fern Battaglia
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Third base / Second base
Born: (1931-01-06)January 6, 1931
Chicago, Illinois
Died: March 15, 2001(2001-03-15) (aged 70)
Bensenville, Illinois
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display
    at Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (1988)

Born in Chicago, Illinois, the diminutive Fern Battaglia joined the league in 1950 with her hometown Chicago Colleens, by then a player development team. She split time between third and second bases in her rookie year, batting .204 (51-for-250) with one home run and 29 runs batted in in 67 games, gaining a promotion to the Battle Creek Belles for the 1951 season.[3][4]

She then played half a season with the Belles before returning home to take care of her ill mother. Battaglia posted a .167 average in just 18 games and did not return to the league for a second season.[5]

After that she was employed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), teaching at public schools in the Chicago area.[5]

In 1988, Fern received further recognition when she became part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

She was a longtime resident of Bensenville, Illinois, where she died in 2001 at the age of 70.[2][6]

Career statistics

edit

Batting

GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP
19 60 5 10 1 0 0 4 4 6 8 .167 .242

Fielding

GP PO A E TC DP FA
19 38 21 5 64 5 .922

[3][5]

Sources

edit
  1. ^ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical DictionaryW. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295 pp. ISBN 978-0-7864-2263-0, OCLC 60387152
  2. ^ a b "Ancestry.com – All results for Fern G Battaglia".
  3. ^ a b "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Fern Battaglia". Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  4. ^ 1950 Chicago Colleens. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  5. ^ a b c The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical DictionaryW. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover ISBN 978-0-7864-2263-0 OCLC 60387152
  6. ^ Social Security Death Master File – Persons born 06 January 1931