Dorothy Kamenshek

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Kamenshek played outfield for a local softball league, and at the age of 17 she was spotted by a scout from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. After tryouts at Wrigley Field in Chicago, she joined the Rockford Peaches as an outfielder when the league began in 1943, but was soon playing first base. She and short stop Snooky Harrell formed the league's best double-play combination.

Kamenshek played in the AAGPBL for 10 seasons, and was selected as an All-Star all seven times the league established such a team. In 1946 she was the league's top batter with an average of .316 (a single point ahead of Audrey Wagner), and won the distinction again in 1947 with an average of .306. She struck out only 81 times in 3,736 at-bat appearances.

Considered one of the best athletes of her time, southpaw Kamenshek was recruited by a men's team from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She believed the team only wanted her for publicity and turned down the offer. Former New York Yankee Wally Pipp said she was the most accomplished player he had ever seen among men or women.

In the off‑seasons, Kamenshek studied physical education and health education at the University of Cincinnati. In 1951, back injuries reduced her playing time, and after the 1952 season she retired from the game with a career average of .292.

In 1958, Kamenshek received a degree in physical therapy from Marquette University in Milwaukee. She returned to Ohio to serve as a physical therapist in Hamilton County and later moved to Los Angeles to perform the same work at the Los Angeles Crippled Children's Services Department. In 1964, she was promoted to supervisor of physical and occupational therapy for Los Angeles County Children's Services, and later to chief of therapy services, the position she held when she retired in 1980.

After her retirement, Kamenshek was honored by Los Angeles County with the Outstanding Management Award (1980). She is part of the AAGPBL permanent display, opened in 1988 at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York.

The 1992 film A League of Their Own introduced a new generation to the history of women's baseball. Geena Davis played Dottie Hinson, the best ballplayer in the league, a character loosely based on Kamenshek.[3]

In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women selected Kamenshek as the 100th-greatest female athlete of the 20th century.[4]

She was inducted into the National Women's Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.[5]

Kamenshek died on May 17, 2010, at the age of 84. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. Her spouse and fellow Hall of Fame member, Margaret Wenzell, was buried next to her in 2014.[6]

• Kammie on First (2014, Ohio University Press), a biography for middle-school children by Michelle Houts.[7]

• Dorothy Ferguson

• "Dorothy Kamenshek – Biography / Obituary". All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• Henry, Derrick (2010-05-21). "Dorothy Kamenshek, 'League of Their Own' Figure, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• McLellan, Dennis (2010-05-22). "Dorothy Kamenshek dies at 84; women's baseball league star". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• Wood, Robert (2008). "Sports Illustrated Top 100 Female athletes". Topend Sports Website. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• "Dorothy Kamenshek" Encyclopædia Britannica
• "Betty Whiting and Dorothy Kamenshek Action photograph, between 1945 and 1952". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• "Dorothy Kamenshek Action photograph, between 1943 and 1953". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• "Tops in Girls Sports, All-American Girls Baseball League brochure, 1948". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
• "Rockford Peaches program, 1951". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-05-29.