Meet Lizzie Murphy – Trailblazing Queen of BaseballFrom the first known baseball game between two black teams, held November 15, 1859, in New York City, the extensive unique history of the Negro Leagues and its contribution to the history of mainstream major and minor league baseball in America is well-documented. In fact, interest in the Negro Leagues has become somewhat of a popular topic of interest and study, especially in the past fifty years.
Though much has been documented about "the color line" in baseball, little history has been noted of the "gender line" and of women's contributions to America's favorite pastime sport; even fewer stories of the trailblazers are well-known or recorded in any detail. Such is the case with Warren, Rhode Island's Lizzy "Spike" Murphy. In her time, before women earned the right to vote, Murphy earned the title "Queen of Baseball." Within the tales of baseball legend, Murphy is considered the first woman to play professional baseball on both American and National League teams; she competed fiercely and well with and against her time's major male baseball players. In 1920, she became the first woman ever to play at Fenway Park during an exhibition game on August 14, 1922, between the Boston Red Sox and the American League All-Stars. Murphy's team bested the Sox 3-2. She faced the great Hall of Fame Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige on the mound. In the 1930s, she played for the Cleveland Giants, making her the first woman to play in the Negro League. She signed with semi-pro team owner Ed Carr's Traveling All-Stars in 1918 (Sometimes later billed as Lizzie Murphy's Traveling All-Stars). They played 100 games a season throughout New England states and the eastern Canadian provinces. Carr boasted, "No ball is too hard for her to scoop out of the dirt," about her fielding and base play. When it came to her as a slugger, Carr quipped, "She packs a mean wagon tongue [bat]." Early on, Murphy played first base and was swift on her feet. In time, she became a pitcher and was known as an ace at bat with a career average of .300. Right-handed, Murphy was small—5’ 6" and 122 pounds. Of Irish and Canadian French ancestry, she was bilingual and became a defensive standout, often cunningly using French to send messages to teammates on the field. During her nearly 20-year career as a barnstormer (traveling baseball player), she developed a reputation and popular following. Her advertised presence at any game boosted the gate take. Certainly, Murphy was an oddity and a sensation. Still, by all accounts, she was a mighty, skilled, and strategic player. Murphy shrewdly parlayed her fame into dollars, selling autographed picture cards to the crowds and then, by hard-ball negotiation based on gate proceeds. At the height of her career, she earned $300 weekly. Mary Elizabeth Murphy, born in Warren, RI, in 1896, was one of six children of millworker John Murphy and his wife Mary (Garan) Murphy. As a child, she was athletic, and though she settled early on baseball, she was also a swimmer, runner, and ice-hockey skater. Murphy quit school in fifth grade at 12 to work at the Parker Woolen Mill as a spinner. By 15, because no formal organized girls' baseball league was available, Murphy was playing in amateur men's leagues, many of which were sponsored by local mills like the Warren Shoe Company. At 17, she was playing semi-pro, and after playing for the Warren Manufacturing Co. team (in time, American Tourister), she began her career as a barnstormer. Murphy retired her jersey and hung up her spikes in 1935 at the age of 40. She returned to her childhood home in Warren. With no income, the former baseball standout returned to the mills, cleaned houses, and worked on the oyster boats along the Warren River. She married French Canadian Walter Larivee in October 1937; he died nine years later in 1946. She never remarried. In her later years, Murphy made no public appearances, refused invitations, and shunned her early celebrity. She died at the age of 70. The Associated Press briefly noted that Elizbeth Larivee had "gained renown in New England and Eastern Canada 40 years ago as Lizzie Murphy, a woman baseball player in an era when it was unusual to see a woman driving a car." Lizzie Murphy was always revered in her hometown, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of her birth in 1996 with "Lizzie Murphy Day" and a proclamation by Red Sox Vice President Lou Gorman. That same year, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. More recently, Murphy's story is told by Caldecott Medal winner Emily Arnold McCully in Queen of the Diamond: The Lizzie Murphy Story, a book for children 4-10 years old. Learn more about Lizzie Murphy in Bill Nolan's article at the Society for American Baseball Research. Video: https://vimeo.com/313309047 Comments are closed.
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