Our All-American Girl: Dottie Schroeder

By Anna E. Sielaff

“Dottie Schroeder the smooth and graceful shortstop of the Fort Wayne Daisies…easily one of the most colorful players and without a doubt, the most picturesque, Schroeder is the Idol of the fans in the American League.”

Champaign County, Illinois has a rich history of athletics. Being home to the University of Illinois' Fighting Illini, this area has seen a wide range of male and female athletes from around the globe who have achieved success in their sports and have put on memorable performances. Though sports today seem like a daily part of life, many forget how sports have evolved, especially for women. Take a moment and imagine what sports were like for women over eighty years ago when women did not have the opportunity to play on professional sports teams. The Champaign County History Museum has recently acquired a unique collection about a native of Champaign County, Dorothy “Dottie” Schroeder, who at the age of fourteen years old became one of the first professional women baseball players who helped pave the way for women’s athletics. 

Several baseball fans know Dottie Schroeder as the famous “Shortstop Dottie” or “Hubba Hubba Shortstop”. Some baseball and movie fans may even recognize that name from Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own, as Geena Davis’s Dottie Hinson which is loosely based on ten other women including Schroeder. Though many know about Schroeder’s baseball career, not too many community members besides her family and friends know the real Dottie. As stated by family members and teammates, Dottie was a genuine and faithful woman. They could not name one single person who did not like Dottie. She was well-liked in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She was a joy to be around with her funny dry sense of humor and her contagious smile.

The Champaign County History Museum is excited to finally share Dottie’s story and preserve her legacy in her Champaign County, Illinois home.

During a photo shoot, Dottie was asked to wear a catcher's uniform. Dottie was never

a catcher in the AAGPBL. Champaign County History Museum.

Life in Sadorus, Illinois 

Dorothy Augusta Schroeder was born on April 11, 1928, in Sadorus, Illinois to Walter and Ida Schroeder. She grew up on the family farm with her older brother, Walter Jr., and her twin brother, Donald. The Schroeder family was known to be very athletic as Dottie’s father played and managed a semi-pro baseball team in the Champaign area, while her Uncle Al Schroeder was a high school coach and a renowned athlete. Her brothers were also all-around athletes at Sadorus High School as they spent many hours with Dottie on the farm playing baseball to help her train. Baseball was a passion shared by all members of the family. There is no doubt the hours Dottie spent playing ball with her brothers prepared her for her professional baseball career. As Dottie stated, “I remember out on the farm we didn’t have a bat or a ball; we would play imaginary balls out in the cow pasture. You can imagine what we used for bases!” Before joining the AAGPBL, Dottie played softball for the first time at the age of nine years old as she played for her 4-H team and later became a member of the Illinois Commercial College team.  Dottie took every opportunity she could to play ball. 

Dottie practicing for the upcoming season in 1944. Champaign County History Museum.

Though playing baseball was one of Dottie’s favorite things to do, her faith in God was a valuable part of her life. The Schroeder family were active members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Sadorus, Illinois. Dottie was very religious and dedicated her life to her faith and love of God. Being a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Dottie was raised to believe that the Bible teaches that a person is saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. At a young age, Dottie and her brothers attended Sunday School and St. Paul’s Lutheran School. As stated by her former teammate and friend, Katie Hortsman, “Dottie’s love of God and family and friends were just as precious to her as baseball. Singing in the church choir was something she looked forward to every Sunday.” Dottie’s faith alone was evident on and off the field. Towards the end of Dottie’s life, she remained an active member at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church as she continued to sing in the choir and teach Sunday School classes.

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League 

When the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that it would “be best for the country to keep baseball going.” As the war continued to progress, thousands of minor league and major league players were drafted or volunteered for military service. Between April 1940 - August 1943, three million women entered the labor force. With the major league being postponed, Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Chewing Gum Company owner Philip K. Wrigley, ensured the nation that baseball would continue. Wanting to emulate Rosie the Riveter, Wrigley saw the opportunity to create a league that would keep the public entertained and give opportunities for women to showcase their athletic abilities. 

Wrigley sought to create his new league into a non-profit organization that would be supervised by trustees rather than profit-motivated team owners. Wrigley’s original idea was to play in the major league ballparks, however, major league owners had no interest in hosting women's teams. He decided to search for mid-sized cities in the Midwest believing that the league would benefit the communities and war effort. South Bend, Indiana; Rockford, Illinois; Racine, Wisconsin, and Kenosha, Wisconsin were the first four cities that formed professional teams. Eventually, there would be more than ten teams that joined the League.

During the early years of the AAGPBL, the players would stand in a “V” before

every game to honor those who were serving in the war effort. 

Champaign County History Museum.

Wrigley paid half of the team's operating costs and provided the starting costs for the League which were estimated between $200,000 and $250,000. By this time, softball was popular and well-attended. In the 1930’s, softball was attracting more spectators than baseball in several cities making it one of the reasons Wrigley wanted to create a softball league. Originally named the All-American Girls Softball League, the League was a hybrid of fast-pitch softball and baseball. From 1943 to 1954, the rules would change every season to make the game fast-paced and similar to men’s baseball.        

Wrigley sent scouts throughout the United States and Canada to recruit the League. His goal was to prove to fans that the women in the League would be seen as wholesome All-American athletes who could play a man’s sport. Players were chosen for a “combination of playing ability, appearance, and character. Sometimes, some of the best players were not chosen because they were considered too masculine. During this time, it was believed that any woman who demonstrated athletic interests or abilities was considered unfeminine. This was a societal belief that Dottie and many women from the AAGPBL fought against throughout their daily lives. 

South Bend Blue Sox 1943 (left to right) Mabel Hole, Mary Elrod, Dottie Schroeder, Margaret Stefani, and Jo Hageman. Champaign County History Museum.

Tryouts 

Dottie’s father, Walter Sr. read an article from the Chicago Tribune about tryouts for the All-American Girls Softball League. Recognizing Dottie’s talents, he encouraged Dottie to try out for the team and accompanied her. Only at the age of fourteen, Dottie became the League’s youngest player after succeeding at tryouts held at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, Missouri in 1943. Dottie was one of two that were chosen to attend the final tryouts at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. By May 1943, Philip Wrigley’s scouts had called two hundred eighty girls from thousands who showed up for local tryouts. Those chosen were sent to Chicago for spring training. 

Dottie was one of the first sixty players recruited for the All-American Girls Softball League in 1943. After being chosen to play for the South Bend Blue Sox, Dottie became homesick once her mother left. This was the first time she had ever been away from home for an extended time. “I was fourteen years old and had been raised on a small farm. The tryouts were awe-inspiring, and they kept us busy. We stayed at the Belmont Hotel not far from Wrigley Field. My mother came up for a few days and stayed with some friends. After a few days, she went home, I was very homesick. She said, ‘Well, you can come home with me, and everything will be alright, or you can stay.’ I wanted to play ball so bad I stayed. The other players took me under their wing and mothered me, and I got over the homesickness. I like playing ball so much I just wanted to play. I was so young that the thought never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t make the League.” Dottie knew that if she went back to Sadorus, she would be losing out on an opportunity to play ball professionally which at the time was unheard of for women. “Dottie and her teammates live sort of a double life. They do their work like men and dream of living like all women do after the ball game ends.” No matter whether she was good or bad, Dottie wanted to follow her dreams and play ball with women who shared similar aspirations in the game.  

Dottie smiling at the camera. Champaign County History Museum.

Dottie signed her first contract in 1943 to play for the South Bend Blue Sox in South Bend, Indiana as a professional player. The League paid for accommodations which included equipment, travel, food, advertising, housing, and salaries. The average salaries most players were making in the League were between $45 to $85 a week. At most times, these young women were making more money than their parents.“Not too many years before 1943, my father was the postmaster of Sadorus, Illinois, making $20 a week, and here I was fifteen, and a girl, being paid $55, to play baseball,” Dottie recalled. 

All-Star Player 

As a member of AAGPBL, Dottie was a fan favorite and a force on the field as a shortstop. Known famously for her pig-tails, beauty, and athletic abilities, Dottie was considered one of the most well-recognized fielders in the League playing for the South Bend Blue Sox (1943-1945), the Kenosha Comets (1945-1946), the Fort Wayne Daisies (1947-1952), and the Kalamazoo Lassies (1952-1954). Dottie was extremely talented so much so that Chicago Cubs manager Charlie Grimm said, “If she were a man, she’d be worth $50,000 to any major League club.” Dottie’s list of accolades proves Grimm’s statement to be true. She played the most games (1,249), was an All-Time Leader in RBI (431), All-Time Leader in at-bats (4,129), and All-Time Leader in walks (696). Dottie was also named a Three-Time best fielding shortstop, Three-Time All-Star Player, and was voted Most Popular Player by the Kalamazoo fans. By far, Dottie’s most impressive accomplishment was being the only woman to play all twelve seasons from 1943 to 1954. From playing the very first game of the League on May 30, 1943, and becoming a Play-Off Champion for the Kalamazoo Lassies on September 5, 1954, Dottie had seen it all, from rule changes to the modification of softball to fastpitch baseball.

Dottie and the Kalamazoo Lassies. Champaign County History Museum.

Dottie was no ordinary shortstop. Her quick reflexes, natural sense, and strong arm made her a valuable asset to every team she played for in the AAGPBL. During her rookie season, she had the best fielding percentage of all shortstops (.924). She was the showgirl of the League. Former teammate, Dottie Key, can speak on behalf of Dottie’s strength and toughness. “We were playing in Fort Wayne, I’d gotten on first base, and the ball was hit directly back to second. Now I’m running to second, Dottie picks up that ball, and suddenly it was coming right at me. I went down. She would’ve killed me.” Even with a strong arm, Dottie was graceful on the field, always knowing where the ball would go. Katie Hortsman recalled, “I can’t ever remember her making a mental error. She really knew the game of baseball, and she loved playing the game.” The love of the game pushed Dottie every season to be a better ball player. 

“When Schroeder performs with her sense timing all set, she will provide the most beautiful performance

of graceful fielding that any fan would want to witness.” Sangamon Valley Collection.

Throughout her twelve years in the AAGPBL, her batting average always improved. In an article written by Eddie T. Jones, he interviewed Dottie on her hitting worries for the upcoming 1944 season. Recalling the 1943 season with South Bend Blue Sox, Dottie: “It was a pitcher’s League last year. Most of us never had swung against such fast pitching. The pitchers in this League are masters at the art of throwing and getting little or no return. The ball looks like a marble coming from the mound. But I know I’ll do better this year; I have to. That .185 is embarrassing” Because the League was new, several of the women had little experience hitting against some of the nation’s best pitchers. In Dottie’s case, she played against amateur players throughout her early childhood. 

Dottie getting ready to hit the ball. Champaign County History Museum.

Though Dottie was embarrassed with her hitting average, she was determined to improve and become a stronger hitter. Throughout the twelve years, the rules changed every year. The ball got smaller, the bases were longer, and pitchers were allowed to pitch overhand. According to Dottie, she became a better hitter once the overhand pitch and longer pitching distance became longer. At the end of her career, Dottie reached her goal as her batting average was exactly .305 in 1954.  

A fascinating aspect of Dottie's career was her popularity in the AAGPBL. Since Dottie was a fielder, one would expect that the pitcher or a strong hitter would be the most popular and recognized player on the team, but instead, she received massive media coverage for her athletic abilities and beauty. She was simply “beautiful in motion.” She fit Wrigley's idea of a feminine ball player who could play like a man. Though Dottie was a world-renowned ball player, she did not let the fame distract her. As Katie Hortsman stated, “Probably Dottie’s greatest trait was her kindness. She was always nice to everyone, whether they were rich or poor. When people in the media talked about how great she was, Dottie would try to change the subject of the conversation. She was very humble.” The publicity of the AAGPBL came naturally as newspapers and national magazines were drawn to Wrigley’s “radical idea” of women playing professional sports. At the beginning of the AAGPBL, there was skepticism. “At first, the fans came out of curiosity. But when they saw how good we were, they were hooked,” Dottie recalled. 

Dottie was the only woman baseball player to be on the cover of Parade Magazine

in 1948. Champaign County History Museum.

Dottie’s Life After Baseball

At the present time, there is little information available regarding Dottie's post-baseball life. When the AAGPBL disbanded in 1954, Dottie was twenty-six years old and decided to continue her baseball career for another three years playing for former minor League player and AAGPBL manager, Bill Allington. In 1954, Allington created two women’s touring teams called the Allington All-Stars to keep women’s professional baseball alive. These teams toured the country and played men’s minor League and industrial teams. By 1957, Dottie retired from baseball and moved back to Sadorus, Illinois to live with her family. She worked at Collegiate Cap and Gown in Champaign, Illinois for thirty-six years until she retired in 1993. Dottie and her twin brother, Donald, never married or had any children. They had three nieces who were very close to Dottie. 

In the years following her baseball career, Dottie did not discuss her career with her family or friends. She stayed very quiet as the AAGPBL slowly became irrelevant to the world. By the 1980s, members of the AAGPBL started to host reunions every year, and Dottie attended many. The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York recognized the AAGPBL players for their accomplishments in 1988 through an exhibit titled, “Women in Baseball”. The League's recognition came at a time when many of its members were retired or had passed away. Dottie was unable to attend the exhibition's grand opening as she was taking care of her mother who was ill at the time. To this day, Dottie is one of a few players from the AAGPBL who are pictured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Dottie passed away in 1996 as a result of a brain aneurysm. In honor of Dottie's accomplishments in the AAGPBL, her hometown of Sadorus, Illinois erected a sign honoring her memory. Even so, the community of Champaign County has slowly forgotten Dottie’s accomplishments in the AAGPBL. As a result of the help and support provided by Dottie's family and friends, she will always be remembered as one of the best athletes from Champaign County. Using the recently donated collection, the Champaign County History Museum hopes to complete the story of Dottie and assist researchers interested in the AAGPBL.

Dorothy Augusta Schroeder 

(1928-1996) 

Champaign County History Museum

Authors Note 

To Dottie,

Dottie, you inspire me every day. You and your fellow teammates did the unthinkable and took a risk to follow your dreams and pave the way for me and so many female athletes to succeed in our sports today. You were a heck of a ball player! Having the opportunity to learn about you and the history of the AAGPBL has been a blessing to me. I learn something new about you every day! You passed away only a couple of years before I was born and I wish I had met you. Your family and friends miss and love you so much. Your strong work ethic, humility, kindness, and undying faith went unnoticed. You will forever be remembered as the IDOL of the League. You are our ALL-AMERICAN. 

Acknowledgement

I would like to first thank the Schroeder family for donating this valuable collection and for their confidence in the Champaign County History Museum to preserve and tell Dottie’s story. I would like to make a special thank you to William Best, Connor Monson, and the museum for their support and guidance throughout this journey and for allowing me to continue my research on Dottie and the AAGPBL. There is no doubt that Dottie would agree that this is a team effort.

Bibliography

Alexander , Ken, ed. “Pretty Dot Schroeder Outstanding Shortstop For Fort Wayne Team.” The Gastonia Gazette. April 30, 1951. 

Berlage, Gai. Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994. 

Browne, Lois. Girls of Summer: In Their Own League. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1992. 

Cohen, Marilyn. No Girls in the Clubhouse: The Exclusion of Women from Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009. 

Fidler, Merrie A., and Jean S. Cione. The Origins and History of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006. 

“Fort Wayne Shortstop.” The Roanoke Times . April 27, 1952. 

Hanmer, Trudy J. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. New York: New Discovery Books, 1994. 

Johnson, Susan E. When Women Played Hardball. Seattle: Seal Press, 1994. 

Jones, Eddie  T. “Hitting Worries Dorothy, But She’s Confident She’ll Do Better This Year,” 1944. 

“Ladies of the Little Diamond; Professional Softball League for Women.” Time, June 14, 1943. 

Macy, Sue. A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. New York, NY: Henry Holt & Company, 1993. 

Madden, W. C. The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1997. 

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Kenesaw Landis Regarding Baseball”, January 15, 1942, President's Personal File; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. Accessed February 10, 2024. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/green-light-letter

Sargent, Jim. We Were the All-American Girls Interviews with Players of the AAGPBL, 1943-1954. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2013. 

Turner, Joanna Rachel, “AAGPBL History: Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, 1993.

Other Resources

Brown, Patricia I. A League of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2003. 

Horstman Katie, “Horstman, Katie (Interview transcript and video), 2009,” Digital Collections, accessed February 22, 2024, https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/29713.

Sargent, Jim, and Robert M. Gorman. The South Bend Blue Sox: A History of the Alll-American Girls Professional Baseball League Team and its Players, 1943-1954. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2012. 

Williams, Kat D. The All-American Girls after the AAGPBL: How Playing Pro Ball Shaped Their Lives. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2017.