| Johanna Hageman | |
|---|---|
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| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League | |
| First base / Chaperone | |
| Born: December 17, 1918 Chicago, Illinois | |
| Died: February 10, 1984 (aged 65) Chicago, Illinois | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Johanna Hageman [Hargraves] (December 17, 1918 – February 10, 1984) was a first base player and chaperone in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between the 1943 and 1949 seasons. Listed at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), 155 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.[1][2]
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Johanna Hageman was one of the sixty original members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The circuit operated from 1943 through 1954 and started with four teams: the Racine Belles and the Kenosha Comets, both from Wisconsin; the Rockford Peaches from Illinois, and the South Bend Blue Sox from Indiana. League play officially began on May 30, 1943 and each team was made up of fifteen girls.[3]
In the inaugural season, Hageman was the best fielder at first base while playing for the Blue Sox. She compiled a .983 average, after committing only 21 errors in 1,178 fielding chances. She also hit .225 with a .319 on-base percentage and a .295 slugging in 108 games, ending third in the league for the most doubles (10), sixth in runs batted in (45) and tenth in hits (85).[4][5]
In 1944, Hageman batted just .142 in a career-high 116 games, but kept her good defense at first with a .982 mark. The next season she was traded to Kenosha and slumped to .117 in 96 games, even though she posted a .983 fielding average. She went on to play four more seasons with Kenosha from 1946 through 1949.[1][4][6][7]
Hageman died in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 65. Four years after her death, she became part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.[1][3]