Nalda Bird
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Pitcher
Born: (1927-02-11)February 11, 1927
Los Angeles, California
Died: September 15, 2004(2004-09-15) (aged 77)
Batted: Right
Threw: Left
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Hurled complete game shutouts in both games of a doubleheader
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display at Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (since 1988)

Nalda Marie Bird [Phillips] (February 11, 1927 – September 15, 2004) was a starting pitcher and outfielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1945 season. Listed at 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m), 115 lb., Bird batted right-handed and threw left-handed. She was nicknamed "Birdie". Sometimes she is credited as Nelda Bird.[1][2][3]

Early life

A native of Los Angeles, California, Nalda Bird was the daughter of James Henry Bird, Sr. and Donalda Quesnel Bird. She grew up with three brothers who taught her how to play baseball. At age 10 she began playing organized softball, and a year later she joined a semi-professional team. She later became a top all-around athlete while in high school. At 17, she was invited to the 1945 spring training of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Before that, a player from Los Angeles Angels PCL team worked with her on playing baseball. Finally, she was signed to a contract and was allocated to the South Bend Blue Sox.[4][5]

Professional career

Bird was a hard-throwing and durable left-hander, but had problems with her control in her only season in the league. She joined a South Bend pitching staff headed by Charlotte Armstrong, and contributed with 13 victories, even though she allowed the most earned runs (67), tied the league season-record for the more balks (six), and posted a 0.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio (128-to-160).[5]

After the season ended, soon to be nineteen, Nalda left the game, got married with Jesse Otis Phillips, and delivered her only son, Michael.[5] In 1947 she pitched in the National Women's Softball League of Chicago, because the AAGPBL no longer used underhand pitchers.[6] She hurled a no-hitter in her only season in Chicago, and retired to take care of her husband and little boy. She was widowed in 1991.[3]

Nalda Bird-Phillips died in Kennesaw, Georgia, at the age of 77.[3]

Pitching statistics

GP W L W-L% ERA IP H R ER BB SO WHIP
31 13 17 .433 2.70 223 135 117 67 160 128 1.322

[5]

Fact

The AAGPBL Players Association movement helped to bring the league story to the public eye. The association was largely responsible for the opening of a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Nalda Bird-Phillips coauthored the Official Song of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League along with Pepper Paire. The theme, named Victory Song, was popularized in the 1992 film A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall, which was a fictionalized account dedicated to the women who played in the league during the course of World War II.[7][8] In their annual reunions since 1998, it is usual to hear the original AAGPBL players singing We're the members of the All-American League. We come from cities near and far. We've got Canadians, Irish ones, and Swedes. We're all for one, we're one for all. We're all Americans.[9]

Sources

  1. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Nalda Phillips Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  2. ^ The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Paperback, 295 pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-3747-2
  3. ^ a b c "Nalda Marie Bird Phillips (1927–2004) - Find A Grave Memorial". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  4. ^ 1945 South Bend Blue Sox Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  5. ^ a b c d The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
  6. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Rules of Play Archived 2019-02-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  7. ^ "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Victory Song". Archived from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  8. ^ "IMDb.com – A League of Their Own (1992 film)". Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  9. ^ AAGPBL players at the 2006 MLB All-Star Game FanFest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on YouTube
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