Mamie Johnson

Mamie Johnson, known as Peanut, was an American baseball pitcher who was the first woman to pitch in the Negro leagues and the second of three women to play there. Born Mamie Belton in Ridgeway, South Carolina, on 27 September 1935, she grew up partly in Long Branch, New Jersey, and in Washington, D.C., and played baseball with neighbourhood boys from an early age. Turned away from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her colour, she was signed by the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953 and played for them until 1955, finishing with a recorded 33 wins and 8 losses. She was a right-handed pitcher with a hard fastball and a range of other pitches, and she picked up curveball advice from Satchel Paige. She earned the nickname Peanut for her small stature. After leaving baseball at 19 she trained as a nurse and worked for thirty years at Sibley Hospital in Washington, and later helped run a Negro leagues memorabilia shop. She died on 18 December 2017, and has been honoured with children's books, a street in her home town, a Washington little league and a plaza named for her.