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Gloria Cordes

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Gloria Cordes
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Pitcher
Born:(1931-09-21)September 21, 1931
Staten Island, New York
Died:March 13, 2018(2018-03-13)(aged 86)
Staten Island, New York
Batted:Right
Threw:Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Two-timeAll-Star Team(1952, 1954)
  • Championship Title (1954)
  • Two playoff appearances (1953-'54)
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display
    Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (1988)

Gloria Cordes Elliott(September 21, 1931 – March 13, 2018) was astarting pitcherwho played from1950through1954in theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League.Listed at 5' 8 ", 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.[1]

Overview profile

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Gloria Cordes was one of 25 players who made the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League clubs hailed from New York City and State, includingMuriel Bevis,Mildred Deegan,Nancy Mudge,Betty TrezzaandMargaret Wigiser.Cordes pitched in the last five seasons of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, primarily with theKalamazoo Lassies.A hard-thrower and extremely competitive, she overcame control problems early in her career to become one of the most consistentoverhand pitchersof the league. She was adversely affected by frequently moving from one city to another, totaling five moves in her first two seasons before settling in Kalamazoo for the rest of her career.[2]

Early life

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A native ofStaten Island, New York,Cordes was one of eleven children, having five sisters and five brothers. At the age of eleven she began playing baseball with her brothers, learning the basics of the game, but intermittently, because there were no teams for girls. Nevertheless, she was determined to play well and continued to practice whenever she could.[3]

In 1948, theSpringfield SalliesandChicago Colleenswere added to the roster of theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League(AAGPBL). Both teams had a lousy year and lost their franchises by the end of the season. For the next two years, the Colleens and Sallies becamerookietraining teams that played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. When the teams stopped for an exhibition game atYankee Stadiumin 1949, Cordes tried out for the league and was invited to another tryout inSouth Bend, Indiana,the following year. She attended the invitation and was assigned to theMuskegon Lassies.[4]

AAGPBL career

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At 19 age, Cordes entered the league in 1950 with the Lassies, based inMuskegon, Michigan.She pitched in nine games and was 0–5 on a team made up mainly of rookies from the traveling teams. It was a very bad season for the Lassies, who relocated toKalamazoo, Michigan,in the middle of the year, and posted the worst record of the league with 36 wins, 73 losses and two ties. Although never credited with ano-hitterin the midseason because the contest ended in a 0–0 tie, she later defeated theSouth Bend Blue Sox,1–0, behind a two-hitshutout.After pitching in the two cities, she joined theRacine Belleslate in the season. She combined for a 5–10 record with a 3.63earned run average,giving up 76walkswhilestriking outjust 23 in 119 innings of work. Cordes stayed with the Belles when the team moved fromRacine, Wisconsin,toBattle Creek, Michigan,for the 1951 season, but was sent back to the Lassies during the midseason. She finished 1951 with a solid 3.63 ERA, despite her 3–15 record for two helpless teams.[5]

Cordes enjoyed a career year in 1952, pitching 34 consecutivescorelessinnings and going the whole season without ever beingrelievedin her 24starts.She finished with a 16–8 record and a 1.44 ERA and lowered drastically her numbers of the previous season, cutting her walks from 96 to 52, by increasing her strikeouts from 70 to 84, and allowing 12 fewerhits(168 to 156) in 34 more innings (179 to 213). Besides this, she finished fifth in the league in innings, third in strikeouts, sixth in wins and second in ERA toJean Faut,who set an all-time, single-season record of 0.93 (.51 ahead of Cordes).[6]

Cordes also appeared in the 1952 midseason All-Star Game as a member of theAll-Star Team,which faced the South Bend Blue Sox, the league's 1951 playoff champions. The All-Stars prevailed, 7–6, whenBetty Fossscored the eventual winning run on anRBI-singlebyDoris Samsin the top of the 9th inning. Then Cordes retired South Bend in the bottom of the ninth to earn thesave.Kalamazoo improved to a 49–61 record in that season.[7]

When the 1953 season opened, Cordes felt more confident about her game. She won three of the first four victories of Kalamazoo, already achieving her wins mark from the previous season. By then, she depended on a goodfastballand acurve,but also possessed aknucklerthat baffled opposite hitters who tried to analyze her pitches. Cordes finished 13–11 with 106 strikeouts and a 1.98 ERA, and again ranked among the leaders in ERA (3rd), strikeouts (5th), complete games (20, tied for 8th), shutouts (six, 2nd) and innings pitched (218, 10th). In the first round of the playoffs, Kalamazoo defeated theFort Wayne Daisiesand advanced to the best-of-three game Championship Series only to lost to theGrand Rapids Chicks,2–0.[7]

In her last season, Cordes went 12–7 with 86 strikeouts and a 4.58 ERA, ending in fourth place both in strikeouts and wins (tied). She was rewarded with her second All-Star berth and a trip to the best-of-five game Championship Series. Previously in the playoffs, Kalamazoo dispatched South Bend in three games and the Daisies did the same with the Chicks.[citation needed]

1954 Championship Title

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In Game 1 of the AAGPBL Series, the Kalamazoo Lassies defeated the Fort Wayne Daisies 17-9 behind a four-hit, seven strong innings fromJune Peppas,who also helped herself by hitting 2-for-4, including onehome run.Her teammatesCarol HabbenandFern Shollenbergeralso slugged one each, andChris Ballingallbelted agrand slam.Pitching starMaxine Kline,who had posted an 18–7 record with 3.23 ERA for the Daisies during the regular season, gave up 11 runs in six innings and was credited with the loss.Katie Horstmanconnected two home runs for the Daisies in a lost cause, and her teammateJoanne Weaverslugged one.

Cordes started for the Lassies in Game 2, which featured seven home runs by the two teams. In Game 3 the Daisies won a close one, 8–7. Cordes relieved with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, but did not allow any damage for the remainder of the game. Cordes started Game 4 of the series with her team against the wall, 2-to-1. This time properly warmed up, she pitched a complete game, allowing five runs on nine hits, to help Kalamazoo to tie the series. Habben drove in two runs who marked the difference, while Kline suffered her second loss of the Series.

In decisive Game 5, Peppas pitched a clutch complete game and went 3-for-5 with an RBI against her former Daisies team, winning by an 8–5 margin to give the Lassies the Championship title in the AAGPBL's last ever game. She received support from Balingall (3-for-4) and Schroeder, who drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Peppas finished with a.450 average in the Series and collected two of the three Lassies victories, to become the winning pitcher of the last game in the league's history.[8][9]

Bill Allington All-Stars

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When the league was unable to continue in 1955, Cordes joined several other players selected by former Daisies managerBill Allingtonto play in the national touring team known as the All-Americans All-Stars. The team played 100 games, each booked in a different town, against male teams, while traveling over 10,000 miles in the manager'sstation wagonand aFord Country Sedan.Besides Cordes, the Allington All-Stars included players asJoan Berger,Jeanie Descombes,Gertrude Dunn,Betty Foss,Jean Geissinger,Katie Horstman,Maxine Kline,Dolores Lee,Magdalen Redman,Ruth Richard,Dorothy Schroeder,Jean Smith,Dolly VanderlipandJoanne Weaver,among others.

Following her baseball retirement, Cordes coached girls softball and was an active participant in events related to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Cordes died on March 13, 2018, at the age of 86 in her hometown of Staten Island.[10]

Pitching statistics

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GP W L W-L% ERA IP H R ER BB SO WHIP
100 49 51 .490 2.82 874 750 422 274 361 369 1.271

[11]

After the league folded

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Bill Allington All-Stars

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Following her AAGPBL career, Cordes joined several other players on Bill Allington's All-American team, a barnstorming remnant of the league. The team, known as the All-American All-Stars, played 100 games from 1955 through 1957, each booked in a different town, against male semi-pro teams. The girls traveled over 10,000 miles in the manager'sstation wagonand aFord Country Sedan.Besides Cordes, the Allington All-Stars included players asJoan Berger,Gertrude Dunn,Betty Foss,Jean Geissinger,Katie Horstman,Maxine Kline,Dolores Lee,Ruth RichardandDorothy Schroeder,between others.[12]

See also

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Sources

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  1. ^All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Gloria ElliottArchived2019-03-16 at theWayback Machine.Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  2. ^Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball– Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006. Format: Paperback, 438pp. Language: English.ISBN978-0-7864-2100-8
  3. ^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.ISBN978-0-7864-3747-4
  4. ^All-American Girls Professional Baseball League historyArchivedAugust 28, 2009, at theWayback Machine
  5. ^Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History– Gai Ingham Berlage, Charley Gerard. Publisher: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. Format: Hardcover, 224pp. Language: English.ISBN978-0-275-94735-4
  6. ^"Women of the AAGPBL".Archivedfrom the original on 2009-07-04.Retrieved2010-02-22.
  7. ^ab1952 AAGPBL All-Star GameArchivedSeptember 17, 2010, at theWayback Machine
  8. ^1954 AAGPBL Championship TitleArchivedJune 23, 2010, at theWayback Machine
  9. ^"SABR project - Article by Jim Sargent".Archivedfrom the original on 2011-08-06.Retrieved2010-02-22.
  10. ^"Staten Island Sports Hall of Famer Gloria Cordes Elliott passes away at 86".14 March 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-03-15.Retrieved2018-03-14.
  11. ^All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book– W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English.ISBN978-0-7864-3747-4
  12. ^History of Women in Baseball - 1955Archived2010-01-15 at theWayback Machine
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