caption bats birth_place team image_size position birth_date article_title name throws
ruth born.jpg 2012 september 9 september 2013 right bay city , michigan all-american girls professional baseball league 200px pitcher 08 august 1925 ruth born
 ruth born right
ruth born

ruth born -lrb- born august 8 , 1925 -rrb- is a former pitcher who played in the all-american girls professional baseball league .
listed at , 125 lb , she batted and threw right-handed .
ruth born was one of the original south bend blue sox founding members of the all-american girls professional baseball league for its inaugural season in 1943 .
a native of bay city , michigan , born grew up playing sandlot ball with her neighborhood kids at an early age , most of them boys , but did not start participating in an organized league until she was 12 years old , playing at school and in park softball leagues .
at the age of 13 , she put on her first uniform with a moose lodge team .
in 1943 , she read an advertisement in the local newspaper offering girls an opportunity to try out for the all-american girls professional baseball league .
she wrote the office and was given a tryout in south bend , indiana after the season had begun .
she made the grade and was accepted on the local team .
born pitched in just 11 games , going 4 -- 5 with a tenth best earned run average of 3.59 .
but she did not feel comfortable in the new circuit .
`` i was in over my head '' , she explained in an interview .
nevertheless , she added that the best thing about playing professional ball was being paid to do what she loved . ''
i enjoyed every minute ! ''
, she boasted .
she did not return in 1944 and choose to attend college .
she earned a bachelor 's degree from valparaiso university and attained a master 's degree in psychiatric social work from loyola university chicago .
then she went to work for private social agencies in child welfare and family services .
she retired from the federal department of health and human services in 1991 after 23 years of services .
ruth born is part of `` women in baseball '' , a permanent display based at the baseball hall of fame and museum in cooperstown , new york , which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire all-american girls professional baseball league .
