death_date death_place bats birth_place team image_size position birth_date image article_title name throws
07 august 2007 highland beach , florida right miami , florida all-american girls professional baseball league 175px catcher 23 july 1922 mary rountree.jpg mary rountree
 mary rountree right
mary rountree

mary rountree -lrb- july 23 , 1922 -- august 7 , 2007 -rrb- was a catcher who played from through in the all-american girls professional baseball league -lrb- aagpbl -rrb- .
listed at and , she batted and threw right-handed .
nicknamed `` square bush '' , mary rountree was one of the top five defensive catchers in the all-american girls professional baseball league during its twelve years of history .
rountree was magnificent at all the intangible things that a catcher does , like calling the game , working the pitch counts and blocking home plate , which combined with a fine defense and a strong and secure throwing arm .
she led the league in fielding average two times , while her .959 career fielding average ranks her third in the all-time list behind ruth lessing -lrb- .973 -rrb- and ruth richard -lrb- .961 -rrb- and over mary baker -lrb- .953 -rrb- and dorothy maguire -lrb- .928 -rrb- .
after baseball , she went on to become a specialist in internal medicine , a distinction held by few players .
born in miami , florida , she was the youngest child in the family of samuel and mary rountree .
she wore his first baseball uniform at age five , emulating her older brother who was a catcher .
as a teenager , rountree played on two florida championship teams in 1938 and 1940 that went to play in national tournaments both years .
after graduating from miami edison high school , rountree attended florida state university for two years , and worked for the united states department of state in washington , d.c. .
in 1943 she received a call from aagpbl executive arthur meyerhoff to join the new league , but she declined the offer because she had three brothers serving in the military during world war ii .
at the end of the war , she attended a aagpbl tryout in miami for max carey and was a signed to a contract .
rountree entered the league in 1946 with the peoria redwings , playing for them one year before joining the fort wayne daisies -lrb- 1947 -- 1952 -rrb- and the grand rapids chicks -lrb- 1952 -rrb- .
during the off-season , she pursued a medical degree and did not show up until a month into the regular season .
in 1949 , rountree led all catchers with a .976 fielding average after committing just eight errors in 336 total chances .
then , in 1952 she committed only four errors in 280 chances for a league-best .986 average .
her most productive season came in 1946 , where she posted career numbers in hits -lrb- 63 -rrb- , runs -lrb- 22 -rrb- , stolen bases -lrb- 27 -rrb- and rbi -lrb- 41 -rrb- , while hitting a .216 batting average .
she also made four postseason appearances , but her teams never won a championship .
her baseball career helped finance her studies at the bowman gray school of medicine in winston-salem , north carolina , where she received her doctor of medicine degree in 1956 .
rountree finished her undergraduate degree at the university of miami , with a degree in chemistry , and finished her residence at jackson memorial hospital and veterans administration hospital in 1960 .
from 1966 to 1968 , she completed her residency in anesthesiology .
rountree enjoyed a 32-year career in medicine , including 17 years of teaching .
she loved being a doctor and even after retirement continued to care for her many friends and family members .
in 1988 she became part of `` women in baseball '' , a permanent display based at the baseball hall of fame and museum in cooperstown , new york , which was unveiled to honor the entire all-american girls professional baseball league rather than any individual personality .
during an interview , rountree talked about her experience in the aagpbl helped her become a better doctor : `` my ballplaying was absolutely magnificent for me .
you had to meet a lot of people so you learned to get over your stage fright , your bashfulness .
because you had to do personal appearances , you overcame your inability to talk the people in a very quick amount of time .
i think that it allowed me to be totally at home with patients .
it gave you a chance to develop your personality '' , she explained .
mary rountree died in 2007 in highland beach , florida , at the age of 85 .
