Baseball pitcher captivated league while men fought war

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2009 (6166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DORIS BARR was just a small town girl from Starbuck before she found herself being swept up into the world of women’s baseball at the height of the Second World War.

She went on to enjoy a prolific career over eight years, winning one championship and earning four inductions into several baseball halls of fame across North America.

Barr died on Sunday at 88.

Barr bounced around six different teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBL) from 1943 to 1950. Her 76-win career and lightning quick throw earned her inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame is Cooperstown, N.Y., the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Mary’s, Ont., the Manitoba Hall of Fame in Brandon and the Softball Association in Winnipeg.

The AAGBL flourished in the 1940s when the major leagues went on hold as men went to war. The league lasted a little over a decade, dismantling in 1954. Still, the void the league filled during the war was inspiration enough for the 1992 movie A League of their Own, starring Tom Hanks and Madonna.

Barr’s rise to fame started in 1937 — when she was just 16, — after being spotted by scouts while playing catch with her sister. That sparked a five-year stint in Canada, where she pitched for the Winnipeg Ramblers and Regina Army and Navy Bombers.

It didn’t take long for those south of the border to notice. Barr was picked up by the AAGBL when she was 21, and earned a reputation as a powerful left-handed pitcher with a rocket of a throw.

Ross, her youngest brother, knows that best. During the winter off-season, Doris would return home to Winnipeg, and the two would head down to the armoury at Machray Avenue and McGregor Street.

"We’d get permission from the sergeant to practise," the 77-year-old recalls. "We’d go down to the basement and throw the ball around to help her stay in condition. It stung. (The balls) were coming in pretty fast, no question about that."

But Barr was quiet and never one to brag about her success, her family says.

Her nephew, Brian, didn’t find out about his aunt’s fame until he was a teenager.

"She was just that kind of person," he says. "She never blew her own horn. She’d say ‘Ah, that’s done. It’s just something I did before.’"

But Barr’s career still captured the awe of all those related to her, Brian insists.

"It’s quite captivating, what she did. We’re all proud of her."

Barr retired from the AAGBL in 1950 and settled into a life as an accountant at the Grace Hospital.

She never married and didn’t have kids, but that doesn’t underscore the life she lived, says Ross.

"She was a very special gal in our lives. She was a special sister."

matt.preprost@freepress.mb.ca