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PRATT, Mary Age 101, of Quincy, MA, passed away peacefully on May 6th at John Scott nursing facility in Braintree, MA. Daughter of William Y. Pratt and Daisy Pratt (Gore). Sister of William R. Pratt and Donald Pratt. Aunt of Walter Pratt of Quincy, MA and Susan Pratt of East Falmouth, MA. Mary was born in Bridgeport, CT and raised in Quincy, MA. She was a graduate of North Quincy HS in 1936 and Boston University in 1940. After graduating from BU, she enjoyed a 46 year teaching and coaching career with 42 years in Quincy Public Schools. In 1943, Mary became a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, playing for the Rockford Peaches and Kenosha Comets from 1943-1947. She was inducted into the New England Sports Museum, Boston University Hall of Fame and Boston Garden Hall of Fame. Mary retired from her teaching position in Quincy in 1986. During her career in education and through retirement, Mary was very passionate about the advancement of women in sports. The teacher in her never stopped, long after she retired, she kept busy by accepting invitations to meet and speak with groups about her experiences associated with the AAGPBL and her great love of the game. Mary was not only a strong advocate for women's sports, she fiercely championed women's leadership in all areas and embraced helping people succeed. While she was appreciative of the numerous awards in baseball, she was driven by any opportunity to coach children and young adults. Her greatest joy was helping her students believe they could succeed and instilling a healthy dose of competitive spirit. She learned from them, and they could not help but learn from her. A private Service and Burial was held for Mary at the Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy on May 8th.
Also, check this site: http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mary-pratt-rockford-peaches-pitcher-of-a-league-of-their-own-fame-dies-at-101/ar-BB13QjIf?li=BBnbfcL
Mary Pratt (born November 30, 1918) is a former pitcher who played from 1943 through 1947 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She batted and threw left-handed.
Ms. Pratt was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. She attended North Quincy High School. After graduation, she entered Sargent College and participated in various sports there, including basketball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, archery, and sailing. Ms. Pratt earned a degree in physical education in 1940.
In 1941, Ms. Pratt got a job teaching in Quincy. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed at around that time, and after the school year ended in 1943, she joined the league as a member of the Rockford Peaches. Ms. Pratt played in 24 games during her first season, going 5–11 on the mound and batting .235.
The following season, Ms. Pratt was transferred to the Kenosha Comets team. She immediately had her best season, winning 21 games and pitching a no-hitter, while leading the Comets to the league championship series. During this time, Ms. Pratt "was very effective using a controlled slingshot or windmill windup to get hitters out".
Ms. Pratt slumped in 1945, going just 1–16. She won just 1 more game in 1946 and 1947 before retiring from professional baseball.
Ms. Pratt continued to teach physical education classes in Quincy until 1986, and she also coached the school softball, basketball, soccer, and tennis teams. She won 10 softball championships in the state of Massachusetts.
Ms. Pratt has been inducted into the New England Sports Museum, Boston University Hall of Fame, and Boston Garden Hall of Fame.
I believe Ms. Pratt had a part in A League of Their Own, a 1992 American comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real- life All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
March 21, 2011: Ninety-two-year-old Mary Pratt, a former pitcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s, came to Provincetown to reminisce about the old days, drawing a small but appreciative crowd to the library Saturday morning.
From the Quincy Sun, November 23, 2016:
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Richard Mosca
Why are you showing a picture of Mable Pratt? She was a Spanish teacher at North High. She is deceased.
R. Mosca
Mary E. Hay
Thanks, Richie. I was thinking the same thing!
I saw Ms Pratt (from a distance) last summer at Fenway Park as she and several other women who played in the Girls Professional Baseball League were honored by throwing out the first pitches of the game.
Diane T Mulcahy (Malmgren)
My apologies to Miss Pratt and Mable Pratt! I don't know how that happened. I apparently didn't review this before I posed it. I'm glad someone's paying attention; thanks.
William W. Curran
Mr Pratt was always at football practice, nice lady but when she wound up and showed her pitching, WOW impressive, even at that age, she was tough on the girls in gymn, good for her. Sorry she passed she had a great life.
Bill Curran
PS- who cares about a pitcher mistake it is the point of her life that is important,
Diane T Mulcahy (Malmgren)
I don't think she is deceased. Note the comment after her name. I just didn't know where else to put her where she would stand out from the classmate list. Unfortunately, we cannot have a separate site for teachers; they have to either be listed with the classmates or "In Memory", and I thought that would be the place to put her.
Diane T Mulcahy (Malmgren)
From: Carol A. Cunniff Hall
Here is a link to a great article about May Pratt written during the recent Word Series. .http://www.patriotledger.com/x1372979566/A-Good-Age-Catching-up-with-baseball-s-Mary-Pratt-as-she-nears-95?zc_p=1> By Sue Scheible October 29. 2013 12:01AM A Good Age: Catching up with baseball pioneer Mary Pratt at 94 Those watching the World Series include Quincy’s Mary Pratt, who turns 95 on Nov. 30. Pratt, a pitcher, played in the All-American Girls Baseball League in the 1940s. She has fought to have more women involved in sports for more than 40 years. Mary Pratt, 94, dropped by The Patriot Ledger office on Friday. As much as she’s hopes the Red Sox win the World Series, she acknowledges that she’s not a fan of the Sox players’ beards. With the Red Sox in the World Series, I thought of Mary Pratt, who played in the All-American Girls Baseball League in the 1940s. Pratt graduated from North Quincy High School in 1936, taught physical education for 42 years, and retired in 1986. “I bet she is following the Red Sox,” I thought. I hadn’t spoken to her since the mid-1990s, so I called her and left a message. I didn’t get a call back and decided not to pester her. Then, last Friday, I was sitting in the office when an editor told me a woman was here to see me. It was Mary Pratt, as outspoken, feisty and energetic as ever. She turns 95 on Nov. 30. She had driven over to track me down after her return call didn’t go through. We sat down. I pulled out some of the Ledger’s photos of her from the past. At 94, she said, she still works out three times a week and recently returned from a baseball-related event in Chicago. She attends gatherings of the Retired Quincy Teachers Association and keeps busy. Of course she’s been following the Red Sox. She clearly is not enamored of their beards and is put off by the much more revealing clothes women in sports wear these days. She does come from a different era; she and her teammates were instructed in charm, proper decorum and posture by cosmetics queen Helena Rubinstein. From 1943 to 1947, when the regular players were off fighting in World War II, Pratt spent five summers pitching for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The games, featured in the 1992 movie ”A League of Their Own,” drew 7,000 fans a night at their peak. Pratt was a southpaw who joined the league after playing for the Olympettes, a women’s amateur team, at Boston Garden. She had developed an effective “windmill” or “sling slot”-style pitch. Her best year was 1944; she won 21 games and lost 15, and counts a no-hitter among her victories. In her day, she helped prove that women could play a fast, aggressive game worth watching. She was paid $60 a week. I first wrote about her in 1987, then several times again in the 1990s. A 1948 headline in The Patriot Ledger hailed her as “South Shore’s Zaharias” after Babe Zaharias, the famous female athlete. She retired from the Quincy school system in 1986, after 42 years as phys ed teacher, coach and referee. Her main purpose since then has been to get more woman involved in sports. Sports have been her life, and she has fought for women as coaches and referees, organized workshops for advancing women in sports, and spoken at local schools and to community groups. Her contributions continue. She has been inducted into the Boston Garden Hall of Fame and the Boston University Hall of Fame and honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. When we were leaving the Ledger office, we met two young people in the elevator and she struck up a conversation, challenging their views. They were intrigued. She sang the song the Rockford Peaches used to sing as they walked to the train in Chicago in the 1940s. “You’ve made my day – you made my week,” the young woman said. There is an in-depth 2009 video interview with Pratt on the website of Grand Valley State University, All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Veterans’ History Project. Reach Sue Scheible at scheible@ledger.com, 617-786-7044, or The Patriot Ledger, P.O. Box 699159, Quincy 02269-9159. Read her Good Age blog on our website. Follow her on Twitter @sues_ledger. READ MORE Good Age columns.
Diane T Mulcahy (Malmgren)
Article from 1984.