Career
Listed at 5 ft 2 in (157 m), 121 pounds, she batted right-handed and threw left-handed. Donna Cook played for eight different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in a span of nine years. She moved around for a while, as the league usually shifted players as needed to help some teams stay afloat.
Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Donna was one of twelve children into the family of Sidney and Daisy (née Johnson) Cook.
She played five years of organized softball before joining the league with her hometown team, just days after graduating from Muskegon Heights High School. In 1946 Cook opened at right field for the Muskegon Lassies.
She hit a.156 average in 78 games. Muskegon, managed by Bill Wambsganss, nailed down the victory with two days remaining on the schedule, though the team was eliminated in the playoffs by a strong Racine Belles squad.
In addition, she ended fourth in the league for the best winning percentage (636) and tenth in European Research Area. Cook started 1948 with Muskegon, but was traded to the Chicago Colleens in the midseason and ended the year with the Fort Wayne Daisies, which took a toll on her performance, dropping to a 4–9 record with a 4.03 European Research Area. She made a successful comeback for the Daisies in 1949, evening her record at 9–9 with a 1.94 European Research Area in 22 pitching appearances.
Unfortunately, she injured a knee toward the end of the season, which affected her for the rest of her career. She slumped considerably for the next five years, pitching in only 32 games with the Grand Rapids Chicks (1950), Battle Creek/Muskegon Belles (1951–1953), South Bend Blue Sox (1953) and Rockford Peaches (1954). Her younger sister, Doris Cook, also played in the league.
The sisters came together in South Bend.
After baseball Cook worked as a bank teller at Comerica Bank in Muskegon during 25 years. She also had three surgeries on her injured knee.
Since 1988 she 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 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Donna Cook died in 2006 in North Muskegon, Michigan, at the age of 79.
