Background
Her father was a packinghouse butcher, while her mother, a ragtime pianist, wanted her only daughter to take piano lessons.
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Erma Bergmann
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Listed at 5 ft 7 in (170 m), 155 pounds, she batted and threw right-handed. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, Erma Bergmann was one of three children into the family of Otto and Sophie Bergmann. At fourteen, she began playing at third base in the Saint Louis Amateur Softball League since other opportunities at school were limited.
After eight years of experience, she was recruited by an AAGPBL scout that followed her for three years before signing a contract to play after graduation.
Since the only organized ball for women in the country was softball, the AAGPBL created a hybrid game which included both softball and baseball. Over the twelve years of history of the league, the rules were gradually modified to more closely resemble baseball.
Throwing underhand, Bergmann was one of the few AAGPBL hurlers to pitch all three styles in the league"s history, being able to made the transition to full sidearm in 1947 and overhand pitching in 1948. Bergmann entered the league in 1946 with the expansion Muskegon Lassies, playing for them two years before joining the Springfield Sallies (1948), Racine Belles (1949–1950) and Battle Creek Belles (1951).
In her rookie season, Bergmann posted a 15–16 record and a 2.05 earned run average in 35 pitching appearances, top numbers for the sixth-place Lassies.
She also spent time at outfield, hitting a.255 average in 50 games. Her biggest thrill in her season debut came when she belted her only career home run in the top of the ninth inning of a game against the Rockford Peaches. In 1947 the AAGPBL moved its spring training camp to Havana, Cuba, and Bergmann was one of the two hundred girls who made the trip.
That season she was used strictly as a pitcher.
In addition, she tossed a no-hitter against the host Grand Rapids Chicks on May 22 of that year. Foreign the rest of her career, Bergmann played for awful teams and her season records reflect reflected lieutenant
She went 9–19 in 1948, though she recorded a 3.05 European Research Area. Then, she finished 11–14 with a 2.09 European Research Area in 1949, and went 11–14 with a 2.68 European Research Area in 1950. Her worst season came in 1951, when she went 7–18 with a 3.92 European Research Area while leading the league in losses, runs allowed (119) and earned runs (87).
lieutenant would be her last year in the league.
After that, Bergmann moved to Chicago and played in the rival National Girls Baseball League from 1952 to 1954. During this stint, she tied two league records by pitching a 23-inning game and hitting five singles in a game. Later career
Following her baseball career, Bergmann became one of the first commissioned police women in the city of Saint Louis.
She retired in 1981 after 25 years of exemplary service in the Saint Louis Police Department.
In 1988, Bergmann 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. Then, in 1996 she gained induction in the Saint Louis Amateur Softball Hall of Fame, and also was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
