Education
At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
At 17 age, she attended an AAGPBL tryout with about 200 girls in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
She batted and threw right-handed. A native of Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, Alderfer was an all-around athlete who did play field hockey, basketball and softball in high school. She also played on a playground baseball team for two years in which she was the only girl among several boys.
Only nine of them made it to their destination, including Alderfer.
She went to Chicago, Illinois for spring training after the night of her graduation. Most of her time in the AAGPBL was spent on the two touring training teams, the Springfield Sallies and Chicago Colleens, though she did stay with the Muskegon Lassies during five weeks in 1950.
The Colleens and Sallies played exhibition games and recruited new talent as they toured through the South and East. Highlights of these tours included contests at Griffith Stadium in Washington, District of Columbia and Yankee Stadium in New New York
Alderfer played for them in 1949 (Sallies) and 1950 (Coleens).
She was drafted again by the Lassies after moving to Kalamazoo in 1951, but her mother took ill and she decided to stay home and care for her. Playing baseball and being paid for having fun was great. Also traveling to different cities and meeting a lot of different people.
My teammates were the greatest., she recalled.
Alderfer hit a.236 batting average in 54 games. Following her baseball career, she worked at Ameter, Incorporated., for over 40 years, retiring in 1993.
The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but there is now a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York since November 5, 1988 that honors those who were part of this unique experience. Gertrude, along with the rest of the league"s girls, is now enshrined in the Hall.
She is currently living in Greenville, Pennsylvania.