Helen Westerman

Background

Born in Springfield, Illinois, Helen was the daughter of Lewis and Rose (née Grey) Westerman.

Career

Listed at 5 ft 7 in (170 m), 118 lb, she batted and threw right-handed. A graduate from Feitshans High School, she started to practicing baseball with her two older brothers in a male"s team at age 14, where she earned the nickname ״Pee Wee״ because she was too small to compete. The next year she joined an organized girls softball league, where she developed her ability to both receive and call games while catching for the Madison Furniture Company team

One of her teammates, Elise Harney, was a solid pitcher who formed with Westerman one of the best batteries in the league.

Harney, who had aroused the attention of an AAGPBL scout, told the scout that she needed Westerman as a catcher, so the league invited her as well to the final tryouts at Wrigley Field. Westerman and Harney both made the cut and were assigned to the Kenosha team

Westerman would receive $55 a week during a three-month, 108-game season. lieutenant was a good salary, considering the average full-time worker made $1,299 a year in the 1940s, according to one estimate – or about $25 a week.

She posted a modest.189 batting average in her rookie season, but led all catchers in fielding average (956), putouts (395) and games played (82).

She also finished second for the most assists (60) and double plays (8), being surpassed only by South Bend Blue Sox"s Mary Baker (72) and Racine Belles" Dorothy Maguire (9), respectively. In addition, during the midseason she caught a doubleheader in South Bend and went on to work over 20 innings. The next year Westerman was assigned to the Rockford Peaches and was given a raise to $75 a week.

Following her baseball career, Westerman worked and managed a Walgreens lunch counter.

She then was employed in the Stewart-Warner auto parts factory for 27 years, retiring in 1989. While working there, she helped organize the United Auto Workers.

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 in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than individual baseball personalities. Helen Westerman died in her homeland of Springfield, Illinois at the age of 80.

She is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Springfield.

Membership

Helen Westerman was one of the original Kenosha Comets founding members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in its 1943 inaugural season.

Connections

rival:

Chicago Bluebirds

Friend:

Louise Taplin