The North Mountain Historical Society

Meeting: September 2002

SEPTEMBER 16, 2002

The History Buffs met at the Brass Pelican on Monday, September 16. In the absence of Jim Vance, Bill Mather chaired the meeting. He called on Pastor Howard Leh to return thanks. There were 49 people present.

After breakfast, Bill introduced Mrs. Jane "Salty" Ferguson who had played professional baseball in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Through all of her presentation Mrs. Ferguson made us aware of her love for the game. As she said, she did get paid for playing as a professional but she would have played for nothing, she so loved the game. She started her baseball career at the age of seven as a "bat girl" for the Orangeville baseball team. At that time she was 7 years old. She played on boy's baseball teams and the boys, when they realized how good she was, accepted her whole-heartedly.

She entered professional baseball through friends who introduced her to a scout from the Rockford Peaches team. She was signed by the team and played for them from 1943 to 1954. She said baseball opened many doors for her. One outstanding experience was meeting the seven original astronauts. This was something she was sure would never have been possible without her participation in professional baseball. In 1955 the League disbanded, due in part to the fact that there were not enough girls committed to the game.

She was married by that time and they decided to move back to the Orangeville area to live. There she coached the boy's baseball team. There, in 1960, her son was born. In 1988 the Baseball Hall of Fame opened for the Girl's League- not to honor any particular girl but just to make people aware that girls had played professional baseball successfully.

In 1992 a movie, "A League of Their Own" was made, in which some of the girls who played in the League, took part. "Salty" was among them When asked if she would consider that a stepping-stone to an acting career she said "No way". To her, it was hard work. After the movie, attempts were made to start the League again but so far that has been unsuccessful. The one point that Mrs. Ferguson emphasized was "Follow Your Dream". Do what you want to do and if you are committed, God will help you reach that dream.

Mrs. Ferguson opened the meeting for questions and several interesting points were made.
1} The girls on the team were very well chaperoned. They were not allowed to eat in any restaurant where the bar was in the same area as the dining room.
2} They must wear a skirt in the restaurant.
3) They made $50 a week
4} They played everyday and double headers on Sunday
5) Salty played catcher and right field.
Our thanks to Mrs. Ferguson for a most interesting and informative presentation.

The next meeting will be at the Pelican on Monday, October 21, The speaker will be Sue Hand, an artist who paints local scenes some of which are of historical interest.