Charlene Pryer
Charlene Pryer | ||
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Runs batted in 152 | | |
Stolen bases | 510 | |
Batting average | .255 | |
Teams | ||
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Career highlights and awards | ||
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Charlene Barbara Pryer [Mayer] (September 24, 1921 – June 3, 1999) was a female
Charlene Pryer is recognized as one of the fastest
Early life
A native of Watsonville, California, Pryer was the daughter of Willard 'Maurice' Pryer, a minor league pitcher who played in the early 1940s for the Fargo-Moorhead Twins of the Northern League. Her father and his brothers were known for their baseball playing skills in Fortuna, California. Besides teaching her basic baseball fundamentals, Pryer's father also taught her that hard work and determination were key to success. Following her school graduation, Pryer joined the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve in 1944, entertaining troops as a singer with the Dick Jurgens Orchestra. Notably, she also was one of the first female disc jockeys in the United States. After serving in the military for 28 months she became a ballplayer in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.[2][4]
AAGPBL career
Pryer entered the league in 1946 with the expansion
Pryer increased her numbers in 1948, when the league switched to overhand pitching. She raised her average to a solid .262 (107-for-406), scoring 70 runs with 29 RBI in 112 games, but missed most of the 1949 season after suffering a severely broken ankle while sliding on a base. At the time of her injury, she was batting .235 with 56 runs and 10 RBI in 76 game appearances.[1][7][8][9]
In 1950 Pryer returned to the Lassies. She started the year in Muskegon, moved with the team to Kalamazoo during the midseason, and landed in South Bend late in the year. But she was still finding ways to improve her game, regardless of moving to different towns, bolstering her average to .269 (115-for-497) with 75 runs and 25 RBI, while matching her season-high of 112 games.[1][10][11]
Pryer had her most productive season in 1951, when she posted career-numbers with a .312 average, 133 hits, 106 runs, 32 RBI and 129 stolen bases in 109 games, leading the league in hits, runs and steals, while ranking seventh to Betty Foss of the Fort Wayne Daisies, who won the batting crown with a .368 average. Pryer capped her big season with an All-Star Team selection and a championship title with the Blue Sox. With Karl Winsch at the helm, South Bend combined strong pitching with good hitting, collecting a 76–36 record in the regular season, then defeating Fort Wayne in the first round of the playoffs, two to one games. In the best-of-five series, South Bench clinched the title over the Rockford Peaches after overcoming a 2–0 deficit.[1][12][13]
Winsch, after a positive season, became more demanding of his players. Dissension within the South Bend team peaked just before the 1952 season ended, when Pryer was disciplined following a dispute with Winsch. The incident occurred when he suspended Pryer from the team after she responded slowly to his order to pinch-run late in a game. In protest, five South Bend teammates joined Pryer in a walkout, leaving Winsch's team short-handed for the playoffs. Pryer was reinstated at the club, but she decided to retire for good. That season she stole a league-high 59 bases, despite appearing in only 79 games. She added a .239 average and drove in 18 runs while scoring 41 times.[1][12][14]
Life after baseball
Following her baseball retirement, Pryer married Jack Stuart Mayer, who died in 1993. The couple had a daughter, a son and three granddaughters. A longtime resident of
Charlene died in her home of Medford at the age of 77. In October 1999, four months after her death, the
Sources
- ^ a b c d e f g "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Charlene Pryer entry". Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ a b c "The Mail Tribune obituary". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ a b "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League History". Archived from the original on 2009-08-28.
- ^ Willard Pryer Archived 2012-11-09 at the Wayback Machine at Baseball Reference
- ^ "1946 Muskegon Lassies". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ "1947 Muskegon Lassies". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Rules of Play Archived September 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 1948 Muskegon Lassies Archived September 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 1949 Muskegon Lassies Archived September 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 1950 Muskegon Lassies Archived September 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "1950 South Bend Blue Sox". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ a b "SABR Project – Jean Faut biography by Jim Sargent". Archived from the original on 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ "1951 South Bend Blue Sox". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ "1952 South Bend Blue Sox". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ "Medford Mail Tribune – Wilson Elementary School dedicate its ball field to Charlene 'Shorty' Pryer Mayer". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-08-16.