The Daily Ardmoreite · Ardmore, Oklahoma · 1909

Where That Girl Learned to Curve 'Em

Ardmore organized a young ladies' nine in August 1909 that might challenge the Rabbit Foots or even the Blues, and the Ardmoreite added the story of 12-year-old Nellie Riley of New York, who struck out ten boys while they wondered where that girl learned to curve 'em.

“ARDMORE GIRLS TO PLAY BASE BALL,” announced the Daily Ardmoreite in August 1909: “there is being organized in Ardmore a picked nine of young ladies who expect to give Ardmore fans an exhibition of the great American game one afternoon before the season ends at Lorena park.” Opponents to be determined, and the field was wide open: “just whether the challenged ones will be of the opposite sex or a nine from some other female organization, has not yet been decided, and it may be even that the Blues will have to cross bats with these female athletes.”

To show what the Ardmore girls were getting into, the paper reprinted a New York Journal story about Riley’s Wonders, “the champion base ball team of its class on the East Side,” fresh off beating a strong boys’ team 17 to 6. The star was the captain: “The principal feature of the game was the pitching of Nellie Riley, the 12-year-old captain of the Wonders. Miss Nellie was in the box for seven innings, and during that time she struck out ten of the Invincibles. Boy after boy who came to bat expecting to make a hit returned to the bench wondering ‘where that girl learned to curve ‘em.’”

The details of the Wonders’ operation are better than most big league beat coverage. “None of the girls who make up the Wonders is over 13 years of age. Most of their practicing is done at night by electric lights, as nearly all have duties that prevent them from playing in the daytime.” And Nellie and her catcher, Carrie Stumpf of East Twenty-fifth street, “have a system of signaling that would not be scorned by a professional battery.” Duties all day, curveballs by electric light, and ten boys sent back to the bench. The Ardmore nine had their blueprint.