Jean Lovell
Encyclopedia
Jean Lovell [″Grumpy″] was a female catcher
and pitcher
who played for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
between the and seasons. Lovell batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes she is credited as Jean Dowler.
, Lovell attended elementary school at Amboy Township
. While she spent some time at Conneaut High School, her family moved just east into Pennsylvania
and she ended up graduating from Abington High School
. She played high-level competitive softball
after graduation, mostly in Conneaut and Painesville
before making the jump to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
s, more than any catcher in the league's history and good enough to rank her 10th in the all-time list. In addition, she was selected to the 1953 All-Star Team
.
Lovell entered the AAGPBL in 1948 with the Rockford Peaches
, winning back-to-back championships with the Peaches 1949-'49 teams. While having played only 52 and 26 games in her first two professional seasons, she became a fulltime player after moving to the Kalamazoo Lassies
, playing for them in 1950 and 1951. She was traded to the Kenosha Comets
for the second half of the 1951 season, but rejoined the Lassies in the summer of 1952, with whom she played the rest of her career, including for the 1954 champion team.
In her final season, Lovell said goodbye in a meaningful way when the ball was reduced to Major League
size. She posted a .286 batting average
with 21 home runs and 69 runs batted in, to reach all career goals. Those 21 longballs served to lead the league in that season, and also accounted for all but four of her 25 career home runs, which ended up being the most by any catcher in the history of the league. That season she was a member of the All-Star Team who faced the Fort Wayne Daisies
host team.
Lovell played both battery
positions, but was a much better receiver, despite been playing with sore knees for a while. In addition, she had an appendectomy that limited her to 55 games during the 1952 season. At age 28, though, her professional career came to an end — as was the case for all of the players in the league — as the curtain came down on the AAGPBL as it folded.
and bowling
, raised German Shorthaired Pointer
's, and she also rode motorcycle
s. But in her later years, she was beset by a renal failure
, which forced her to dialysis
. Eventually, she suffered complications from diabetes. She died in Amboy, Ohio, at the age of 65, and is buried in Waterford Cemetery at Erie County, Pennsylvania
.
Fielding
Pitching
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
and pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
who played for three different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...
between the and seasons. Lovell batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes she is credited as Jean Dowler.
Early life
A native of Conneaut, OhioConneaut, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,485 people, 5,038 households, and 3,410 families residing in the city. The population density was 473.4 people per square mile . There were 5,710 housing units at an average density of 216.5 per square mile...
, Lovell attended elementary school at Amboy Township
Amboy Township, Fulton County, Ohio
Amboy Township is one of the twelve townships of Fulton County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,552 people in the township, 989 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
. While she spent some time at Conneaut High School, her family moved just east into Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and she ended up graduating from Abington High School
Abington Heights School District
The Abington Heights School District covers the Boroughs of Clarks Green and Clarks Summit and Waverly Township, Glenburn Township, Newton Township, North Abington Township, Ransom Township and South Abington Township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. The district operates four elementary...
. She played high-level competitive softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
after graduation, mostly in Conneaut and Painesville
Painesville, Ohio
As of the 2010 Census, there were 19,563 people. As of the census of 2000, there were 17,503 people, 6,525 households, and 4,032 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,928.6 people per square mile . There were 6,933 housing units at an average density of 1,160.0 per square mile...
before making the jump to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Professional career
Lovell was a member of three AAGPBL Champion Teams and ended her eight-year career with 25 home runHome run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s, more than any catcher in the league's history and good enough to rank her 10th in the all-time list. In addition, she was selected to the 1953 All-Star Team
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-Star Team
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball circuit which existed for twelve seasons from through ....
.
Lovell entered the AAGPBL in 1948 with the Rockford Peaches
Rockford Peaches
The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....
, winning back-to-back championships with the Peaches 1949-'49 teams. While having played only 52 and 26 games in her first two professional seasons, she became a fulltime player after moving to the Kalamazoo Lassies
Kalamazoo Lassies
The Kalamazoo Lassies were a team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team represented Kalamazoo, Michigan. Home games were initially played at Lindstrom Field, but later games were played at the Catholic Athletic Association Field, now the...
, playing for them in 1950 and 1951. She was traded to the Kenosha Comets
Kenosha Comets
Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but later moved to Simmons Field.The Kenosha Comets were one...
for the second half of the 1951 season, but rejoined the Lassies in the summer of 1952, with whom she played the rest of her career, including for the 1954 champion team.
In her final season, Lovell said goodbye in a meaningful way when the ball was reduced to Major League
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
size. She posted a .286 batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
with 21 home runs and 69 runs batted in, to reach all career goals. Those 21 longballs served to lead the league in that season, and also accounted for all but four of her 25 career home runs, which ended up being the most by any catcher in the history of the league. That season she was a member of the All-Star Team who faced the Fort Wayne Daisies
Fort Wayne Daisies
The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...
host team.
Lovell played both battery
Battery (baseball)
In baseball, the term battery refers collectively to the pitcher and the catcher, who may also be called batterymen or batterymates of one another.- History :...
positions, but was a much better receiver, despite been playing with sore knees for a while. In addition, she had an appendectomy that limited her to 55 games during the 1952 season. At age 28, though, her professional career came to an end — as was the case for all of the players in the league — as the curtain came down on the AAGPBL as it folded.
Personal life
Following her playing retirement, Lovell returned to Conneaut and married Harold Dowler in 1959. The couple lived a full, adventurous life together. Both played golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, raised German Shorthaired Pointer
German Shorthaired Pointer
The German shorthaired pointer is a breed of dog developed in the 19th century in Germany for hunting.The breed is streamlined yet powerful with strong legs that make it able to move rapidly and turn quickly. It has moderately long floppy ears set high on the head. Its muzzle is long, broad, and...
's, and she also rode motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
s. But in her later years, she was beset by a renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...
, which forced her to dialysis
Dialysis
In medicine, dialysis is a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in people with renal failure...
. Eventually, she suffered complications from diabetes. She died in Amboy, Ohio, at the age of 65, and is buried in Waterford Cemetery at Erie County, Pennsylvania
Erie County, Pennsylvania
Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 280,566. Its county seat is the City of Erie.- Geography :...
.
Regular season statistics
Batting| GP Games played Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,... | AB At bat In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance... | R Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured... | H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice.... | 2B Double (baseball) In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice.... | 3B Triple (baseball) In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice.... | HR Home run In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process... | RBI Run batted in Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI... | SB Stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate... | BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08... | SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters.... | BA Batting average Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :... | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 470 | 1376 | 174 | 315 | 39 | 6 | 25 | 174 | 11 | 140 | 131 | .229 | .300 | .321 |
Fielding
| PO | A Assist (baseball) In baseball, an assist is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is awarded to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional... | E Error (baseball) In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ... | TC Total chances In baseball statistics, total chances , also called chances offered, represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is calculated as follows: Total Chances = assists + putouts + errors. Chances accepted refers to the total of putouts and assists only. Fielding... | DP Double play In baseball, a double play for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two".... | FA Fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1376 | 253 | 77 | 1706 | 33 | .955 |
Pitching
| W | L | W-L% | ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine... | GP Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while... | IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two... | H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice.... | R Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured... | ER Earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run for which the pitcher is held accountable . Any runner who tags his base and reaches home plate is scored against the pitcher as an earned run... | SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters.... | BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10 | .231 | 4.18 | 18 | 113 | 103 | 83 | 52 | 17 | 60 |
Postseason statistics
Batting| GP Games played Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,... | AB At bat In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance... | R Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured... | H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice.... | 2B Double (baseball) In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice.... | 3B Triple (baseball) In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice.... | HR Home run In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process... | RBI Run batted in Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI... | SB Stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate... | BA Batting average Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :... | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 53 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .321 | .396 |
Fielding
| G Games played Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,... | PO | A Assist (baseball) In baseball, an assist is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is awarded to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional... | E Error (baseball) In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ... | TC Total chances In baseball statistics, total chances , also called chances offered, represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is calculated as follows: Total Chances = assists + putouts + errors. Chances accepted refers to the total of putouts and assists only. Fielding... | FA Fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 11 | 17 | 5 | 33 | .844 |
Book excerpt
- Author Susan E. Johnson, a sociology professor and devoted fan of the Rockford Peaches, wrote in her 1994 book When Women Played Hardball the next commentary: Jean ordered an arrangement of yellow roses with her catcher’s mitt inside of it, and when they closed the lid of her casket for the final time, her catcher’s mitt went inside with her.