There’s a scene in the movie “A League of Their Own” where the ball gets away and lands by a young black woman watching the game. She picks up the baseball and throws it smack into the mitt of a player. Today, this woman would be on the team rather than the sidelines. But this was the 1940s and blacks were not allowed to play on white baseball teams.

So what’s a black female baseball player to do in the pre-integration years if she wants to get into the game? If that woman is Toni Stone, she plays with the guys in the Negro Leagues. Once Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Negro League superstars increasingly signed with the Major Leagues. Negro League owners had to come up with creative ways to keep fans in the seats; signing a woman to play was one way to sell tickets.

The Indianapolis Clowns signed Toni Stone in 1953. Signing Toni Stone may have been a PR stunt but she was no gimmick. Stone had played with barnstorming Negro men’s teams in San Francisco in the 40s. During her career she batted .243. One of Toni’s biggest career highlights was hitting a single off of legendary pitcher Satchel Paige. Stone’s career took her around the Negro Leagues to teams in Indianapolis, Kansas City, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Minnesota before her retirement from the game in 1954. Three years before her death in 1993, she became a pioneer member of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Following in Toni Stone’s footsteps was 19 year old Connie Morgan who showed up for a tryout with the Indianapolis Clowns after hearing the team needed players. The Clowns were not only a dominant force (winning 4 pennants in 5 years) but also one of the most progressive teams as they signed all three women who played in the Negro Leagues. Morgan replaced Toni Stone at second base. Her athletic ability showed on the field and on the court as she was a standout basketball player during the offseason. Morgan played two years for Indy.

Mamie “Peanut” Johnson was the last woman signed by a Negro League team. She played one year (1954) for the Indianapolis Clowns. Nicknamed “Peanut” by a teammate because of her small size, Johnson held her own as a pitcher and utility player. She was part of the Clowns regular rotation, often going 6-9 innings. A scholar and an athlete, Mamie Johnson studied medicine and engineering at NYU before joining the Clowns. After retiring in 1955, Johnson began a 30-year nursing career and ran a Negro League Baseball store in Maryland.

Effa Manley left her mark off the diamond. She and husband Abe owned the Newark Eagles from 1935-1948. Manley broke gender and racial glass ceilings in sports as she is the only woman to manage a pro baseball team. Manley’s keen baseball and business senses gained her respect from players and league owners. She handled daily operations, public relations, player contracts, and even was Negro League treasurer. On the field, she called plays and rotated pitchers. Her PR skills landed over 100 VIPs, including New York Mayor LeGuardia, to the Eagles’ inaugural game. A fiery competitor, Manley wasn’t afraid to offer advice, unsolicited and otherwise, to players and other owners.

Effa Manley demanded the best from her players on and off the field. In return, she was a tireless advocate for better player salaries and working conditions. Always the savvy business mogul, Manley fought for compensation from MLB teams that signed Negro League stars. Her tenacity paid off when Major League owner Bill Veeck paid $15,000 for Eagles’ star Larry Doby. From then on, MLB teams paid $15,000 for each player signed from a Negro League team.

Most people affiliated with the all-white women’s baseball league deny any written or unwritten rules on having black women on their teams. “We had a few blacks try out, but they just weren’t as good,” said South Bend Blue Sox manager Carl Winsch in a interview. The more likely story is that these teams, like their Major League counterparts, weren’t particularly interested in signing black players. Peanut Johnson recalled going to a tryout for an all-white girls’ team in Virginia. “They looked at me like I was crazy. They never let me try out,” said Johnson.

How sad. Like the MLB, the women’s pro league missed out on some great athletes. Toni Stone, Connie Morgan, and Mamie Johnson excelled among their Negro League teammates, many of whom became superstars in the Major Leagues. The business savvy of Effa Manley would have made any team a success.

There is little mention of these pioneers in the baseball history books. However, these four girls of summer made significant contributions to a sport they loved despite the gender and racial issues of their time. Each woman made the most of her opportunity and had fun at the same time. “Those were the best years of my life,” said Peanut Johnson at a Negro League conference. “If they didn’t let me play, I wouldn’t be who I am today and I’m very proud of that.”