Athlete.
Born at Starbuck on 26 August 1921, daughter of Susan Grace Cummings (?-?) and Malcolm Barr (?-?), she started her baseball career in 1937 when she was discovered by scouts while playing catch with her sister. This led to positions as a powerful, left-handed pitcher with the Winnipeg Ramblers (1938-1939) and the Regina Army and Navy Bombers (1940-1942). She went on to a nine-year career with six teams in the American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBL), from 1943 to 1950. She was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown, New York), Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame (2004). She retired in 1950 and became an accountant at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, later working in the accounting department at the Health Sciences Centre. She died unmarried at Winnipeg on 12 July 2009 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Baseball pitcher captivated league while men fought war,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 July 2009.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 February 2024
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