Dottie Wiltse Collins: Strikeout Queen of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 208 pages
• Published by: McFarland & Company June 2, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0786421886
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0786421886
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 10.4 ounces

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–Collins ranked as one of the best pitchers of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1942–'54). In her six seasons, most of them as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies, she compiled an impressive .608 win percentage and an awesome .183 lifetime ERA. Trombe chronicles Collins's life from her childhood in Southern California, where she was a standout softball player, through her career and into her retirement years, when she helped spark interest in the league. She and the league's other members occupy a unique place in the history of women's sports, and that makes Collins a fascinating subject for a biography. Unfortunately, her achievements are buried under a torrent of insignificant detail, clumsy prose, and rambling narrative, making this an unappealing read for all but the most dedicated fans.–Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
As World War II depleted the available manpower available to the major and minor leagues, Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley came up with a plan to ensure baseball would continue in the war years: the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The inaugural season in 1943 was so successful that two additional teams were added for 1944. One of the players brought in to fill the rosters of the new teams was Dottie Wiltse, a star softball player from Southern California. Assigned to the newly formed Minneapolis Millerettes, Wiltse went on to become one of the dominant players in the AAGPBL. During her six-year career with the Millerettes and the Fort Wayne Daisies, Dottie Wiltse Collins (married to Harvey Collins in 1946) pitched in 223 games, with a 117–76 record, 1205 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 1.83. Based on extensive research and interviews with Collins and other principals, this work covers the pitcher's early career as a softball player, her triumphs in professional baseball, and her part in the renewed interest in the women's league in the late 1980s.

Reader Reviews
Reading "Dottie Wiltse Collins" was an enlightening experience for me and I read it straight through, without stopping, because of the author's flowing style and the ease with which she blends narrative and research with quoted dialogue and newspaper articles. The genesis, evolution, and responses to "A League of Their Own" particularly intrigued me, as I come from a background of film. The irony of "Million Dollar Baby" and Ronald Reagan was an insight I learned from the book, as was "Girls Can Play," the murder mystery movie with Rita Hayworth. I relished learning about the involvement of Max Carey, a favorite of mine, with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. So much of this book taught me about the AAGPBL. As a teacher of the deaf, I was also impressed by Trombe's research when I discovered that Helen Keller visited the Payne Furnace Company, where Dottie worked after high school. I found such delight in the solid telling of this vital story that I sent of copy of the book to a local AAGPBL former player. Bravo to Ms. Trombe for an exciting, well-documented, historically accurate book. Encore!