Connie Morgan | |
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Second Base | |
Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | October 17, 1935|
Died: October 14, 1996 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | (aged 60)|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
Teams | |
Constance Enola Morgan (October 17, 1935 – October 14, 1996) was the third woman to play professional baseball in the Negro league.
A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan graduated John Bartram High School in 1953 and attended William Penn Business Institute.[1][2] She joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1954, playing second base under Baseball Hall of Fame skipper Oscar Charleston. She was signed "to a contract estimated at $10,000 per season" by Clowns owner Syd Pollock at the same time as female pitcher Mamie "Peanut" Johnson.[3][4] She replaced Toni Stone, who had been the first woman to compete in the league, and who had been traded to the Kansas City Monarchs prior to the season.[2] Described as standing 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 metres) tall and weighing 140 pounds (64 kilos), she was "slated to get the regular female assignment in the starting lineup."[5] On opening day, 23 May 1954, "she went far to her right to make a sensational stop, flipped to shortstop Bill Holder and started a lightning doubleplay against the Birmingham Barons."[6] Making her first appearance in her native Philadelphia in July, the Clowns took both games of a doubleheader from the Monarchs, one of the preeminent teams in the league.[7] Morgan played with the Clowns through 1955. Before her tenure with the Indianapolis, she played catcher for five seasons with the North Philadelphia Honey Drippers, an all-women baseball team, batting .338 in that time.[1][8][3]
At the end of the Clowns' championship season, she "switched from bats to books as she resumed her studies" in accounting at William Penn Business Institute, with the goal of becoming a "top-flight worker in a business office".[9] She completed her program in 1955 and eventually worked for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) until her retirement in 1974.[2][8] 1995 saw her inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and she died in Philadelphia 14 October 1996, 3 days short of her 61st birthday.[8]