Shirley Crites

Shirley Crites
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Infielder
Born: (1934-08-21)August 21, 1934
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Died: December 28, 1990(1990-12-28) (aged 56)
Phoenix, Arizona
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Postseason appearance (1953)
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display
    at Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (1988)

Shirley L. Crites (August 21, 1934 – December 28, 1990) was an infielder who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1953 season. Crites batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.[1]

"Squirrely", as her teammates nicknamed her, played briefly for the 1953 pennant-winning Fort Wayne Daisies. She hit a .129 average in 47 games, appearing mainly at third base as a backup to incumbent Catherine Horstman, which gave manager Bill Allington the chance to use Horstman more as a pitcher.

Fort Wayne clinched the title with a 66–39 record, 4½ games ahead of the Grand Rapids Chicks, but lost to the Kalamazoo Lassies in the first round series. Crites went 0-for-3 in a playoff game.[2][3]

Crites is part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

She died in 1990 in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 56.[4]

  1. ^ "All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Shirley Crites". Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  2. ^ 1953 Fort Wayne Daisies. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  3. ^ All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Softcover, 294pp. Language: English. ISBN 978-0-7864-3747-4
  4. ^ Bollinger County, Missouri Genealogy – Shirley L. Crites entry