"Toni Stone"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Marcenia Lyle Alberga "Toni Stone" |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First woman to play a full season in a professional men's baseball league | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born July 17, 1921 Marcenia Lyle Alberga began playing baseball as a teenager with the local boys' teams. Using the name Toni Stone, she pitched a few games with the minor league team, Twin City Colored Giants in St. Paul, Minnesota when she was only 16 years old. During World War II she moved to San Francisco, playing first with an American Legion team, and then in 1946 with the West Coast Negro League's San Francisco Sea Lions, a Black, semi-pro barnstorming team. One of the managers of this League was Olympic medalist Jesse Owens. Now known as Toni Stone, she drove in two runs her first time up at bat. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After complaining to the owner over low wages, Toni joined the Southern Negro League team the New Orleans Black Pelicans when the SF Sea Lions played there. Later she switched over to the New Orleans Creoles. These teams were part of the Negro League Minors so by 1949 her pay had risen to $300 a month. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 1992 movie, "A League of Their Own" tells the story of the All American Girls Baseball League (AAGBL) and many of the women who played. Based on reports of her playing from high school through minor league men's team stats, Toni would have been an asset to any of the teams. However, the All American Girls Baseball League admitted only white women during their entire twelve year existence. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In 1953 Toni Stone became the first woman to play baseball for any professional men's team. She was asked to fill a position on the Negro League's Indianapolis Clowns recently vacated by Hank Aaron when he was signed by the Major League team Boston Braves (later moved to Milwaukee). The Indianapolis Clowns were originally known for their antics such as playing "shadow ball" but by the time Toni was recruited to play second base, they were competing as seriously as any other team in the Negro League. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Although her skills with a glove got her onto the field and scoreboard, she experienced resistance from male players even on her own team. Toni had to battle both the color and gender lines. She reflected "they didn't mean any harm and in their way they liked me. Just that I wasn't supposed to be there. They'd tell me to go home and fix my husband some biscuits or any damn thing. Just get the hell away from here." But one team mate clearly thought well of Stone, Ted "Double Duty "Radcliffe remarked "Babe Didrickson [voted outstanding woman athlete of the century in 1950] was good, but we had a girl that played in our league, [Toni Stone], who could really play. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hired for her skills, the owners did not fail to publicize the existence of a woman on the team. Her picture was on the Clowns' program, posters featured her and she was sent out to do interviews for local media. More importantly to Stone was she got to play baseball. In her first year with the Indianapolis Clowns, she played in 50 games and hit a respectable .243. One of those hits was off of legendary pitcher Satchel Paige during a game in Nebraska. "He was so good, she remembered,that he'd ask batters where they wanted it, just so they'd have a chance. He'd ask 'You want it high? You want it low? You want it right in the middle? Just say". People still couldn't get a hit against him. So I get up there and he say, 'hey, T, how do you like it?" And I said, "It doesn't matter just don't hurt me". When he wound up--he had these big old feet--all you could see was his shoe. I stood there shaking, but I got a hit. Right out over second base. Happiest moment in my life." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Her contract was sold in 1954 to the Kansas City Monarchs. Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson had played for the Monarchs earlier in their careers and the team and won several pennants in the Negro League World Series. Attendance at games declined as more and more players were picked up by the now integrated Major Leagues. Stone decided to pull the plug before it got pulled on her so retired at the end of the 1954 season. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Though not oft mentioned, Toni Stone was not forgotten within the baseball world. There is a baseball field in St. Paul, MN named after her, and she was elected into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. She is honored in two separate sections in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown; the Women in Baseball exhibit, and the Negro Leagues section. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marcenia Lyle Alberga, "Toni Stone" died in Oakland, California in 1996. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To learn more about Filling in the Gaps in American History (F.I.G.A.H), biographies and research on people of African descent who do not usually appear in text books, please contact us at email. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | Biographies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||