League of Their Own Inspiration Dead at 84

Dorothy 'Dottie' Kamenshek was a star at first base
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2010 1:12 PM CDT
League of Their Own Inspiration Dead at 84
The Geena Davis character 'Dottie,' at left, is based on Dorothy Kamenshek.   (Columbia Pictures)

A baseball legend is gone: Dorothy Kamenshek—the inspiration for the Geena Davis character Dottie in A League of Their Own—is dead at age 84. The Los Angeles Times leads its obit with this quote from Yankees first-baseman Wally Pipp: She "was the fanciest-fielding first baseman I've ever seen, man or woman."

No wonder: Kamenshek sometimes jumped 3 or 4 feet into the air to snag throws or did the splits, making her a fan sensation in the old All-American Girls Professional League. Kamenshek, who played for the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, made Time's 1999 list of the 100 best female athletes of the century.
(More Dorothy Kamenshek stories.)

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