Cold Open

It’s March 20th, 1934, at a baseball stadium in Fort Myers, Florida.

Applause echoes around the stands as 32-year-old Mildred “Babe” Didrikson climbs out of the dugout, a baseball in her hands. It’s normal for a guest of honor to be invited to throw a ceremonial first pitch to begin a baseball game. But Babe isn’t here just for that. The Philadelphia A’s have invited the Olympic gold medalist Babe to play in their first inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers. It’s only the second time in baseball history that a woman has taken to the field in a major league exhibition game.

But as Babe passes the Dodgers bench, she hears mocking laughter. The opposing team obviously doesn’t think much of Babe, she’s only a woman after all.

After the ceremonial first pitch, Babe stays on the mound, tossing the ball into her glove and locking eyes with the Dodgers’ first batter. He knocks the dust from his cleats, then points his bat to the fences. Babe smirks in response. She’s used to being underestimated, and she’s looking forward to proving this guy wrong.

Babe winds up and fires a perfect fastball over the plate and into the catcher’s mitt.

As the crowd cheers, the astonished Dodgers’ batter adjusts his feet and rolls his shoulders, getting ready for the next pitch. He spits on the ground, then takes his stance, bat raised.

But Babe’s second pitch is even faster and more precise than the first, the batter swings and misses.

The Dodgers’ batter has lost his swagger. He glances at the bench with a shake of his head, his teammates howling with laughter, mocking him. But secretly, they’re all dreading their turn at bat.

The Brooklyn Dodgers are right to be worried. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson is unlike any player they’ve faced before. She’s already won two Olympic gold medals and broken world records in track and field. And during the rest of her sporting career, she’ll go on to play professional basketball and billiards and win ten major championships in golf. On every stage, Babe will prove those who doubt her wrong, just as she did when she took to the field and pitched a hitless inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers on March 20th, 1934.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is March 20th, 1934: Babe Didrikson's Hitless Inning.

Act One: No Dolls Allowed

It’s July 16th, 1932, inside the Dyche Stadium in Chicago, four years before Mildred “Babe” Didrikson’s hitless inning.

As the 29-year-old Babe warms up with hundreds of fellow athletes, an announcer reads out the name of every woman competing today. It’s one of the biggest track meets of the year: the Olympic trials. And when the day is over, the United States women’s Olympic team will have been finalized, Babe is hoping to make the cut. But she’s in a unique position compared to her fellow competitors.

To be eligible for the trials, every athlete must be part of a team. Most teams have sent between 12 and 20 women to the trials. But when the announcer introduces Babe’s team, she’s the only athlete on it. Even more surprising is the list of events that Babe has entered. Most competitors have focused on their best one or two events, but Babe has entered eight out of a possible ten.

From an early age, it was clear to all that Mildred Didrikson was a talented athlete and an incredible competitor. As the sixth of seven children, Mildred was nicknamed “Baby” by her siblings. But as she grew up and developed an interest in sports, Mildred changed her nickname to “Babe” in honor of her hero, baseball player Babe Ruth. Babe dominated her school basketball and baseball teams, and after graduating, she continued winning on her employer’s basketball, baseball, and softball teams.

But it was in track and field where Babe was at her best. At the 1931 American Championship, she set a new world record in the baseball throw, reaching an unprecedented 296 feet. And it’s in that event today that Babe will start her attempt to make the selection for the Olympics team.

As Babe takes her place in the middle of the field, the crowd goes quiet. They know that Babe is the best in the world at this event, and they’re looking forward to seeing what she can do. Babe leans back and then hurls the ball as far and high as she can, but then she kicks the ground in frustration as the officials mark the spot where it lands. The ball has reached 272 feet—24 feet short of Babe’s world record.

Even though Babe is disappointed by her effort, no other competitor comes close to beating it. And after the last throw is made, Babe's confirmed as the winner. But since the baseball throw is not an Olympic event, Babe doesn’t yet have a place on the team.

Over the next few hours, Babe takes on three more throwing events. She wins first place in the shot put with a distance of 39 feet—but that’s also not on the Olympic schedule for women. In the discus, Babe can’t get into a good throwing rhythm, and she has to settle for fourth place. Then, in her first throw of the javelin, Babe pulls a muscle in her shoulder, howling in pain at the end of her throw. But then she nods in satisfaction when the officials measure how far it flew - 139 feet. It's good enough to put her in first place.

Babe’s injury prevents her from taking any more throws, and she faces an anxious wait while her opponents try to beat her with their second and third efforts. But none of them does. Babe is confirmed the winner, securing her place at the Olympic Games.

But Babe wants more than her seat on the Olympic team—she wants her one-woman team to win the trials. So by the end of the day, Babe has also triumphed in the 80-meter hurdles, the high jump, and the long jump, giving her 30 points in total—eight more than the second-place team which boasts over a dozen members.

Two weeks later, Babe travels to Los Angeles, California for the 1932 Olympic Games. There, she competes in the three events she’s qualified for—and all three are closely fought. Babe wins gold in the javelin, and four days later, she wins a second in the 80-meter hurdles.

Babe’s final event is the high jump. She makes it through to a gold-medal jump-off with another American, Jean Shiley. But although both women clear a new world record height of 1.67 meters, Babe is controversially disqualified for an illegal jumping action. For most athletes, two gold medals and a silver would be considered an excellent haul. But for Babe, it’s one step short of perfection.

So after her disappointment at the Olympics, Babe will move on from track and field in search of her next sporting challenge—and when she goes up against the men of Major League Baseball, she’ll be determined that this time, she won’t fall short.

Act Two: Dodger Tamed by Girl Hurler

It’s March 20th, 1934, at a baseball stadium in Fort Myers, Florida two years after Mildred “Babe” Didrikson’s triumph at the Olympics.

Babe waves to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ first batter as he kicks at the dirt at first base. Jeers echo from his teammates in the dugout. After Babe’s first two pitches rocketed past him for strikes, Babe's next four pitches were balls walking her cocky opponent. But he didn’t manage to get his bat on the ball. So, Babe laughs out loud at his obvious frustration.

Following the 1932 Olympics, Babe became a familiar face to American sports fans. She graced the cover of magazines and appeared on stage in vaudeville shows. She also began accepting money for personal appearances and sponsorship deals, making her one of the first women ever to make a living from sports. But that meant that Babe lost her amateur status and was barred from competing in the amateurs-only Olympic Games. But that didn’t dent Babe’s appeal with the public. To many, Babe symbolized the American Dream—her talent and hard work lifting her from humble beginnings and earning her a fortune.

For the last two years, Babe has made an average of $250 a week—fifty times the average wage that women earn in New York’s textile factories. And some of Babe’s biggest paydays come from baseball. After Babe made one or two guest appearances for professional clubs, owners realized that having Babe on the team almost guaranteed a large crowd. Now, Babe can command a fee of $200 for a single inning pitched—and not just from women’s teams. Recently the Philadelphia A’s of Major League Baseball have asked Babe to pitch for them during a spring training game. And after walking the first batter, Babe is enjoying the chance to pitch to more of the country’s best players.

Babe takes stalk of the second Dodgers batter to step up to the plate. This guy was the ringleader of the mocking laughter aimed at her when she first took to the field. But Babe knows how to wipe the smile off his face.

She slings a fastball right at the batter’s body, and it’s too quick for him to get out of the way. The ball smacks into his upper arm, and the batter wheels away from the plate with a yelp. He tries his best to disguise the pain, but Babe can see that it hurt. And although the batter gets to advance to first base after being hit, Babe thinks the sacrifice is worth it. Because no one is laughing now. And so far, neither of the Dodgers she’s faced has registered a hit.

Next, the third Dodgers batter steps up to the plate. But now there are two men on base—and Babe is determined that they will not score. She pitches the ball again, and the Dodgers player manages to hit it into the infield. But Babe’s teammates react quickly. One fielder recovers the ball and then stands on his base to force out the first baserunner. Then, he throws it to the first base, forcing the hitter out, and finally, the ball is thrown to third base where the player there catches the ball, then tags out the runner as he slides in. The official signals that he’s also out, making it a triple play—all three Dodgers are out and the inning is over.

As the A’s players pat Babe on the back, she removes her cap and waves at the crowd. Her time on the field is over, and one of the A’s usual pitchers will take over for the rest of the game. But Babe has recorded a hitless inning, and the next morning’s papers are full of praise.

But Babe doesn’t spend much time reading about herself. Instead, she suits up for another major league team, the St. Louis Cardinals, and pitches the opening inning of their game against the Boston Red Sox. This time, her opponents get the better of her. The Red Sox register four hits and score three runs. But the huge crowd that turns out to watch Babe on the mound means that the Cardinals management aren’t too upset with her performance.

Babe could continue earning good money from her baseball appearances. But she wants to compete too much to be happy just playing for the crowd. So as she reaches her mid-30s, she will shift her focus again. Babe will take her natural talent and fierce competitive spirit to the golf course, where she’ll continue her winning streak and secure her legacy as one of the greatest all-around sportswomen in history.

Act Three: Fighting to the Last

It’s July 3rd, 1954, on the golf course at Salem Country Club in Massachusetts, two decades after Mildred “Babe” Didrikson pitched the hitless inning.

The now, 43-year-old Babe steps onto the green of the 17th hole to a smattering of applause. She’s married now and known as Babe Didrikson Zaharias, but her new name hasn’t changed her spirit. She’s just as competitive as ever.

It’s the final round of the Women’s US Open. Babe’s drive off the tee has left her well-placed to hit a birdie, another under-par score in a round that’s vaulted her to the top of the leaderboard. But as Babe lines up her putt, a sharp pain shoots through her lower abdomen. Babe steps away from the ball. She takes a deep breath and tries to settle herself. She focuses on the hole. And then she sinks the putt.

Ever since she was a teenager, Babe has played golf as a hobby to wind down after hard training sessions on the track. But when Babe lost her amateur status and was barred from competing in Olympic track and field, she began taking golf more seriously. In January 1938, Babe became the first woman to compete in the Los Angeles Open—a professional golf tournament for men. And two years later, Babe won her first major competition: the Women’s Western Open. That ranked her as one of the best women golfers in the world, and over the next 12 years, she won another eight major titles.

But just over a year ago, Babe began an even tougher contest. Doctors informed her that she had cancer of the colon. Surgeons operated to remove the tumor, but they told Babe never to play golf again in case the swinging motion ruptured the fragile repairs they made to her body. But Babe wasn’t prepared to give up the game. Less than 14 weeks after her operation, Babe was back competing in major tournaments, and today is the first time she’s been in a position to win since her return.

Babe has won the Women’s US Open twice before, and her latest birdie means that she’s eleven shots clear of her nearest rival. Then, after Babe avoids near disaster on the final hole, her victory is confirmed—and it’s not just her tenth major title, it’s also the largest margin of victory in her career, and it’s been achieved after doctors told her she’d never play golf again.

But this third US Open title is her last. A year later, the cancer will return—and this time, doctors won’t be able to save her. Babe Didrikson Zaharias will die in 1956, at the age of just 45. But though her life is cut tragically short, she’ll leave behind an unparalleled record of sporting success across multiple disciplines, including ten major golf championships, two Olympic gold medals, and one incredible hitless inning against the men of Major League Baseball which Babe pitched on March 20th, 1934.

Outro

Next on History Daily. March 21st, 1963. After holding America’s most notorious criminals for 29 years, the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island is closed.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Supervising Sound Designer Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.