Born in Chicago, to Emily (née Hardt) and Gottlieb Schweigerdt,[2] Gloria Schweigerdt started playing sandlot ball with her brother and the boys of her neighborhood at age seven. When she turned fifteen, she went to a league tryout held at Thillens Stadium in Skokie. In 1950, she was assigned to the Chicago Colleens/Springfield Sallies rookie touring teams. She traveled all over the country and posted an 8–7 record while pitching for the Colleens. During the trip, she hurled a no-hitter at the old Yankee Stadium. "No other woman had ever pitched off that mound before me", she recalled in an interview.[3][4]
She recalled winning a pitching duel against Jean Faut of the South Bend Blue Sox in the course of the year.[1][5] She had her best statistical season in 1952 with Battle Creek, when she compiled a 10–10 record and a 2.95 ERA. She also set personal bests in strikeouts (44) and innings (180), while tying for fourth in the league for the most games pitched (28).[5]
Personal life
She did not return to the league after marrying in 1953. After divorcing her husband, she raised two children, Gordon and Gloria, while working as a meat cutter for a long time before retiring in 1996.[5]
^The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Softcover, 295 pp. ISBN978-0-7864-2263-0