‘Utterly baffled’: the 17-year-old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

"I don't know what's going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball," he elaborated to reporters. "Of course, they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball everyday."

The next day, Ruth and Lou Gehrig were struck out back-to-back by a 17-year-old girl.

Making their way home from preseason in Florida, the New York Yankees had stopped off in Tennessee for an exhibition game against the minor-league Chattanooga Lookouts. The Lookouts handed a debut to a promising young pitcher with precise control, a quirky side-arm delivery and a vicious sinker. Her name was Jackie Mitchell.