Rita Meyer (baseball)

Rita Ann Meyer (later Moellering; February 12, 1927 – June 16, 1992) was a shortstop and pitcher who played from 1946 through 1949 for the Peoria Redwings of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 145 lb., Meyer batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Florissant, Missouri.[1]

Rita Meyer
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Shortstop/Pitcher
Born: (1927-02-12)February 12, 1927
Florissant, Missouri
Died: June 16, 1992(1992-06-16) (aged 65)
St. Louis, Missouri
Batted: Right Threw: Right
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Postseason appearance (1948)
  • Single season leader in runs batted in (1948)
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display
    at Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (1988)

Rita Meyer was the oldest of seven children and her brother was an artist monk Mel Meyer. A good fielding shortstop and average hitter during her four seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, she was one of 13 players who made the AAGPBL clubs hailed from Missouri. Meyer was nicknamed Slats after St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion, just given the nickname of Marion because someone said she reminded them the play of him – quite a common way to get a nickname in sports.[2]

In 1946 Meyer tried out for the league at spring training in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and was allocated to the Redwings expansion team based in Peoria, Illinois. She appeared regularly at shortstop and also pitched in 13 games in 1947. Meyer hurled a no-hitter in that season, but lost the game, 1–0.[3] Her most productive season came in 1948, when she posted career-highs in batting average (.232), doubles (12), stolen bases (45) and runs batted in (68). The Redwings advanced to the first round of the playoffs for the first – and only – time in team history, but were swept by the Racine Belles in three straight games.[4]

Rita Meyer married Robert Moellering in 1949. She resided after that in St. Louis, Missouri, where she became an active participant in public school sports for the rest of her life. On November 5, 1988, she was honored with the rest of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the opening of a permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Besides this, the St. Louis Sports Commission presents the Rita "Slats" Meyer Moellering Memorial Award, named after her, to recognize the accomplishments of women in individual sports. Her many hobbies included collecting emblems, poems and Dick Tracy comic strips. She died in St. Louis at the age of 65.[5][6]

Batting statistics

GPABRH2B3BHRRBISBBBSOBA
39913851212842473140768396.205

Pitching statistics

GPWLW-L%ERAIPHRERBBSOWHIP
1336.3333.127545412648561.240

[7]

Sources
  1. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – Player page
  2. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – All Time Team Listing
  3. Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball – Leslie A. Heaphy, Mel Anthony May. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2006. Format: Paperback, 438pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-2100-2
  4. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Paperback, 294pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-3747-2
  5. Women's Baseball – Rita Ann Moelering
  6. St. Louis Sports Commission
  7. The Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: A Biographical Dictionary – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2005. Format: Paperback, 295 pp. Language: English. ISBN 0-7864-3747-2
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