Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, center, holds a bat she was presented as she is honored before a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals at Nationals Park Thursday, April 17, 2014, in Washington. Johnson was one of three women to play in the Negro Leagues.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Mamie “Peanuts” Johnson, seen February 14, 1998, at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, spent hot, dusty summer days playing pickup baseball as a child in the 1940s and dreamed of making the big leagues. Johnson overcame rejection by the all-white women’s league that began playing during World War II and became one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues.
(AP Photo/Khue Bui)
AP Photo/Khue Bui
Little League pitcher Mo’ne Davis, second from right, presents the jersey she wore during her shutout win at the Little League World Series to Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson during a ceremony at the hall on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, in Cooperstown, N.Y. Also pictured are Steve Bandura, left, who runs the Anderson Monarchs baseball program and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, who pitched in the Negro Leagues.
(AP Photo/Mike Groll)
AP Photo/Mike Groll
Former baseball player in the Negro League, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson sits outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington following her meeting with President Barack Obama, Monday, Aug. 5, 2013. White House says Obama invited about a dozen players to the White House to mark their contributions to American history, civil rights and athletics. The players competed for teams like the Philadelphia Stars, New York Black Yankees, Indianapolis Clowns and Boston Blues.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
On the baseball diamond, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson-Goodman shattered racial barriers and the glass ceiling. She played in the Negro Baseball League in the ’50s.
(Courtesy CAAGRI)
WASHINGTON — The first woman to ever pitch in the Negro Leagues, Long Branch High School graduate and youth sports advocate Mamie “Peanut” Johnson died Tuesday at the age of 82.
Johnson, who lived in a row house in Northeast D.C., was ceremonially selected by the Washington Nationals in 2008 as part of an MLB commemoration before that year’s draft. The team put out a message of remembrance Tuesday night.
The Indianapolis Clowns signed Johnson in 1953, and she played for three seasons through 1955. Despite going 33-8 on the mound, Johnson’s success didn’t open the floodgates for women in professional baseball. According to the Negro League Museum, she was one of only three female players in league history.
After her playing days, Johnson worked as a nurse and coached Little League Baseball. The Mamie Johnson Little League finished as D.C. runners-up last spring.
