Kalamazoo Lassies

Location: Kalamazoo, MI
Stadium: Sutherland Field
League: All American Girls Professional Baseball League
Years in League: 1950-1954

Championships: 1 (1954)

Playoffs: 2 (1953, 1954)

Franchise Players: Doris Sams, Gloria Cordes, June Peppas, Dorothy Schroeder

In 1950 the struggling Muskegon Lassies of the AAGPBL moved to Kalamazoo, MI and became the Kalamazoo Lassies. The club went 36-73 that year and finished in the cellar. They improved one spot in '51 but fell to 33-75-2. They survived the league contracted in 1952 and finished 5th of six teams with a 49-60 record, their best yet. Progress kept up and in 1953 they finished third at 59-50-2 and made the playoffs for the first time. fter dropping the playoff opener to the first-place Fort Wayne Daisies the Lassies won 2-1 and 5-3 as Jean Lovell got a couple big hits but they lost both games in the finals to the Grand Rapids Chicks. In 1954 they went 48-49-1 and finished 4th of 5 teams. They again lost the playoff opener and then won the next two, this time against the South Bend Blue Sox. They won the opener in the finals by a 17-9 score over Fort Wayne, but the Daisies came back with two wins in a row. Down 5-2 in the 8th inning of game 4, Kalamazoo scored 4 in the eighth and hung on for a win. In the finale pitcher June Peppas drove in four runs to help her cause in an 8-5 win to give Kalamazoo the final title in league history to redeem the club after a rocky first two seasons.