17-year-old girl struck out Ruth, Gehrig

Mitchell pulled off feat in 1931 game

LOS ANGELES -- Jackie Mitchell, the minor league pitcher who struck out Babe Ruth during a 1931 exhibition game was no ordinary ballplayer. She was a 17-year-old girl.

And she struck out fellow New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig in that same game, said Bruce Nash, executive producer of a TV show about Mitchell.

Mitchell was intended to be part of a publicity stunt for Tennessee's Chattanooga Lookouts, "but she wanted to prove she belonged in a man's game," Nash said.

Her exploits were part of Nash's "Amazing Sports Stories" series, which debuted Sunday on FSN. The episode includes rare film footage of Mitchell pitching to Ruth, which Nash said a series researcher located at the Chattanooga Regional History Museum.

There's been debate over whether Ruth and Gehrig struck out deliberately as part of the stunt, an issue the episode addresses. Nash doubts that's what happened.

"Ruth was a showman, and maybe he would have gone along with it. But he didn't like the idea of women playing baseball," Nash said. "And Gehrig was so straight-laced, so serious, I've never read anything that indicates he would take a dive on something like this."

Mitchell also was a genuinely talented athlete and pitcher, Nash said, who had mastered a dropping curve ball. Ruth struck out on four pitches, Gehrig on three.

As a child, Virnett "Jackie" Mitchell had gotten tips from future Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance, a neighbor, Nash said.

Mitchell's glory was short-lived. Within days of the exhibition game, her contract was voided by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis on the basis of gender.