Edith Houghton, Phillies’ First Female Scout, Dies at 100


LA Times: “Edith Houghton, Major League Baseball‘s first female scout, died Feb. 2 at age 100, mlb.com is reporting. … She was hired as a scout by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1946 and worked in that capacity until 1952, when she left to serve in the military in theKorean War. She signed 15 players while she was a scout. None of them made it to the majors.”

Mark Townsend writes at Yahoo:

A little perspective on how unique and remarkable this wonderful lady was: By age 10 she was already chasing her baseball dreams as the starting shortstop for the Philadelphia Bobbies, an all-girls professional team. This was in 1922, well before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that was highlighted in the film “A League Of Their Own” was formed during World War II.

Two years later, Houghton was simply known as a 12-Year-Old Wonder whose skills dazzled as the Bobbies traveled around playing any competition they could find, including a few men’s college baseball teams. In 1925, they even ended up touring in Japan, which paid the team $800 for each game they played.

Along with her adult teammates, the baseball prodigy was already making money and, more importantly, history. Houghton’s uniform from that Japan tour is displayed in Cooperstown.