Mamie “Peanut” Johnson: Pitching Her Way Forward

by Linda Harris Sittig

“Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd…”

A strong woman and outstanding baseball player, Mamie Belton (Johnson) was born in 1935, Ridgeway, South Carolina. Her mother soon moved them to Washington D.C. to live with Mamie’s grandmother. By age eight, Mamie lived with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey and played pick-up baseball games. Fashioning baseballs from rocks, twine, and tape, she started playing the game that would define her life by playing with the neighborhood boys.

If those boys scoffed at first by having a girl on their team, they quickly changed their tune when Mamie proved to be an excellent pitcher.

IN THE BEGINNING

In New Jersey, she found herself the only girl and the only African-American on a local team. It did not detour her from her determination to become one of the best players. She played throughout her childhood on whatever team was available.

After graduating from high school, she relocated back to Washington D.C. and joined the St. Cyprian recreational team. At 17, she and another friend went to the tryouts in Alexandria, Virginia, for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. And they may have been the best candidates, but the organization refused to allow Mamie or her friend even to try out. The All-American Girls Pro Team was all-white.

Disappointed but undaunted, Mamie continued to play at St. Cyprians.

THE NEGRO LEAGUE

Then, in 1953 a scout saw Mamie dominate in a lineup of male baseball players. He approached her after the game and urged her to try out for the Negro League team that had launched the career of Hank Aaron. He had no qualms about her being a female; she was just that good.

It was during this time in her life that she earned the nickname “Peanut” Johnson.

Mamie was on the pitcher mound when a player from the other team swaggered up to the plate and sneered loudly, “why that girl’s no bigger than a peanut.” She promptly struck him out, and her nickname became legend; the strong woman no bigger than a peanut.

Clocking in at just under 5’4″ and weighing less than 100 pounds, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson was a force to behold.  

She signed with the Indianapolis Clowns, alongside Toni Stone and Connie Morgan, to play in the Negro League. They were the only three females playing in a league of men. Mamie became the only female pitcher in the League and played with the Indianapolis Clowns for the next two years. During that time, she allegedly had a 33-8 win-loss pitching record and a batting average of .262 – .284.

But it was her ability as a right-handed pitcher that cemented her definition in the annals of baseball. Taking lessons from no other than Satchel Paige, she developed a hard fastball and a curveball, screwball, and knuckleball.

LIFE CHANGES

Then, at the age of 19, she answered a different call and left the world of the Negro Leagues to take care of her young son, Charles Johnson. She earned a nursing degree from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and started what would become a 30-year nursing career at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Although Mamie Johnson only had two years as a professional baseball player, she has been the subject of books and articles, fetes, and awards. She was a guest of the Clintons in the White House in 1999 and inducted into the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Streets have been named in her honor, Little League baseball fields carry her name, and even Hollywood gave her a cameo reference. Remember the scene in A League of Their Own, when a Black woman picks up the loose ball that fell in the stands and throws it back to Geena Davis? That woman would have been Mamie Johnson.

After watching the 2020 Olympics from Tokyo and all the outstanding athletes that competed, I am thinking of Mamie Johnson, one of her era’s most talented female athletes.

Not only a strong right arm but one Strong Woman.

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack….”

If you enjoyed Mamie’s story and would like to get vignettes of other Strong Women once a month, please sign up on the right sidebar of the blog.

You can also catch me on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, and my webpage www.LindaSittig.com. I have a new book coming out in August, and you’ll get a chance to hear about the five women I feature in B-52 DOWN! The Night the Bombs Fell from the Sky when you read my September blog post.

~ Linda