Edith Houghton was a baseball lifer and the first female MLB scout, making her death last week at the age of 100 a sad event for the sport.
According to Yahoo Sports, Houghton died just eight days shy of her 101st birthday and was a baseball prodigy, playing the game at a high-level from the age of 10. She was starting shortstop for the Philadelphia Bobbies, an all-girls professional team, which was around before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that was highlighted in the film "A League Of Their Own".
Houghton was known as a 12-Year-Old Wonder and showed off her skills around the country with the team, who travelled around to play any games they could In 1925 they toured Jaopan and were paid $800 for each game played. According to Yahoo, Houghton's uniform from that Japan tour is displayed in Cooperstown.
Houghton continued to play ball and as Tim Wiles of Cooperstown Chatter writes:
"Upon her return to the States, Edith joined first the New York Bloomer Girls and later the Hollywood Girls, two leading women's baseball teams of the pre-AAGPBL era. The teams toured the country playing against local men's teams."
"During World War II, Edith served in the Navy and reportedly played for the WAVES women's baseball team, a fascinating chapter in the history of women in baseball about which little is known today."
In her 30s, Houghton ended up moving to the men's profession ranks, but this time as a scout and not as a player. She asked Philadelphia Phillies owner Bob Carpenter about working as a scout and sent him an impressive scrapbook she had compiled during her years of playing. She was hired as the first woman scout in baseball and stayed with the team from 1946-1952, leaving only to serve in the military during the Korean War.
During her time with the team she signed n fifteen players to contracts, even though none ever made it to the top level big leagues.
