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Mamie Johnson was born on September 27, 1935. When she was only seven years old, she would play baseball every day. At 17 years old, Ms. Johnson was rejected as a team member by the white Female Baseball League. This unfair treatment and prejudice became her own victory.  She proclaimed, "If I had played with white girls, I would have been just another player, but now I am somebody who has done something that no other woman has done."

In 1953, at the age of 19, she became a member of the Indianapolis Clowns baseball club and pitched for three years. That same year, Johnson finished with an 11-3 record. In 1954, she went 10-1, and in 1955, she finished 12-4. She hit between .252 and .284 in each season. When she wasn’t pitching, she played second base. During her tenure, she won 33 games and lost 8 games. Her batting average ranged from .262 to .284. Of this opportunity, she exclaimed, "Just to know that you were among some of the best male ballplayers that ever picked up the bat, made all of my baseball moments great moments."For two seasons as a member of the Clowns, Johnson was a teammate of future home run leader Hank Aaron. She also credits her pitching success to a lesson she learned from “Satchel” Paige who taught Johnson to throw her curveball. “He just showed me how to grip the ball to keep from throwing my arm away, ‘cause I was so little.”“Peanut” Johnson was one of three women, and the first female pitcher, to play in the Negro Leagues.

She was a licensed nurse for 30 years after her baseball playing days.  Mamie Johnson died on December 18, 2017, in a Washington, D.C. #womenHistoryMonth 

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