Bonnie Baker

Mary Geraldine (Bonnie) Baker, née George (July 10, 1918, Regina, Saskatchewan—December 17, 2003, Regina, Saskatchewan) was an all-star catcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1943 to 1952.

Career

She also served as player-manager with the Kalamazoo Lassies in 1950, the only woman in league history to do so. She was one of 64 Canadian players in the AAGPBL. Her sister, Gene McFaul, also played in the league for the Lassies in 1948. With the majority of major-league baseball players in the military during World War II, Phil Wrigley owner of the Chicago Cubs, established the AAGPBL in 1943. It continued play until 1954. The first year it played by softball rules, but the rules were gradually changed until they were nearly identical with professional baseball rules.

Saskatchewanian Mary Baker's eight brothers and sisters were all baseball catchers, so it stood to reason that Baker would become one too. She was scouted by a professional scout, Hub Bishop who also scouted notable Saskatchewan athletes like Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings. When she joined the AAGPBL, she promised her husband, who was fighting overseas in World War II, that she would quit the game when he returned. Baker, 5'5", 135 lbs. (165 cm, 61 kg), a former model, was often chosen by the league to pose for publicity shots and act as a league spokesperson. Baker was the league’s most publicized player and was referred to as "Pretty Bonnie Baker" by the press. She appeared on the popular television show What's My Line? in 1950, and her picture also appeared in Life magazine.

Bonnie Baker (singer)

Bonnie Baker (née Evelyn Underhill or Nelson, April 1, 1917 – August 11, 1990) was an American singer of jazz and popular music and was known from 1936 to the end of her performing career as Wee Bonnie Baker. Her biggest hit was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!," recorded with the Orrin Tucker Orchestra in 1939.

Early life

She was born in Orange, Texas; at the time of her death, her family gave her birth name as Evelyn Underhill, although other sources give it as Evelyn Nelson. She attended school in Galveston and Houston. At age 16, during the 1932–1933 school year, she was a day student at Mount de Sales Academy, in Macon, Georgia, which at that time was a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls.

Career

She then moved back to Houston where she sang in night clubs. She joined Orrin Tucker's band as a vocalist in 1936, after Louis Armstrong suggested that Tucker recruit her. Tucker gave her the stage name "Wee" Bonnie Baker on account of her height, about 4 foot 11 inches. She had only local fame before joining Tucker's orchestra — wider notability did not occur until she performed at the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago in 1939, when she began to flourish in the South and Pacific Coast.