A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut"
Johnson
MTA/Red Sox Reading Game featured book 2003
Learning to throw the curve ball from Satchel Paige was
no big deal. Shutting down Hank Bayliss’ mean bat was all in a day’s
work. Pitching all day in a wool uniform was no sweat--compared to this.
For Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson, gaining the respect and recognition
owed the first woman to ever pitch professional baseball on a men's’
team has been the toughest game of all.  With
two formidable strikes against her--gender and race--Mamie ‘Peanut’
Johnson from 1953 to 1955 pitched three winning seasons for the Negro
Leagues’ Indianapolis Clowns. A long way to come for a girl of 10
who spent her nights dreaming about playing ball and her days hurling
rocks wrapped with masking tape and stitched with twine in Ridgeway, South
Carolina.
You’ll find scant mention of Johnson
at the National Baseball League Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
But you will find her courageous, determined story played out in the pages
of A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson
by award-winning children’s author Michelle Y. Green. Green
is also the author of the historical fiction series Willie Pearl.
“Peanut Johnson’s story is as old
as the American promise of freedom,” says Ken Burns, filmmaker and
historian. “This small volume is a huge work.”
Green first met Johnson, a living legend at
the age of 62, at the grand opening of the Negro Leagues Baseball Shop,
in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Looking to buy a tee shirt
for her son, a little leaguer, Green instead spotted a shirt with a vintage
photo of Mamie in uniform, pitching a ball. As Green went to the register,
Johnson, who was seated at the back of the store, asked, “Would
you like me to autograph that for you?”
“The first question out of my mouth was,
‘You’re Mamie Peanut Johnson?’” says Green. “And
the second question was, ‘Has anyone written your story?’”
The first interview took place that very day.
A Strong Right Arm is the real-life
story of the only woman to ever pitch professional baseball on a men’s
team. Through careful research and archival photos, Green prompted an
on-air retraction of a 60 Minutes segment, aired October 4, 1998
on CBS, in which reporter, Mike Wallace, dubbed 24-year-old minor leagues
pitcher, Ila Borders, “the first woman ever to pitch in men’s
professional baseball.”
“The reader is richer for the opportunity
of meeting Mamie in this poignant and fascinating story of a great lady,”
writes Kirkus Reviews.
Although it is called “The Great American
Pastime,” baseball has a universal connection that transcends human
differences—it is played all over the world. Breaking down barriers
is Mamie’s legacy and the message readers—young and old—will
find in the pages of A Strong Right Arm.
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More on Author
Michelle Green
Michelle
Y. Green is a graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism
and the Johns Hopkins University Masters Program in Writing. She teaches “The
Art of Writing for Children,” and two other courses at The George
Washington University School of Continuing Education.
Ms. Green is the author of A Strong Right
Arm: The Story of Mamie Peanut Johnson, the true story of the
first woman to pitch professional baseball in a men’s league.
She is also the author of the award-winning children’s book series,
Willie Pearl, a book about her mother set in a Depression-era coal
mining town.
Ms. Green lives with her two sons, Bryan and
Evan, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where she roots for her favorite team,
the Baltimore Orioles.
For more information, please visit michelleygreen.com.
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