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DALLAS – Sarah Jane “Salty” Sands Ferguson’s life story was revealed Wednesday at Misericordia University – twice.
First, Grace Giordina and Kendall Tigue, sixth-graders from Holy Rosary in Duryea, acted out the highlights of Ferguson’s time as a member of the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Then, Ferguson filled in the details of how a 17-year-old from Orangeville, near Bloomsburg, become one of three dozen women who made Pennsylvania the most-represented state in the AAGPBL.
Ferguson appears on screen for her “eight seconds of fame,” during the closing credits of the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” which captured the story of the AAGPBL. She served as a speaker during Misericordia’s celebration of National Library Week, drawing a crowd of about 100, then meeting with many of them personally during 90 minutes of autograph signing and storytelling following her speech.
Giordina and Tigue got the presentation started by performing their play, which earned second place in a National History Day regional competition held recently at Misericordia and earned them a chance to compete on the state level in May. They combined information about the AAGPBL in general and Ferguson in particular.
Ferguson grew up playing a variety of sports informally around Orangeville, often as the only girl on a field or court with boys during recess or after school. She volunteered as a bat girl with a local baseball team from the time she was 6 and was always quick to jump at the opportunity to warm up a pitcher if a catcher had batted and was still putting equipment on. The best of those chances were when the catcher was so late getting on the field that she got to throw the ball down to second base, showing off her strong arm on a full-size baseball diamond.
“I got to play one year of varsity basketball as a freshman,” said Ferguson, who attended Bloomsburg High School. “There were no other sports for girls to play.”
Paul Reichert, a Lightstreet insurance man, and Charles Schuler, an AAGPBL scout from Allentown, changed that.
Reichert had seen her as a bat girl and told Schuler about Ferguson. He helped arrange a meeting in Allentown where Ferguson tried out at a local park on a cool fall day.
When Schuler interrupted the audition after five throws – before she even felt like she had warmed up – the stoppage worried Ferguson.
Instead, Ferguson received news that she had already made such a strong impression that Schuler would be setting her up with a chance to report to the Rockford Peaches, the AAGPBL’s most accomplished franchise.
“I am not sure my feet have really touched the ground ever since,” Ferguson said.
Without a minor league for women, Ferguson still had to make the Peaches team, something she did for the final two seasons of the AAGPBL. She became a second-team league all-star in her second season.
Although Ferguson saw herself as a catcher, more than 80 percent of her playing time came in the outfield.
More known for her defensive skills and strong arm, Ferguson batted .210 in 136 career games and hit one home run while scoring 37 runs, driving in 29 runs and stealing nine bases.
As made clear by her presentation Wednesday, Ferguson has become an accomplished speaker in telling the story of her own special opportunity and the league that she believes helped pave the way for Title IX to open exponentially more chances for female athletes.
Ferguson went on to play semi-professional basketball with a team at the Middletown Air Base near Harrisburg. After returning home to raise a family, she coached a boys Little League baseball team and a women’s softball team.
An active AAGPBL alumni association and newsletter help Ferguson know the importance of first-hand sharing of the details of a league that operated in the Midwest from 1942 to 1953.
“There are less than 100 of us left,” the 79-year-old said, “and, I’m one of the young ones.
“One of these days we’re going to be extinct.”