Come by the third floor of Fintel Library to see the latest installment of Art Out of Olin by Sophomore Shannon O’Neill. We promise it will brighten your day.
When Baseball and National Women’s History Month Collide
The North American Baseball Season begins in ten days, and March is National Women’s History Month. In order to honor both of these events, this post sheds light on one day in the amazing life of Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias.
Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias is listed as one of the greatest female athletes of the 20th century. But if you really examine her sports record, you will see that she was an amazingly talented athlete, regardless of sex.
Mrs. Zaharias excelled in the 1932 Olympics, winning two gold medals and setting new world records for the javelin throw, 80-meter hurdles, and high jump. After the Olympics she used her celebrity status to tour with many different sports teams, from billiards to baseball.
On March 20, 1934, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias pitched one inning for the Philadelphia Athletics spring training exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She allowed one walk and no hits that day, though the Dodgers still managed to win 4-2. Babe went on to pitch other games that spring, and even managed to strike out Joe DiMaggio. Cardinals pitcher Burleigh Grimes was quoted in the press as saying “Babe would be one of the best prospects in baseball if she were a boy.”
Not satisfied with her baseball or basketball careers, Babe went on to dominate golf, becoming a world champion golfer. In both her amateur and professional victories, Zaharias won a total of 82 golf tournaments.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1953, and had surgery to remove that cancer. One month after the surgery, she went on to win the 1954 Women’s National Open. Sadly the cancer returned, and she succumbed to the disease on September 27, 1956.
In 1950, the Associate Press named her female Athlete of the Half Century, and in 2000, Sports Illustrated named her Female Athlete of the 20th Century. She was an incredible athlete then, and can still be found in the top ten lists of greatest female athletes of all time.
Sportswriter Paul Gallico once asked her if there was anything she did not play. “Sure,” Babe shot back, “Dolls.”
Interested in reading more about the life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias? Contact your librarian here.
See you at the first Salem Red Sox home game!
*Photo taken in 1934 of Babe Didrikson on the mound. Library of Congress. Public Domain.
Source- Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Life I’ve Led: My Autobiography, A.S. Barns & Co, New York, NY, 1955.
Spotlight on Library Resource Films on Demand
Are you looking for a film to show your class on the Financial Crisis of 2008, but the Library doesn’t have a DVD you can borrow? Check out the videos at Films on Demand, which Fintel Library began subscribing to last year. What is Films on Demand? It is a subscription only, web-based digital video delivery platform that allows you to view streaming videos from Films Media Group anytime, anywhere, 24/7! Thousands of videos are available for in-class use and remote viewing from the library, in the dorm, or at home.
How can you find Films on Demand from the Library website? Click on Complete List of Resources, then F for Films on Demand. Do a keyword search or peruse specific collections.
As always, if you need any assistance or if you have any suggestions for the Library, contact us here.
While you’re away on break…
Don’t forget that you can access the majority of the Library resources (ebooks, periodical articles, and scholarly journal articles) from off-campus. Go to the Library homepage and click on Connect from Off Campus. Once you find the resource you would like to access (Discovery box, JSTOR, Accessible Archives), click on the link and you will be prompted to log-in to the campus network. Make sure you indicate that you are a Roanoke College student, your user name (without the @mail part), and your network password. You should be able to most of the resources you have access to while you’re on campus. If it doesn’t work, call the Reference Desk at 540-375-2295 or Lending Services at 540-375-2294.
Happy Spring Break to you!
Poetry in unusual places
Found in the women’s restroom in Fintel Library.
It’s lovely. Did you write it? If so, surprise us with more. Just as long as it’s not written on the walls, carpet, or furniture.
And thank you for sharing this with us!
“The groundhogs acted with considerable sagacity.”
The title for this post was taken from an article published in The Vincennes Weekly Western Sun newspaper on February 10, 1866. It seems that the groundhogs saw their shadow on February 2nd, 1866, and in the days that followed the weather turned “exceedingly cold”, proving the underground rodent to be a reliable prophet.
This year’s Groundhog Day has come and gone, and it looks like we will have six more weeks of winter on our hands before we can shed our coats and boots. But before we go shopping for more sweaters and thermal underwear, just how accurate is that ol’ groundhog?
According to the National Climate Data Center (NCDC), not very. The NCDC report breaks down the average temperature from 1988-2013 and whether Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow or not. This is a direct quote from the report: “The table shows no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of this analysis.”Well, so much for buying snow tires.
For the full report on Groundhog Day predictions, click here.
For the history of Groundhog Day, click here.
And for more historical newspaper articles on a range of topics, click here.