Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone The First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League

by Martha Ackmann

  9. Donnie Williams and Wayne Greenhaw, The Thunder of Angels: The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the People Who Broke the Back of Jim Crow (Chicago: Lawrence Hill/Chicago Review Press, 2005), 48.

  10. Toni Stone interview with Bill Kruissink, March 27, 1996. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc., Cooperstown, NY.

  11. Doug Grow, “Baseball Pioneer Never Listened to Naysayers,” Minneapolis–Saint Paul StarTribune, January 31, 1997; Maria Bartlow-Reed interview with the author, March 10, 2008. While Toni admitted a vague memory of the event and some details changed with the telling, Stone family members corroborate that the story was typical of her lifelong interaction with and reliance on the church.

  12. Toni Stone interview with Jean Hasting Ardell, April 1992. Ardell interview notes shared with author June 22, 2009.

  13. Toni Stone interview with Jean Hasting Ardell; Maria Bartlow-Reed interview with the author.

  14. Motley, 90.

  15. Bruce Markusen, Ted Williams: A Biography (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2004), 98.

  16. James F. Vail, The Road to Cooperstown: A Critical History of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Selection Process (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2001), 245.

  17. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times (New York: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002), 745.

  18. Robert Peterson, Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), preface, 15, 204.

  19. Buck O’Neil with Steve Wulf and David Conrads, I Was Right on Time: My Journey from the Negro Leagues to the Majors (New York: Fireside Books, 1997), 197.

  20. Lawrence D. Hogan, Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball (Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2006), 352.

  21. Toni Stone interview with Jean Hastings Ardell, April 1992. Ardell interview notes shared with author June 22, 2009.

  22. Ernie Banks oral history. Visionaryproject.org/banksernie; Willie Mays and Lou Sahadi, Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), 14.

  23. Baltimore Afro-American, July 17, 1954.

  24. Jay Jennings, “A League of His Own,” New York Times, June 3, 2007; Michael Schwarz, “Honoring the Pioneers of the Negro Leagues,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 11, 1991; “For Love of the Game,” 1991 Negro Leagues Reunion file. Archive of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc., Cooperstown, NY.

  25. Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sports (HBO documentary, Ross Greenburg, executive producer), 1999.

  26. Joseph White, “Female Pitcher in Negro Leagues Enjoyed Striking ’Em Out,” Seattle Times, May 10, 1998; Los Angeles Sentinel, May 28, 1998; Eugene Meyer, “For Love of the Game,” Washington Post, February 24, 1999.

  27. Donna DeVore interview with the author, March 1, 2008; Horace Johnson interview with the author, April 10, 2008; Leah Aguillar interview with the author, February 17, 2008.

  28. Donna DeVore interview with the author.; Kendall Wilson, Philadelphia Tribune, October 25, 1996; “Homecoming and Victory Service for Constance Enola Morgan,” October 22, 1996. James L. Hawkins Funeral Home, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Horace Johnson private archive.

  29. Doug Grow interview with the author, December 7, 2007; Roger Nieboer interview with the author, November 19, 2007.

  30. Toni Stone interview with Miki Turner, August 1992. Turner interview notes shared with author July 10, 2009; Toni Stone interview with Larry Lester, January 3, 1991. Lester private archive.

  31. Toni Stone interview with Miki Turner, August 1992. Turner interview notes shared with author July 10, 2009; Ross Furman, “Marcenia ‘Toni’ Stone: Veteran of the Negro Leagues,” n.d., n.p. Lester private archive.

  32. Buck O’Neil, opening remarks, Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, July 29, 2006, Cooperstown, NY.

  33. Toni Stone interview with Jean Hasting Ardell, April 1992. Ardell interview notes shared with author June 22, 2009.

  34. Toni Stone interview with Larry Lester.

  35. Dorothy Uris, Say It Again: Dorothy Uris’ Personal Collection of Quotes, Comments, & Anecdotes (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979), 214.

  36. Doug Grow, “She Wasn’t Afraid to Swing for the Fences,” Minneapolis–Saint Paul StarTribune, March 6, 1990; Saint Paul Pioneer Press, March 6, 1990, and March 7, 1990.

  37. Merlene Davis, Lexington Herald-Leader, November 28, 1996; Sandy Keenan, “Stone Had a Ball,” Newsday, October 5, 1993.

  38. Joseph L. Price, Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2006), 125–126.

  39. Ron Thomas, “Baseball’s ‘Intruder’ Loved Game,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 23, 1991.

  40. Bob Motley with Byron Motley, Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars, Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing, 2007), 123–124.

  41. Ernie Banks interview with author, September 4, 2009.

  42. Claire Smith, “Belated Tribute to Baseball’s Negro Leagues,” New York Times, August 13, 1991.

  43. David Steele interview with the author, March 14, 2007.

  44. Brent Kelley, Negro Leagues Revisited: Conversations with 66 More Baseball Heroes (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2000), 161.

  45. Recording of proceedings from “For the Love of the Game: A Reunion of the Major League Players of the Negro Leagues,” August 1991. Archives of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc., Cooperstown, NY.

  46. Doug Grow, “She Wasn’t Afraid to Swing for the Fences,” Minneapolis–Saint Paul StarTribune, March 6, 1990; Ron Thomas, Emerge, May 1996, 60; Sandy Keenan, “Stone Had a Ball,” Newsday, October 5, 1993; Bill Kruissink, “First Woman in Pro Baseball Remembers,” Alameda Journal, April 2, 1996; Maria Bartlow-Reed interview with the author, March 10, 2008; Bob Motley with Bryon Motley, Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars (Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing, 2007), 85.

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