FORT WAYNE DAISIES PLAYER & VINTAGE BOBBLEHEADS UNVEILED
On National Bobblehead Day, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled officially licensed, limited-edition bobbleheads of Betty Weaver Foss, Dottie Schroeder and Joanne Weaver, who played for the Fort Wayne Daisies in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). In addition, the Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a vintage Fort Wayne Daisies Bobblehead similar to the 1960s classic bobblehead style.
These mark the first bobbleheads for all three players and they are three of 13 available in the new series featuring the league’s top players. Bobbleheads of former players from the Grand Rapids Chicks, Kenosha Comets, Muskegon Lassies, Racine Belles, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox are also available. The vintage bobblehead is part of a series featuring all 15 AAGPBL teams and are the first bobbleheads in the vintage style to celebrate the league. The bobbleheads were produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum and are officially licensed by the AAGPBL.
Wearing the Daisies’ White, Yellow and Brown uniforms on a baseball field base, the Betty Weaver Foss bobblehead is in a batting stance waiting for a pitch, the Schroeder bobblehead, with her hair in two long braids, is making a throw from her shortstop position, while the Weaver bobblehead is in a batting position waiting for a pitch. Each bobblehead base has the player’s name, nickname, and the AAGPBL logo.
Each bobblehead is individually numbered to 500, and they are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. The bobbleheads, which just arrived and ship now, are $30 each for the All-Star Bobbleheads and $25 for the vintage bobblehead plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order. A complete set of all 13 All-Stars is $375 while the set of 15 vintage bobbleheads is $300.
Weaver Foss played in the final five seasons of the AAGPBL from 1950 to 1954 and was one of the game’s top stars, playing outfield and first base. She started her career as Betty Weaver, but changed her last name to Foss after marrying. Her younger sisters, Jean and Joanne, joined the Daisies in 1951. Making an immediate impact, Weaver Foss won the Rookie of the Year award in 1950 after batting a league-high .346. She also won the batting title in 1951 (.368) and claimed Player of the Year honors in 1952. In her five seasons, Weaver Foss collected a league-record 117 doubles and batted .342 with 401 runs scored, 312 RBI and 294 stolen bases. She is only one of six players to hit 30 or more home runs in her career (32). In 1998, Weaver Foss died at the age of 68 in her hometown of Metropolis, Illinois.
Schroeder, a native of Sadorus, Illinois, has the distinction of being the only player to play in the AAGPBL in all 12 seasons, starting as a 15-year-old. In addition to the Daisies (1947-52), the three-time All-Star also played for the South Bend Blue Sox (1943-45), Kenosha Comets (1945-47) and Kalamazoo Lassies (1953-54). Arguably the top shortstop in league history, she played on championship teams in 1943 and 1954. Schroeder is the AAGPBL all-time leader in games played (1,249), at-bats (4,129), RBI (431) and walks (696). She also ranks second in hits (870) and third in home runs (42). Schroeder, who died at the age of 68 in 1996 following complications of a brain aneurysm, is one of the few AAGPBL players pictured individually in the exhibit on Women in Baseball at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was created in 1988.
Weaver was the youngest of three sisters to play for the Daisies from 1951 to 1954. A three-time All-Star who primarily played right field, Weaver won three consecutive batting titles and the Player of the Year award in 1954 in helping the Daisies to four playoff appearances. The AAGPBL’s all-time leader in batting average (.358), Weaver holds the single-season marks in batting average (.429), home runs (29) and total bases (254). Weaver died at the age of 64 in 2000 in her hometown of Metropolis, Illinois, of the same disease that claimed her older sister two years earlier.
The 1992 fictional movie, “A League of Their Own,” told the story of the AAGPBL’s founding and play and brought renewed interest in the AAGPBL and the women who played professional baseball. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, has a section dedicated to the AAGPBL and women in baseball. In 2018, the Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled the first bobblehead series featuring all 15 AAPBL teams.
“We are thrilled to add to our growing AAGPBL bobblehead collection by honoring 13 of the league’s star players,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “Betty Weaver Foss, Dottie Schroeder and Joanne Weaver were three of the best players to wear the Fort Wayne Daisies’ uniform and they, along with all of the other women of the AAGPBL, paved the way for women in professional sports and beyond.”
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