First woman to play as a regular on an American big-league professional baseball team.
Toni Stone, born as Marcenia Lyle Stone in West Virginia, was the first of three women to play professional baseball full-time for the Indianapolis Clowns, in the previously all-male Negro leagues. This also made her the first woman to play as a regular on an American big-league professional baseball team.
In honor of U.S. Black History Month, today’s Doodle illustrated by San Francisco, CA-based guest artist Monique Wray celebrates athlete Marcenia “Toni” Stone, who overcame both gender and racial discrimination to become the first woman in history to play professional baseball as a regular in a men’s major baseball league. On this day in 2021, Stone was inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame.
Stone was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 17, 1931. At 16 years of age, she joined the semi-pro Twin Cities Colored Giants club, which had been an all-male team.
