Rose "Rosie" Gacioch
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Team--B
N 42° 25.581 W 083° 00.666
17T E 334558 N 4699074
Located in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Enter the cemetery at N 42 25.185 W 083 01.415 (corner of Van Dyke and McNichols) as this is the only entrance open now, then follow the south road to the tunnel, go under tunnel, then proceed to the posted coords.
Waymark Code: WM7Z4B
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 12/26/2009
Views: 11
Rose "Rosie" Gacioch, an outstanding outfielder and pitcher in the heyday of women's professional baseball who became a mainstay of the Rockford Peaches team later featured in the movie "A League of Their Own," died at a nursing home in Clinton Township, Mich. She was 89.
Gacioch (pronounced GAY-sotch), a native of Wheeling, W.Va., was in grade school when she sneaked out of class to see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play on a barnstorming stop, and she was thrilled when Gehrig shook her hand. At 16, she was the only girl on a town baseball team called the Little Cardinals.
In 1944, after working in a West Virginia factory and playing softball, she joined the South Bend (Ind.) Blue Sox in the All-American Girls Baseball League, created the previous season by the Chicago Cubs' owner, Philip K. Wrigley, to provide entertainment if major league baseball was curtailed by World War II.
Gacioch was sent to the Rockford (Ill.) Peaches the next year and played the outfield and pitched for them until the league folded after the 1954 season. She won 92 games and lost 60 and was a three-time All-Star. She played on four championship teams with the Peaches.
Gacioch later worked in a factory in Rockford, retired in 1978, then lived in the Detroit area. She never married.
Rosie O'Donnell portrayed "Rosie" in the 1992 movie "A League Of Their Own."
Description:
see long description
Date of birth: 08/31/1915
Date of death: 09/09/2004
Area of notoriety: Sports
Marker Type: Headstone
Setting: Outdoor
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Open daily 7am - 5pm
Fee required?: No
Web site: Not listed
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