Toni Stone

CTL-E-6883 · Person · other · 1921–1996

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07755 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6883.

Toni Stone (1921–1996), born Marcenia Lyle Stone on July 17, 1921, in Bluefield, West Virginia, and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, was the American second baseman who, in the Society for American Baseball Research's words, in 1953 became the first woman to play in the Negro American League. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum likewise records that Stone holds the distinction of being the first female to play in the Negro American League, signing with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953 to play second base — the position vacated when Hank Aaron left for the Milwaukee Braves organization, per the Minnesota Historical Society's MNopedia. The museum records that she played 50 games for the Clowns in 1953 and hit .243, and that her contract was then traded to the Kansas City Monarchs for the 1954 season, after which she retired from professional baseball. SABR notes she had played with men and boys for years beforehand, including with the San Francisco Sea Lions and the New Orleans Creoles. She died on November 2, 1996.

The record

• Also known as: Marcenia Lyle Stone, Marcenia Lyle Alberga, Tomboy

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0045. Firsts disposition: 'First woman to play in the Negro American League (Indianapolis Clowns, 1953)' ASSERTED — supported by the Society for American Baseball Research and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, with the Minnesota Historical Society stating the equivalent Negro Major League form. Flag: the NLBM profile states a 1931 birth year (the age Stone was billed at in 1953); SABR and MNopedia support 1921, which this record uses, and the conflict is disclosed in the NLBM source entry. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Stone was signed partly as a gate attraction and played like a regular — fifty games at second base in the roster spot Hank Aaron had just vacated. That she is the first woman in the league and that the league was already being drained by integration are both true, and the record holds both. Photo: HELD — no verified depicting Commons file; see media basis.

Relationships

• Hank Aaron — related to
  Stone succeeded Hank Aaron at second base for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953: MNopedia records she was hired to fill the second-base position vacated by Hank Aaron, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum records she signed as Aaron's replacement.
• Kansas City Monarchs — played for
  Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and SABR: Stone's contract was sold/traded to the Kansas City Monarchs for the 1954 season, and she played that season with the Monarchs before retiring.

Referenced by

• Connie Morgan — related to → this record

Sources

• Thornley, Stew. “Toni Stone.” SABR BioProject, Society for American Baseball Research. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Toni-Stone/ (build store)
• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “Toni Stone.” Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum: Personal Profiles. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://nlbemuseum.com/history/players/stone.html (primary source · build store)
• Minnesota Historical Society. “Stone, Marcenia Lyle (Toni), 1921–1996.” MNopedia. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/stone-marcenia-lyle-toni-1921-1996?hs_amp=true (build store)
• Encyclopedia.com. “Stone, Toni (1921–1996).” Women in World History, hosted by Encyclopedia.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/stone-toni-1921-1996 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6883 · Combined Graph record U-07755 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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