Mamie Johnson

CTL-E-6966 · Person · other · 1935–2017

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07838 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6966.

Mamie "Peanut" Johnson (September 27, 1935 – December 18, 2017) was an American pitcher from Ridgeway, South Carolina, and one of only three women who played in the Negro leagues, alongside Toni Stone and Connie Morgan. Turned away in 1953 when she went to Washington for a tryout with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which barred Black players, she was scouted playing men's semipro ball and signed with the Indianapolis Clowns. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis records that she joined the Clowns in 1953 and compiled a 33–8 pitching record over three seasons through 1955; the Hall of Fame notes that some accounts have her barnstorming with the club in late 1953 before a 1954 signing, and this record shows that variance. The only woman to pitch in the Negro leagues, the five-foot-three right-hander threw a slider, circle change, screwball, and curveball. After baseball she worked for three decades as a nurse at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C., where she died on December 18, 2017.

The record

• Also known as: Mamie Belton Johnson, Peanut Johnson, Mamie Lee Johnson

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0267. Firsts disposition: ASSERTED — 'the only woman to pitch in the Negro leagues,' supported by the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis ('first and only woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues') and Smithsonian Magazine ('the only woman to take the mound as pitcher'); the three-women claim (Johnson, Toni Stone, Connie Morgan) is supported by all three sources in this record, including the Hall of Fame. SIGNING-YEAR VARIANCE SHOWN: joined/signed 1953 (Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Smithsonian) vs. the Hall of Fame's note that some accounts place her barnstorming with the Clowns in late 1953 ahead of a 1954 signing; the 1953–1955 tenure and 33–8 record are stated as the Indianapolis encyclopedia states them. Johnson is not a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and no election is claimed. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Johnson's record is small in games and large in meaning — barred from the women's league by race, she pitched three seasons against men and won 33 of them. That she was the last surviving voice of the three women is itself a curatorial fact: for decades, this history had exactly one living witness. Photo: HELD — no photograph of Johnson herself on Commons (see visual asset basis).

Referenced by

• Connie Morgan — related to → this record

Sources

• National Baseball Hall of Fame. "Toni Stone, Connie Morgan and Mamie Johnson blazed a trail for women in the Negro Leagues." Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. "Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson." Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
• Smithsonian Magazine. "Remembering Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson, the First Woman to Take the Mound as a Major-League Pitcher." December 2017. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6966 · Combined Graph record U-07838 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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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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