Biography

Betty Lou Francis was born July 7th, 1931 to Roy and Hattie (Luetje) Francis of Maquoketa, IA. The Francis family moved to Chicago in 1945, where Betty played amateur softball and was an all-around athlete with the Chicago Park District in Ogden Park.

In 1949 Francis was selected for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and played for five seasons. The league lasted from 1943 until 1954. She first played for the Chicago Colleens rookie development team in 1949. Then, she was promoted to the Muskegon Lassies late in the season and stayed with the franchise once it was renamed the Kalamazoo Lassies. She played four seasons with the Kalamazoo Lassies before ending her career with the South Bend Blue Sox. In her final season, she batted .350 (5th in the league) and was 7th in doubles. After she retired from baseball, Betty settled in Marionette Park, Illinois working at a local canning company.

Betty was inducted into the permanent “Women in Baseball” exhibit in Cooperstown, New York in 1988. It was unveiled to honor the entire AAGPBL. Following the release of the movie “A League of Their Own,” Betty was involved in the re-promotion of the AAGPBL.

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