St. Louis Trailblazer Erma Bergmann: From Pitcher's Mound to Patrol (American Chronicles)

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Breaking Glass Ceilings in St. Louis

Erma Mary Bergmann was a generation ahead of her time. She was born in a cold-water flat over a shoe store on South Broadway in St. Louis's Soulard area. Restrained by the Great Depression and the minority status of women in the 1930s and '40s, she hoped someday to climb out of poverty. When she was recruited to play baseball with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, her life changed. She pitched a no-hitter in 1947. She parlayed her natural athletic ability into two successful careers, baseball and policing. She spent twenty-five years as a policewoman, serving on the dangerous Decoy Squad. Author Patricia Treacy details the history of a pioneering woman.