Wywilia Carolyn "Vi" Mytrysak[note 1] (September 17, 1924 – February 11, 1996),[1] known as Eve Mytrysak, was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player.[2]

Eve Mytrysak
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Pitcher
Born: Wywilia Carolyn Mytrysak
September 17, 1924
Homer City, Pennsylvania
Died: February 11, 1996(1996-02-11) (aged 71)
Munhall, Pennsylvania
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • Women in Baseball – AAGPBL Permanent Display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (unveiled in 1988)

In September 1948, Mytrysak made her debut for the co-ed Waterman Baseball Club in Indiana, Pennsylvania, part of the Rochester and Pittsburgh Baseball League, as the first female pitcher in the county.[3][4] Mytrysak played for the Muskegon Lassies club in its 1949 season.[2][5]

Mytrysak was born in Homer City, Pennsylvania, one of 10 children born to Paul Mytrysak, a coal miner, and Katerina "Kata" Urban, ethnic Ukrainians born in 19th-century Poland who immigrated to the United States in 1907 and 1910, respectively.[6] Her brother John Mytrysak, her teammate on the Waterman team, was drafted by the New York Giants in 1949 and played in the minor leagues.[7][8]

She married Stephen Zeransky, with whom she had sons Tom, Ed and Stephen, Jr. She owned Vi's Pizza in Munhall, Pennsylvania. She died in 1996.[1][9]

In 1988, a permanent display was inaugurated at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York that honors those who were part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Mytrysak, along with the rest of the women and the league staff, is included at the display/exhibit.[10]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ She is misidentified as "Vivian Mystrysak" by All-American Girls Professional Baseball League website. Through the 1930 Census, the family name was transcribed variously as Mytryck, Matrisok, Mytrisak, and Mytryrzak.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. Social Security Administration.
  2. ^ a b Profile. All-American Girls Professional Baseball League website
  3. ^ "Eve Mytrysak Makes Hurling Debut Sunday". The Indiana Gazette. September 17, 1948. p. 15.
  4. ^ "Eve Mytrysak Pitches As Waterman Baseball Club Defeats Kinlock". The Indiana Gazette. September 20, 1948. p. 24.
  5. ^ Madden, W. C. (2000) All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-0597-8
  6. ^ 1930 United States Census
  7. ^ "Obituary for John Mytrysak". Shoemaker Funeral Home, Inc. September 25, 2016.
  8. ^ "John Mytrysak Minor Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  9. ^ "Wywilia (Vi) (Mytrysak) Zeransky". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 13, 1996. p. 49.
  10. ^ Before A League of Their Own. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum