Doris Sams

Nevertheless, she enjoyed a productive season as a hitter, collecting a .257 average (9th in the league) after going 105-for-409.

She also scored 105 runs, slugged six doubles, seven triples and three home runs, recording career-best numbers with 59 RBI and 117 games played.

Thanks in part to her timely hitting, Muskegon finished second in the Eastern Division with a record of 66–57 and advanced to the playoffs, only to be beaten by the Fort Wayne Daisies in the first round.

Unfortunately, Sams was overlooked for the All-Star Team, being surpassed by Kenosha Comets center fielder and Player of the Year Audrey Wagner, who won the batting title with a .312 average, and belted four homers with 70 runs and 56 RBI.

Wagner was the only girl to hit over .300 in that season, ending 23 points ahead of runner-up Connie Wisniewski.

Doris Jane Sams (February 2, 1927 – June 28, 2012), nicknamed "Sammye", was an American outfielder and pitcher who played from 1946 through 1953 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Listed at 5ft 9in, 145 lbs., she batted and threw right-handed.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Doris was the only daughter of Robert and Pauline Sams.

She grew up in a home where baseball was considered of vital importance.

Her grandfather was a semi-professional hurler who taught her how to pitch, while her father was a semi-professional center fielder who taught her how to catch and field.

Athletically inclined, she started playing sports at an early age with the assistance of her brothers Paul and Robert Jr. She started playing softball with older girls in 1938 when she was 11, helping her softball team win the state championship in seven of the next eight years, and representing Tennessee in a national tournament in 1941.

She later played for the Nelson's Cafe club, until the Pepsi Cola Company bought it.

She stayed with the Pepsi Cola team until 1946, winning three championships with them before starting her career in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

At age 19, Sams entered the AAGPBL in 1946 with the expansion Muskegon Lassies.

She had an auspicious debut, hitting a .276 batting average with 15 runs scored and nine runs driven home in 42 games.

As an underhand pitcher, she posted an 8–9 record with a 3.78 earned run average in 25 pitching appearances, while her average was seventh best in the league for players with 100 or more at-bat (she went 29-for-106).

Muskegon, with Buzz Boyle at the helm, placed sixth in the eight-team league with a 46–66 record.

The first AAGPBL spring training outside the United States was held in 1947 in Havana, Cuba, as part of a plan to create an International League of Girls Baseball.

Sams was one of two hundred players to attend the new training camp, in a Lassies team now managed by legendary Bill Wambsganss.

The team included talented players as shortstop Dorothy Stolze and pitchers Amy Applegren and Nancy Warren, between others.

That season the league made the transition from underhand to full side-arm pitching.

Sams exploded in her sophomore season, to become one of the leading all-around players in the circuit.

She finished with a .280 average, the third-highest among regulars, and collected nine doubles, five triples, 41 RBI and 31 runs in 107 games.

She also pitched 19 games, going 11–4 with a low 0.93 ERA and a significant .733 winning percentage, allowing 26 runs (15 earned) while striking out 34 and walking 28.

She was second only to Mildred Earp of the Grand Rapids Chicks, who posted a 20–8 record (.714) and a 0.68 ERA in 35 games.

But her great highlight came on August 18 of the 1947 season, when she collected her eleventh victory by pitching a perfect game, defeating the strong Fort Wayne Daisies, 2–0.

Sams earned the Player of the Year Award and made her first All-Star Team as an outfielder and pitcher that year, becoming the only player in AAGPBL history to be so honored.

Muskegon went on to win the regular season title with a 69–43 record, but failed to the Racine Belles in the first round.

In 1948 the AAGPBL expanded to a historical peak of ten teams divided into Eastern and Western Divisions, and made the switch from side-arm to overhand pitching.

On July 12, Sams opened the year by hurling a 3–0 no-hitter against the Springfield Sallies, one of the league's two new clubs, along with the Chicago Colleens.

One evening later, she helped beat the Sallies 6–5, going 3-for-4, including a two-run homer, a single and an RBI triple.

Then, the next day she pitched a one-hitter, 3–1 victory against South Bend, and contributed with two hits and one RBI.

But Sams never really made the adjustment to the new style pitching, finishing with an 18–10 mark and a 1.54 ERA.

As hurlers adapted to the new pitching style, batting averages declined even more during the 1949 season.

Sams won the batting crown with a .279 mark, as she repeated as Player of the Year to become the first player in the league to twice win player of the year honors.

She won the batting title race by a single point over Wisniewski and led the circuit with 114 hits (one more hit than Wisniewski), but was not among the leaders in any other offensive category.

In addition, Sams ended 7th in total bases (116), tied for 9th in hits (97), and tied for 7th in RBI.

As a pitcher, Sams had a 15–10 mark with a 1.58 ERA and finished 8th in ERA, tied for 7th in wins and tied for 8th in shutouts.

On July 14 of that season, she hurled a one-hitter, 3–1 victory against South Bend and helped herself with two hits and one RBI.

Then, on August 19 she defeated again South Bend on a three-hit shutout, 2–0, while hitting a single with a run scored.