Wolters becomes baseball heroines
Karla Wolters recreated baseball history with a one-person play Tuesday.
Wolters, a professor at Hope College in Holland, presented “Her Passion to Play” during the annual Marge Bulger Sport History Speaker Series at the Bovee University Center Auditorium.
Wolters was the first speaker in the series in 1992. She depicted four women who are a part of baseball’s history, taking a look at a significant period in each woman’s life.
“I think it puts people right at the moment,” Wolters said. “Anytime you can give students the opportunity to learn about history it’s wonderful.”
Wolters has taught physical education for 30 years, and coached volleyball, basketball, field hockey, tennis and softball at the collegiate level.
Wolters started doing her presentation nine years ago and keeps it up because students respond well to her approach.
“I liked it. It was different from a lecture. I learned a lot about these four women,” said Jason Begley, Clinton freshman.
Wolters portrayed the life of Alta Weiss, who played professional baseball in the Midwest to put herself through medical school. She also presented the life of Maud Nelson, who played baseball and later became a savvy businesswoman, owning three teams during her life.
Ruth Richard, another of Wolters’ characters, began her professional career in Cuba and played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League to became one of the leagues best catchers.
“Many people don’t know that when the men and women played, there were always three guys on the women’s team.”
Julie Croteau was the first woman to play collegiate baseball at St. Mary’s College in Maryland. Croteau is a member of the Coors Silver Bullets, a semi-pro women’s team.
“We lose sight of the fact that there are still women’s leagues out there. It’s exciting to me to see that women are still traveling around to play the game that they love,” Wolters said.
The Marge Bulger Speaker Series was started 10 years ago by her husband, William Bulger, a retired CMU history professor. Marge Bulger was a professor at CMU until she died in 1992.
