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Grand Rapids Chicks

Minor league baseball team

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Source updated March 24, 2026

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The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953.

01History

The franchise originated in 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Chicks. Although the Chicks won the 1944 AAGPBL championship, they could not compete with the minor league Milwaukee Brewers for ticket sales, and the franchise moved to Grand Rapids. They enjoyed continued success following the move, making the playoffs every year until the league folded following the 1954 season.

Grand Rapids had its share of league stars including Players of the Year Connie Wisniewski in 1945 and Alma Ziegler in 1950. League pitching titles were won by Chicks pitchers in 1944 and 1945 by Wisniewski, Mildred Earp in 1947, Alice Haylett in 1948, and Ziegler in 1950. Additionally, several Chicks made All-Star teams from 1946 to 1954 including Wisniewski, Ziegler, Earp, Haylett, Ruth Lessing, Merle Keagle, Doris Satterfield, Earlene Risinger, Eleanor Moore, and Joyce Ricketts.

The Chicks played their home games at South High School in Grand Rapids, with the exception of 1950-1952 when games were played at Bigelow Field in Wyoming Township. After a fire destroyed Bigelow Field, the Chicks returned to South High School through 1954.

02All-time players roster

Bold denotes members of the inaugural roster

03Managers

* Benny Meyer	1945
* Johnny Rawlings	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
* Mitch Skupien	1951
* Woody English	1952 1953 1954

04Season-by-season records

1945: 60-50
1946: 71-41
1947: 65-47 *
1948: 77-47
1949: 57-54
1950: 59-53
1951: 71-35
1952: 50-60
1953: 62-44 *
1954: 46-45

* Championship season

Watch videos about Grand Rapids ChicksExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Grand Rapids Chicks”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

GrandRapidsChicks caplogo.png by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain

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