Migdalia Pérez

Migdalia "Mickey" Pérez was a Cuban pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She batted and threw right handed. After being married she played under the name of Migdalia Jinright.

Born in Havana, Mickey Pérez was one of the seven players born in Cuba to play the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in its twelve years history, being the others Isabel Alvarez (1949–1954), Isora del Castillo (1949–1951), Luisa Gallegos (1948–1949), Mirtha Marrero (1948–1953), Gloria Ruiz (1948–1949) and Zonia Vialat (1948).

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. All the eight AAGPBL teams played exhibition games at Estadio Latinoamericano. On the other hand, the Brooklyn Dodgers trained in the Cuban capital because Jackie Robinson, who would be the first Afro-American to play in the Major Leagues, was training with the Dodgers for the first time. By then, city ordinances in Vero Beach, Florida, where the Dodgers normally trained, prevented blacks and whites players from competing on the same field against each other. Notably, newspaper stories from Havana indicate that the All-American girls drew larger crowds for their games than did the Dodgers. At this time, the six Cuban women were recruited to play in the AAGPBL. That season the league made the transition from underhand to full sidearm pitching.

Pérez entered the league in 1948 with the Chicago Colleens, playing for them one year before joining the Springfield Sallies (1949–1950), Battle Creek Belles (1951–1952) and Rockford Peaches (1952–1954). She had a diverse repertoire of pitches, which included a strong fastball, a curve, and a change that often had hitters way out in front, but the key was always be in control of her pitches. When the ball-strike count favored her, she was solid and concentrated better. When she was behind, she was vulnerable and created many of her own problems because she had to sacrifice some velocity for control. In addition, she was plagued by a shortage of run support for much of her career while pitching for awful teams.

Pérez had mixed results in the 1953 season, going 12–14 for Racine though her 2.25 ERA was the ninth best in the league. She also finished eighth in innings pitched (220) and tied for eighth in complete games (20). Her career highlight came on August 10 of that year, when she hurled a no-hitter against the powerful Grand Rapids Chicks lineup featuring Wilma Briggs, Betty Foss, Jean Geissinger, Katie Horstman, Pepper Paire and Joanne Weaver, among others.

Pitching statistics GPWLW-L%ERAIPHRAERBBSOWHIP 155 57 70 .449 2.73 1069 1076 506 324 122 116 1.12