Mildred Earp

Mildred Kathryn Earp (October 7, 1925 – June 27, 2017), nicknamed Mid or Millie, was an American female pitcher who played from to in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at , 135 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.

Earp was a pitcher for the Grand Rapids Chicks in a span of four years. One of the first successful underhand pitchers in the league, Earp was selected to the All-Star Team in her rookie season, recorded the second best single-season ERA and the second best career ERA in AAGPBL history, and helped Grand Rapids win their first Championship Title. She also hurled a no-hitter game and ranked between the top 10 in several pitching categories during her short stint in the league.

She is part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York, opened in , which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player.

A native of West Fork, Arkansas, Earp started to play softball in a fourth grade league. She first heard about the AAGPBL when it came to play an exhibition game 50 miles away from her homeland. She contacted a league official and told him her desire to play in the circuit. By then the AAGPBL was preparing the transition from underhand to sidearm pitching. Earp was assigned to the Racine Belles in 1946 and tried out as a sidearm pitcher. Since she did not know anything about the baseball game, she spent the entire season sitting on the dugout and was paid to learn the fundamentals of the game. Prior to the next season she was allocated to the Grand Rapids Chicks.

Personal life Earp was born in October 1925 in West Fork, Arkansas to Joseph McKnight and Ona Earp. She married Ray Jackson Collins at the age of 16. Following her baseball career, Earp returned to her homeland of West Fork, Arkansas,