Jackie Mitchell and the Most Famous Strikeouts in Exhibition History

Published on August 31st, 2025 11:47 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


In April 1931, the New York Yankees rolled into Chattanooga for an exhibition game against the minor league Lookouts. Nobody expected much from the young left-hander on the mound. Then 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back-to-back. Two of the most feared sluggers in baseball history walked away shaking their heads while a teenager with a sidearm delivery turned the ballpark upside down.

The strikeouts became an instant sensation. Was it a publicity stunt? Maybe. But the crowd saw Ruth flail helplessly before stomping away in disgust, while Gehrig went down just as quickly. Even if Ruth and Gehrig were taking it easy, the optics were brutal. A teenage girl had just humiliated the Yankees' stars.

Mitchell had been signed just days earlier by Joe Engel, the Lookouts' owner known for his flair for promotions. Engel, sometimes called the "P.T. Barnum of Baseball," loved publicity stunts, and many believed Jackie's appearance was just another trick to sell tickets. Still, Engel had spotted her talent years earlier, and Mitchell had trained under Dazzy Vance, a future Hall of Famer with a devastating fastball. She was no gimmick on the mound - her sidearm curve could fool hitters.

Baseball's establishment didn't find it funny. Just days later, Mitchell's contract with the Lookouts was voided by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The ruling claimed baseball was "too strenuous" for women, and the door slammed shut on any serious chance she had to compete. Ruth piled on, telling reporters that baseball was "no game for a girl" and dismissing Mitchell's success as a sideshow act.

The timing was cruel. Women had been pushing into sports during the 1920s, and Mitchell's strikeouts hinted at a bigger fight ahead. But Landis's decision ended the debate before it began. Instead of testing her skills against professionals again, Mitchell was forced into barnstorming appearances. She joined the House of David, a traveling novelty team, where she sometimes pitched against men while also being asked to play into the act, even once throwing balls while riding a donkey. The seriousness was gone, and with it her chance at history.

The episode left Mitchell as a trivia note rather than a pioneer. She eventually walked away from the game, tired of being used as a gimmick. Yet the story endures because of the names involved. Striking out Ruth and Gehrig in sequence remains one of baseball's great what-ifs.

For perspective, Ruth struck out 1,330 times in his career, Gehrig 790. Both faced Hall of Fame pitchers for years. On that afternoon in Chattanooga, though, their strikeouts belonged to Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old lefty who never got to find out what her ceiling could have been.