Chester Library Spotlights Local Women’s Professional Baseball Pioneer

Chester Library hits a home run with a new exhibit featuring former outfielder for the 1950 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Chicks, Lois “Tommie” Barker. “Chester’s ‘Tommie’ Barker – a Year in Professional Women’s Baseball, a Lifetime of Memories,” includes items from her own collection including sweater and uniform patches, team and personal portraits, and baseball cards. The Library also will present a companion program on the history of women’s professional baseball, featuring Leslie Heaphy, author of Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball, on Thursday, July 25 at 7 pm.

Barker played for only one year because her father became ill, and she returned home to Chester to care for him. The League sent her a contract renewal for 1951, but she returned it unsigned due to her devotion to her father. She later played softball for the Chester Farmerettes until 1961 when she began working for the aerospace industry at Operative Industries in Chester.

Until the film, “A League of Their Own” was released in 1992, according to Barker, “My friends never believed I played professional baseball.” But when she began speaking at events honoring the female baseball pioneers, they were quickly convinced.

The League was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. Barker’s certificate from that ceremony is displayed in the exhibit. The exhibit is located in the new Rossney E. Smyth Memorial Display Case. 

The Local History Department of the Chester Library in Chester, New Jersey is a resource for reference and original materials that document Chester, Morris County, and N.J. history. The purpose of the Local History Department is to collect, preserve, describe, and make accessible these materials to the local community, as well as to visiting and online researchers.

The Chester Library serves the residents of Chester Borough and Chester Township, New Jersey. The library houses a collection of over 70,000 books, DVDs, CDs, video games, audio books and e-books. In addition, it offers a wide array of adult, teen and children's programs, public computers, online research services and community meeting rooms.