Dottie Collins dies at 84

Ben Smith The Journal Gazette

August 13, 2008 3:08 p.m

Dottie Collins, who starred for the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and later was instrumental in keeping alive its memory as the main spokesperson for the AAGPBL Players Association, has died.

Collins died Tuesday evening at about 8:30. She was 84 years old.

Known as Dottie Wiltse before she married Harvey Collins, a North Side graduate and World War II veteran, she was one of the dominant pitchers of the AAGPBL's underhand era, (pre-1948). She played from 1944 through 1948, sat out the 1949 season to concentrate on raising the Collinses' first child, Patricia, then returned for the 1950 season before retiring for good.

In six seasons in the AAGPBL, she had a record of 117-76 with an ERA of 1.83. In each of her first four seasons, she won more than 20 games.