Edith Grace Houghton was born February 10th, 1912, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and was the youngest of ten children. When Edith was six, her family moved to Diamond Street in Philly, where directly across the street, was a baseball diamond, and when it was free, the kids in the neighborhood would start a game. Edith’s father, William, who was a distributor for grocery stores, was also a skilled baseball player and taught Edith many techniques that would shape her into quite the prodigy. Infatuated with baseball, Edith was even the Philadelphia Police’s mascot at the age of 8. Friends, family, and fans gave her the nickname “The Kid”
At the age of 10, Edith was way too young to try out for a factory baseball team, so she tried out the Philadelphia Bobbies and won the starting shortstop role. The Bobbies were a semi-pro team comprised of young women from ages 13-20, with the exception of the age 10 phenom, and were named after the haircut, “the bob”. As the youngest and smallest on the team, Edith had to tighten her cap with a safety pin and punch holes into her belt to hold up her billowing uniform. Edith never concerned herself with her appearance, she was focused and dynamic on the field, and local papers praised her performance as the highlight of their games.
