In 1925, the Chicago White Sox hired Roy Largent as a full-time scout. Bessie signed on as Roy’s secretary, practically a necessity given his near or complete deafness. But Bessie had already seen plenty of baseball while serving as the scorekeeper for the high school baseball team that Roy coached. And in 1933, The Sporting News reported that together the Largents had “the eyes and judgment of a man; the cleverness and intuition of a woman.”

Image Wallace’s notes during the game in Port Charlotte, Fla. Credit... Corey Perrine for The New York Times

In 1936, the Chicago Daily Tribune columnist Arch Ward suggested that Bessie, not Roy, had been largely responsible for the White Sox’ acquisition of shortstop Luke Appling, a future Hall of Famer.

By the time Roy died in 1943, Bessie had been struggling with severe arthritis for five years, and her scouting career ended around the same time. During their tenure with the White Sox, the Largents reportedly signed more than 150 players, with 25 reaching the major leagues.

That brings us to Houghton. At 10 years old, she ranked among the United States’ best female baseball players, and she toured Japan in the 1920s with the Philadelphia Bobbies. Later she played with the New York Bloomer Girls and the Hollywood Girls, two of the top women’s barnstorming teams. Houghton also served during World War II in the Waves, the women’s division of the United States Navy.