Edith Grace Houghton was an American professional baseball player and scout. A former shortstop in women's baseball whose professional career began when she was ten years old, Houghton became the first female scout in Major League Baseball when she joined the talent-spotting staff of the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League in 1946. She served in that role until 1952, when she returned to active service in the United States Navy. She had joined the WAVES during World War II. Houghton was a native of the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A standout athlete and baseball player, she joined the Philadelphia Bobbies professional women's team in 1922 and toured with them during a trip to Japan in 1925 at age 13. She later played with other women's pro teams such as the Hollywood Girls and the New York Bloomer Girls. Named to the Phillies' scouting corps by owner R. R. M. Carpenter, Jr., after the Second World War, when the Phillies transformed themselves from habitual last-place finishers to 1950 National League champions as the "Whiz Kids," Houghton signed 15 players but none was able to make the Major Leagues. 

February 10th, 1912 in   /  Died:   Feb 2nd, 2012