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Title: Out at the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story
Author: Lynn Ames @authorlynnames
Summary: It’s not simply that Dot Wilkinson was one of the most decorated women’s softball players, bowlers, and athletes of all time and one of the original players from the three-time-world-champion PBSW Phoenix Ramblers softball team (1933–1965). Nor was it the length of her time here on Earth—over a century—although any of these things by itself would be impressive.
The magic of Dot’s story is in the details. It’s the tale of a childhood spent in poverty, an indomitable, unbreakable spirit, a determination to be the very best to play whatever sport she undertook, the independence to live her personal life on her own terms, and her tremendous success at all of it.
Over more than a decade of countless conversations and interviews, Dot shared all of it with her dear friend, author Lynn Ames. Dot held nothing back. Out at the Plate, told through the lens of Dot and Lynn’s friendship, is the story of a forgotten era in women’s history and sports, and one extraordinary woman’s place at the center of it all.
Likes: Dot Wilkinson is an INCREDIBLE human and should be much more well known. I loved reading about her life. She went through a tremendous amount of strife throughout her life and still maintained a positive attitude.
Dislikes: There are a LOT of stats in this book and it got to be a bit much at times. I’d still recommend reading even with the abundance of numbers.
Copy provided by @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. @chireviewpress #outattheplate #netgalley #wlw #LGBTQIA #LGBTQ #booksbooksbooks #queerbookstagram #pride #softball #womenssoftball #asa #nonfiction #biography #womeninsports

“Dot Wilkinson is the greatest female catcher ever to play softball. A bold, pioneering athlete, she refused to let others define her and instead defined herself. Her story is an inspiration to people everywhere.” —Billie Jean King, Sports Icon and Champion for Equality

Author Lynn Ames had a friendship with Dot for over a decade, and in that time, Dot told her stories of her life (over a hundred years). From growing up in poverty to softball, bowling, and her queer relationships, Dot is a fascinating person. Ames’ shares her story as only a close friend (and accomplished author can).

I really enjoyed this book. During her later life, many people asked Dot if she was the inspiration for Dottie in A League of Their Own, but Dot’s life was softball, not baseball. Her commitment to it and her other passions are just one of the things that make her story so compelling. Definitely recommend a read to add to your queer history knowledge.

I’m a huge sports fan so a book about the legendary Dot Wilkinson was a must read. For those who don’t know, Dot was a premier softball player and bowler from 1930’s-1960’s, Hall of Famer in both sports. The author begins the book by describing how her initial interview of Dot grew into a close friendship between them. Then the rest of the book details Dot’s story from her childhood on a farm to her last triumphs.

What I like best about Out at the Plate is how much information I learned about Dot which made me admire her even more. She was a star athlete as a child, literally playing against adults, even then knocking the ball out of the park. Someone who could decide today she wanted to dive or play tennis, then by tomorrow, she would have mastered the sport. Dot also strived to be financially independent, starting as a Rosie the Riveter during the war years and then being one of the lone women in real estate, eventually doing her own contract work to flip houses. Amazing for anyone but for a woman in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, unheard of. Besides giving us a wealth of information, the author does a fantastic job of letting Dot’s dynamic spirit and (literal) fight shine through the pages. My favorite sports passages in the book are when Lynn Ames breaks down key games and moments. I could feel the electricity and visualize the plays with Dot at the center of the excitement. I wasn’t crazy about all the box score stats as that became tedious to read. Also, I don’t think the addition of other writer’s full articles, here and there, was necessary. Dot’s words, her friends’ comments, and the author’s take were more than enough to give the full picture.

Above all, Dot came alive for me on the pages. Not just a larger than life persona but someone who was insanely talented and charismatic but still flawed. An absolute fireball of a woman way before her time in so many ways. I wish I could have seen her play. One last thing that is brought up, which makes me wonder, is how softball games were consistently packed back in those early days, 10,000 or so rabid fans at every game in stadiums built exclusively for softball. TV seems to be the culprit as people stopped going to softball games and started attending the sports they saw broadcasted on early television, men’s sports. I’m glad that women’s sports today continue to make headway in signing to big media deals. So important.

A great, true story of a life well lived! Fans of the film A League of Their Own will love this book. While Dot Wilkinson is not inspiration for the character Dottie (as I assumed!), it is still a true-account of the behind-the-scenes experiences during the woman's softball movement from one of the very best players in the game.

It's not just about softball though. Softball is the commonality through love, friendships, diversity, and more.

A lovely read!

I do not normally read nonfiction, but so glad I started this book. Excellent read, amazing woman..Dot Wilkinson truly lived a life. Thank you Lynn Ames for bringing this to us

From the first game to the very last, Dot Wilkson was a Phoenix Rambler. In over thirty years, from 1933 to 1965, she helped take her all women’s softball team to three national titles. From a fifteen-year-old girl to a mature woman in her 40s, Dot played before audiences of thousands strong, competed in championship games, made friends, and fell in love. She was a star player, a coach, and a manager. In 1970, Dot was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame. Twenty years later, she would be inducted into the International Bowling Hall of Fame, the first person of any gender to be inducted into Halls of Fame for two different sports.

“Dot wasn’t a poor sport, but she wasn’t good at losing. I spent the first half of my life trying to beat her in softball and the last half trying to beat her in bowling.” — Flossie Ballard, Dot’s best friend

Dot, who passed in March 2023, was an amazing woman who lived an amazing life, and this is her biography, written by her friend, Lynn Ames. And that friendship comes through in the book, as personal stories and hints of Dot’s personality peek through, sly comments in between records of scores and plays. While the book does cover Dot’s life — from her early years in a small house with no indoor plumbing, to her later years where she and Ricki, her love and her partner in all the ways that counted, bought, fixed, and managed numerous properties in Phoenix — the story is framed through the lens of her love of sport. It’s also, in many ways, the biography of the Phoenix Ramblers.

Dot was one of the first players on the Ramblers, brought in by Ford, the Rambler’s first manager. He was a man who took care of the team like family, who, when informed their black player couldn’t eat with them, had the team walk out on a steak dinner at a restaurant; who put several girls through college; who taught Dot not only softball, but real estate. Dot took over when Ford retired from management, and she and the team built themselves a ball field of their own, hammering in nails, hanging doors, installing seats, and sourcing and buying pipes for plumbing and grass for the field. She was also there, along with the team, when they tore it down. As a coach, as a manager, Dot did everything for her team (much as Ford had done), paying players, helping them through college if they went, buying equipment, and paying for transportation. They were so much a part of her life, it would be impossible to disentangle them.

As someone who isn’t a fan of softball, the moments that focused on the games — listing off scores and plays — were the slowest for me, as I couldn’t visualize them or connect with them. What I could connect with, though, was Dot’s frustration at unfair calls, or the delight in finally winning a championship.

”Once she barreled into home with her head down and broke my hand. But do you know who was the first one to the hospital to see how I was? Dot Wilkinson!” — Nonie Thomas

This isn’t a fictionalized retelling or a colorful account of Dot’s life. It’s a respectful accounting of her life with facts, anecdotes straight from Dot herself, and numerous pictures of Dot and the team. It’s an entertaining look at an amazing woman and definitely worth the read.

I really enjoyed this biography of two sport legend, Dot Wilkinson. Dot's prowess on the softball field and later, the bowling lanes, is legendary. A hall of famer in both sports and a larger than life personality, her life beautifully captured by her good friend, Lynn Ames. If you enjoy reading about legendary women, this should definitely be a book you have in your collection. Mine will be sitting on my coffee table and I know will be a great conversation starter.
It's too easy to focus on everyday life and forget the contributions of those strong women who broke down barriers and changed the world for the women who came after them. This is a first rate biography and I highly recommend.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley for a honest review.

Dot Wilkinson was a phenom on the softball field-she was one of the original "League of their own" women who played during the 40's/50's and wowed the spectators with her no nonsense catching abilities. While playing for the Ramblers team in Phoenix, she regularly sparred with the the other Phoenix team-the A-1 Queens. The thing that all the softball women knew was there were a lot of lesbian players in the leagues and Dot was one of them. In fact her partner began as an arch enemy and chief rival. But that was beside the point-what mattered was who she could tag out at home plate.
If you are entranced by women's sports or outsized personalities, you can't go wrong with Lynn Ames nostalgic view of an era in women's sports before Title Nine- it is certainly time to write Dot Wilkinson and all of the women's softball players back into sports history.

Out at the Plate is written by Lynn Ames. I love reading biographies and memoirs. It always fascinates me to how people overcame obstacles and challenges. This is the story of Dot Wilkinson. Dot was a legend at softball. She is a true inspiration. She was born to a family that did not have much. She found love for sports and found herself on local softball teams by the time she hit her teens. The Phoenix Ramblers drew huge crowds. Wilkinson was a gifted catcher. Her mentor also taught her how to hit left-handed. I really enjoyed the direct quotes from Dot and the play by play of some real important games. I enjoyed the author's writing style. I felt like I was overhearing a conversation between friends.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley - for allowing me to read a copy of this book - all thoughts are my own.

The timing of the release of Out at the Plate couldn't be better, with the revival of the A League of Their Own series last summer, plus all of the renewed focus on women's sports in general, the WNBA's historic season, the USWNT and the WWC in general, and Coco Gauff winning the US Open.

Not purely a biography, the author Lynn Ames injects so many personal stories of her relationship with Dot Wilkinson that give background on what it was like to be a female athlete "back in the day", in addition to what life was like in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.

Out at the Plate is a very timely book for any reader who enjoys women's history.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chicago Review Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

**No rating**

I am choosing not to rate this because it is nonfiction and contains someone’s personal experiences. I did enjoy the parts that discussed the period in Dot Wilkinson’s life that featured her playing softball. If you enjoy A League of Their Own, I would recommend this book. This book does feature a lot of the relationship of the author with Dot, so do know that going in.

A softball giant: Remembering the early heydays of female athletes
This biography is based on the serendipitous friendship between journalist and author Lynn Ames and Dot Wilkinson, a double hall-of-fame athlete (softball / bowling). Lynn Ames puts a bright spot-light on the blooming of female athletes in softball from roughly 1930 until the early 60s where Dot Wilkinson ruled larger than life home plate and became the greatest catcher ever to play women‘s softball.
It is a near forgotten era where women encouraged by taking men‘s jobs during WW II ventured ahead and started the idea that women really could do anything. The softball games of the Phoenix Ramblers drew large crowds of thousands of spectators back in the day and those female athletes were among those who planted the seed for modern women‘s liberation.
The book starts with the story how Lynn Ames and Dot Wilkinson met. It introduces some of the key players and the setting where Dot is part of softball „royalty“. The only con: I felt at one point that the insertion of the biographer and her awe of meeting Dot and her famous friends was a bit overdone.
The biographical part is vivid. The narration is interspersed with direct quotes by Dot herself, snippets from newspaper reports and a blow-by-blow report of key games. It helped to immerse myself into those times and get a feel of what those times were like. The con: At times the quotes relate the same fact over and over again - a judicious culling would have helped, in the ARC it was mostly not clear when snippets from newspaper started and ended (quotations marks or italics would have been helpful). The enummeration of players in each season who didn‘t play a key role in the biography grew at times tedious and made have been related to an annex.The end was heart-wrenching: when you live over a century like Dot loss is guaranteed but there might be hope for a team literally made up in heaven.
I loved to learn about those early heydays for women athletes and get to know them and their lifes. There were quite a few poignant moments: teams who actively sought out good looking, feminine players clinging to stereotypese. Every so often misogyny would raise its ugly head. There is the way lesbian players had to hide: „We were born at a time when we were all in the closet, and that was just the name of the game. You had to live with it, and that‘s what we did.“ I was touched to learn that Dotty had lived together with her lifepartner for 48 years and acknowledged it for the first time in Ricki‘s obituary (much like astronaut Sally Ride!). The heartbreak of losing your first partner to early breast cancer which then was difficult to treat and your mother not getting why you are in deep mourning. There is the bitter racism and color barrier which Billie Harris had to endure and how the team stood by her. Poignant as well: getting older with all that this brings - but also the joy of throwing the first pitch for the Arizona Diamondbacks when Dot Wilkinson was 94 yrs old (2016)!
So if you are interested in Herstory in general or in female athletes or in softball this is a great read. It made me sit in awe for those giants who paved our way.

Thanks for the ARC via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eArc to review.

Sadly this book was not for me which is such a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this book and learn about Dot Wilkinson. What put me off was the author's writing as it felt more focused on her than on Dot and I understand that Dot and Lynn were friends but I don't want to read chapters upon chapters about Lynn rather than the story of how Dot started sports and her career. I dnf'd this by the 20% mark.

Surely, Dot would have a book that was more than 270 pages with a focus purely on her rather than how Lynn and her met and their friendship. To me that would have been great for an introduction or chapter one but not the full book.