The story of women in baseball cannot be told without Maud.

Maud Nelson (born Clementina Brida, November 17, 1881 in Italy - d. February 15, 1944 in Chicago, IL) was an early professional woman baseball pitcher, scout, manager, and team owner.

Maud began pitching professionally at the age of 16, as a starting pitcher for the Boston Bloomer Girls who traveled across the country in 1897. She started virtually every game, usually pitching a few innings, then moving to third base. In the 1890s, the novelty of barnstorming ladies “Bloomer Girls” teams attracted attention. These clubs usually had a few (typically 1-3) male players and would play against men’s clubs.

Maud was the most successful female player and the premier female pitcher of latter 19th and early 20th century. She played for several professional baseball teams, including the American Athletic Girls and the Cherokee Indian Base Ball Club. In addition to her starting pitching duties, she often played third base in the later innings of a game.

In 1911, Maud Nelson became owner-manager of the Western Bloomer Girls, along with her first husband, John B. Olson, Jr. She also became a baseball scout in 1911, recruiting both male and female players for a number of professional teams. After John died in 1917, Maud again played for Boston, and managed a women's team for the Chicago Athletic Club.

In the early 1920s, Maud married Costante Dellacqua, with whom she later started the All Star Ranger Girls team. In the 1930s, she retired to a house in the neighborhood of Wrigley Field, living there until her death in 1944.

In 2001, Nelson became part of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as a posthumous inductee.

(excerpted from SABR, Italian American HoF, Baseball Prospectus, Vintage Baseball Association, Weebly & Wikipedia)