*This article was originally published on Saskatchewan Dugout Stories on February 13. You can read it here.

February 14, 2025

By Joe McFarland

Saskatchewan Dugout Stories

Her nickname was the “Iron Lady.”

Between 1945 and 1948, Arleene (Johnson) Noga was a mainstay on the hot corner in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, suiting up with the Fort Wayne Daisies and Muskegon Lassies.

She would play in more than 300 consecutive games, set a league record for best fielding percentage amongst third basemen, and helped the Lassies win an AAGPBL pennant in 1947.

The Ogema, Saskatchewan native, one of 68 Canadians to play in the league, was always fuelled by her love of the game.

Even after her playing days were done, Noga was the first to volunteer her time at baseball clinics or speaking engagements to spread the word about the game in her province.

She was eventually inducted into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame, Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame.

Noga, who passed away in 2017, is set to add one more accolade to that list.

She will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as part of the Class of 2025.

“I was surprised and honoured to learn that my mom was being inducted,” said her daughter, Carol Lee Noga Scott.

“I was surprised because I had no idea that this was in the works, but I feel honoured because she dedicated most of her life to baseball and empowering women in sport as a player, coach, mentor and ambassador.”

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Listen to Saskatchewan Dugout Stories discuss Arleene Noga here.

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Like many of her teammates, Noga’s baseball journey seemingly came to life decades after she stepped onto the diamond.

‘BLACK EYE DIDN’T STOP ME’

A New Year’s baby in 1924, Noga was one of five children on a wheat farm near Ogema, about an hour-and-a-half drive south of Regina.

She remembered playing baseball with her family on a homemade diamond in between the regular chores like milking cows and grooming horses.

There was also a field at their nearby school, where the children would play during their lunch hour.

In an interview with Maclean’s in 2014, Noga recalled always trying to avoid hitting the teachers and the horses, although a friend’s swing did hit her hard once.

“He smashed my glasses,” she said.

“But the black eye didn’t stop me from playing ball.”

In grade 12, Noga moved to Regina to work as a secretary while she tried playing sports, including softball.

It was there she was first noticed by an American scout.

“He took me right off the diamond,” Noga said. “He asked me immediately if I’d be interested in going south.”

She was, and a week later, she boarded a train with about a dozen other female players headed for Chicago.

GOING PRO

Noga signed a contract after her first tryout and played in 15 games for the Daisies in 1945 before being traded to the Lassies, setting in motion Noga’s consecutive games played streak.

Over the next four seasons, she played the eighth-most games among Canadians who played in the AAGPBL with 354.

Also nicknamed “Johnnie,” Noga ranks ninth in at-bats, runs batted in and stolen bases while she is 10th in hits and runs scored.

She could have kept going, too.

The reliable infielder returned home to Saskatchewan in 1947, where her father hinted that it might be time to come home for good.

“He said girls don’t go on forever in ball,” she told Maclean’s. “He thought it was best that I carry on with a family and job.”

She played one more season and, after she left, coaches sent letters trying to change her mind.

LOVE OF THE GAME

Noga returned to Regina following the 1948 season and settled into life working at a telephone company, where she met her husband, Ron, and had two kids.

She never gave up on the game though, playing softball until she was 70 while also coaching and being involved as much as she could.

Interestingly, the stories of her professional baseball career didn’t really get shared around the dinner table at home.

“It’s funny and interesting because mom never talked about her playing while I was growing up,” Carol Lee said. “I really didn’t know much about it until the movie came out.”

That movie, A League of their Own, came out in 1992, introducing a new generation of baseball lovers to the AAGPBL.

Noga served as a technical advisor for the film, working with many of the actors including Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna.

“Then it started being talked about,” Noga’s daughter said.

“Mom just did it for the love of the sport and playing was her passion.”

While she says her mother was proud of her achievements, Carol Lee says the stories were almost always about teammates and the opportunity to play the game.

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION

As women’s sports have finally been amplified more in recent years, the story of Noga and her teammates have once again been thrust into the spotlight.

The sports complex in Ogema, was dedicated as the “Arleene Johnson-Noga Grandstand” in 2004.

A League of their Own became a Netflix series, while a Heritage Minute was filmed in the town of 383 to celebrate the contributions of Canadians in the AAGPBL, most notably Noga and Regina’s Mary “Bonnie” Baker.

Fittingly, Noga’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2025 is happening alongside another prominent woman in the game.

Amanda Asay had a decorated career with the Baseball Canada Women’s National Team, winning numerous medals and being named team MVP in 2006 and 2016.

She passed tragically passed away in a skiing accident in 2022.

Her family says the movie was a staple in the house.

“I think it’s on her playlist on her hard drive,” her father, George, said. “It was interesting to hear about Arleene because there’s a lot of parallels there – the love of the game and giving back to the game.”

It’s something the two families will be able to share together when Noga and Asay are officially inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Mary’s, Ontario on June 7.