Folder (AAGBPL)
Rose Folder Powell (1926-2014) was born in Auburn and grew up in Springfield, where she graduated from Feitshans High School in 1944.
Folder was still in high school when she began pitching for some of Springfield’s top women’s softball teams, including the Green For Governor Girls, Springfield Merchants and Madison Furniture Co. She also played for the Litchfield Air Steppers and briefly joined the Peoria Chicks. In 1943, she was recruited by the Tungsten Spark Plug Co. semi-pro team in Chicago; she made spark plugs part-time while playing softball.
In 1944, Folder attended spring training for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and played for the Kenosha Comets, batting .261. An ankle injury ended her baseball career, but she later played professional fast-pitch softball for the Bluebirds in the Chicago-based National Girls Baseball League.
After her playing career, Folder attended college, married Edward Powell, and raised six children. She is buried in Carnation, Wash.
Contributor: Thanks to Anna Sielaff, local history librarian at Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection.
Original content copyright Sangamon County Historical Society. You are free to republish this content as long as credit is given to the Society. Learn how to support the Society.