Sophie Mary Kurys ("Flint Flash," "Tina Cobb")
Racine Belles stolen-base star of the AAGPBL; Flint-born, Racine-made at Horlick Field
Net worth
$50 a week
May 13, 1943
About
Sophie Mary Kurys—the “Flint Flash”—was the Racine Belles star who stole bases the way other players hit singles, and whose 1946 season still reads like fiction.
Allocated to Racine at seventeen from Flint, Michigan, she asked “God, where’s Racine?” on assignment day at Wrigley Field, then spent eight seasons making Horlick Field the place to watch a runner in a skirt.
Born in Flint on May 14, 1925, she was scouted by John Gottselig in an April gym while snow flurries fell outside; she showed up in a skirt and sweater with a glove. At 5-foot-5 and about 120 pounds she led the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in stolen bases seven straight seasons. In 1946 she stole 201 bases in 203 tries, scored 117 runs, drew 93 walks, won Player of the Year, and in the fourteenth inning of Game Six of the Shaughnessy final against the Rockford Peaches slid home in a dress to win Racine the championship before 5,630 at Horlick Field. Her career total of 1,114 steals stood as a professional record until Rickey Henderson passed it.
When the franchise left for Battle Creek she stayed. She had already been working winters at Apex Machine Products making auto and airplane parts, became vice president, and retired in 1972 before moving to Scottsdale to play golf. In July 1950 the Belles held Sophie Kurys Night at Horlick while she sat on 1,033 career steals and was not finished. She liked A League of Their Own and said the actresses did an adequate job, then added that the real Belles had been super good ballplayers. She died in Scottsdale on February 17, 2013. Flint gave her the nickname; Racine kept her.
Notable facts
In 1946 she stole 201 bases in 203 attempts for the Racine Belles, won AAGPBL Player of the Year, and scored the fourteenth-inning championship run against Rockford at Horlick Field.
Led the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in stolen bases seven straight seasons; her 1,114 career steals stood as a professional record until Rickey Henderson passed it.
After the Belles left for Battle Creek she stayed in Racine as vice president of Apex Machine Products until retiring in 1972, then moved to Scottsdale, where she died on February 17, 2013.
What questions can this profile answer
- What makes Sophie Mary Kurys ("Flint Flash," "Tina Cobb") notable?
- Sophie Mary Kurys—the “Flint Flash”—was the Racine Belles star who stole bases the way other players hit singles, and whose 1946 season still reads like fiction. Allocated to Racine at seventeen from Flint, Michigan, she asked “God, where’s Racine?” on assignment day at Wrigley Field, then spent eight seasons making…
- What is Sophie Mary Kurys ("Flint Flash," "Tina Cobb")'s estimated net worth?
- Sophie Mary Kurys ("Flint Flash," "Tina Cobb")'s estimated net worth is $50 a week as of 1943-05-13.