1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to 6 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. America's national pastime has seen its 7 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: fair share of legends. Greats like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, 8 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: Ted Williams, and Ty Cobb have left their marks not 9 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: just on baseball but on the landscape of American sports. 10 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: Yet there are two players who have been named as 11 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: legends despite suffering a few embarrassing losses at the heights 12 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: of their careers, specifically at the hand well the arm 13 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: of one unsuspecting picture. The name Jackie Mitchell probably doesn't 14 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,199 Speaker 1: ring a bell even to the most ardent baseball fans. 15 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: Mitchell was a left handed pitcher for a minor league 16 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: team in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Before that, Mitchell grew up learning 17 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: from some of the best pitchers the game had ever seen. 18 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: Dazzy Vance, who had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 19 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, had once taught the up and comer 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: how to throw a sinker. There were also the kids 21 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: around town who would all play ball together, giving Mitchell 22 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: all the practice needed to take on the biggest names 23 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: in baseball, specifically Babe Ruth and lou Garrig. By one, 24 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: Ruth was a star on the field and off. He'd 25 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: already won three World Series with the New York Yankees, 26 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:43,559 Speaker 1: He'd been in a feature film, and he was doing 27 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: some of the best playing of his life. And Lou Garrig, 28 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: Ruth's teammates, was right behind him. In more ways than one. 29 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: Where Ruth batted third in the lineup, Garrig batted fourth. 30 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: From extra base hits to total basses, lou garreg stats 31 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: were often one or two places behind the Babes, making 32 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: the two players a powerful duo on the field. Joe Angle, 33 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: formerly of the Washington Senators, was looking for a way 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: to boost ticket sales for his minor League Tennessee baseball team. 35 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: It just so happened that the Yankees were passing through 36 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: Chattanooga on their way back from spring training in Florida. 37 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: They decided to play a few exhibition games against Angle's team, 38 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: the Lookouts, which were sure to drum up business. After all, 39 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't every day that Chattanooga locals got to see 40 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: Babe Ruth and lou Garreg play against their hometown heroes. 41 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: And to really seal the deal, Angle brought over his 42 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: newly signed picture Jackie Mitchell to face the Babe and 43 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: the Iron horse head on. Mitchell couldn't wait to knock 44 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: Ruth and Gereg for a loop, especially with the possibility 45 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: of a big league career on the line. The date 46 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: was set on April second. Four thousand cheering fans filled 47 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: the stands at Angle Stadium. The day before, reporters had 48 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: interviewed Mitchell, who was quoted as saying, I'll do my 49 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: best and we'll go out there with plenty of pep 50 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: and with my mind made up on one thing. To 51 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: fan Babe Ruth. The picture took the mount. Ruth stepped 52 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: up to the plate. The crowd roared. Mitchell through the 53 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: first pitch as a ball inside a rough start. A 54 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: second pitch flew over the plate, Ruth swung and missed 55 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: strike one. Another pitch came sailing through and he swung 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: once more, Strike two. Ruth asked the umpire to examine 57 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: the ball for any defects or signs of tampering, but 58 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: the umpire didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Mitchell 59 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: had smoked him fair and square. Ruth angrily accepted the 60 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: umpire's ruling and got ready. Finally, the last ball sailed 61 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: straight ahead, landing in the catcher's mitt. As the Great 62 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: Bambino swung for the third time, he was out, much 63 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: to the surprise of the crowd. He threw his bat 64 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: on the ground and stormed off as Garret stepped up 65 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: to the plate and Lou didn't fare any better, swinging 66 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: at every pitch and missing each time. Three strikes and 67 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: he was out for one heavy hitter. To strike out 68 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: against a newcomer was a shock, but two that was 69 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: unheard of. Even more surprising was who they'd lost to. 70 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: Jackie Mitchell wasn't just a minor league nubi. Jackie Mitchell 71 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: was an eighteen year old girl. Now, some historians claim 72 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: the whole thing was a set up from the start, 73 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: After all, Joe Engel's nickname was the Baron of Bologna. 74 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: He was known to pull all kinds of stunts to 75 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: sell tickets to his games, including replacing his shortstop with 76 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: a live Turkey. Pitting an unknown Mitchell against two willing 77 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: participants in Ruth and Gereg may have been just another 78 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: ruse to get people in the seats. Others believe Mitchell 79 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: really did strike them out. Neither Ruth nor Gereg ever 80 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: admitted to being in on it. She was young and inexperienced, 81 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: so it was possible that they just didn't expect her 82 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: to pitch the way that she did and missed because 83 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: of it. Either way, Jackie Mitchell died in nineteen eighties seven, 84 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: believing that she had struck out Babe Ruth and lou Garrig. 85 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: She was a legend in her own right and an 86 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: inspiration to women everywhere. At the height of World War Two, 87 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: people all over the world were pitching in to support 88 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: the war effort. Those who couldn't fight helped organize scrap 89 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: metal drives, welded airplane wings together, and sold war bonds. 90 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: Many of these jobs were done by the wives and 91 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: mothers of the men fighting overseas. However, over three hundred 92 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand women served during the war, from the 93 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: Army to the Air Force. In fact, several women helped 94 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 1: the Allies win thanks to a particularly crafty secret weapon, 95 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: one that the enemy never saw coming. Phillis Latour was 96 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: born in South Africa in nineteen twenty one, but at 97 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,559 Speaker 1: the age of twenty she moved to England and joined 98 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. She had never intended on 99 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: going into the field, instead opting to become a flight 100 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: mechanic and work on planes. However, her superiors saw her 101 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: as a valuable asset outside of the shop due to 102 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: her fluency with the French language. Latour had been chosen 103 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: to become a spy, and she jumped at the chance. 104 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,839 Speaker 1: Her godmother's father had been killed by the Nazis and 105 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: her godmother had sadly taken her own life while she 106 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: was held prisoner. This was her chance to avenge their deaths, 107 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: and Latour's spy training was multifaceted, with a strenuous physical 108 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: regimen on top of a rigorous mental exercise. She learned 109 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: how to infiltrate buildings with the help of a former 110 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: cat burglar, while also studying Morse code. She also had 111 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: to make fourteen parachute jumps and know how to pick 112 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: locks to prove that she could do the job. Once 113 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: her training was complete, Latour was given the code name 114 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: Genevieve and deployed out into the field. She worked on 115 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: a v she France for a year for beginning the 116 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: biggest mission of her life. On May one, nine four, 117 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: she parachuted into Nazi occupied Normandy. Her name this time 118 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: was Poulette and she was just a poor French girl 119 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: selling soap to make ends meet. She traveled by bicycle, 120 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: stopping and talking pleasantly with the Nazi officers she met. 121 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: To them, she was a simple, unassuming girl just passing by. 122 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: To her, the soldiers were tools to be used as 123 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: she coaxed valuable information out of them. Then she took 124 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: what they told her, like their current positions and plans, 125 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: and sent everything back to the British. But in order 126 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: to get the messages across enemy lines, Latour had to 127 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: encode it in case the Germans intercepted it. To do this, 128 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: she didn't use a common cipher or encryption technique. She 129 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: relied on something she had on hand, her knitting needles. 130 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: It sounds crazy, I know, but knitting was a perfect 131 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: way to hide messages in plain sight. La Tour used 132 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: knit stitches and pearl stitches to represent the dashes and 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: dots of Morse code, which were translated later using a 134 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: special machine. She had thousands of codes at the ready, 135 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: all of which were stored on a piece of silk 136 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,559 Speaker 1: she kept tied up in her hair, and she wasn't 137 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: the only one. Knitting was a popular way to transmit 138 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: messages for both sides of the war. It was said 139 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: that the Germans had taken to knitting entire sweaters in 140 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: order to conceal their messages. If someone were to unravel 141 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: the sweater, they'd find a wool thread with knots up 142 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: and down the length of it. That thread would then 143 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: need to be placed against a door frame that had 144 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: been marked up with the letters of the alphabet one 145 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: inch apart. The letters that the knots touched were the 146 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: letters used to encode the message, and even those who 147 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: weren't knitting codes into their gloves and scarves could serve 148 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: as great spies, blending into the background and just listening 149 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: to conversations. This was a technique often used during the 150 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War. The messages overheard by knitters were written on 151 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: little pieces of paper and stuffed into balls of yarn 152 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: that were then passed two American soldiers without the British 153 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: ever know what was going on. It seems that for 154 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: hundreds of years, knitting flew under the radar as it tried, 155 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: in true way to undermine the opposition. The stories of 156 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,439 Speaker 1: those who stitched their way to victory might sound implausible, 157 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: but they are anything but yarns. Their tales of courage, 158 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: about the women who won by doing what few people 159 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: could do. They pulled the wool over their enemies eyes. 160 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 161 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 162 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:36,439 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 163 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 164 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 165 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 166 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 167 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.