Out At the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story by Lynn Ames is a biography that not only to the amazing athlete who won three world softball champions, but also a woman who enjoyed the nuances life had to offer and lived it to the fullest every day.
To know Dot Wilkinson was a treasure. She was the kind of person you loved to talk to and hated to go up against on the field of play. Dot’s prowess as a natural athlete allowed her to excel at every sport she touched. But that wasn’t all Dot was. She was a woman born into poverty yet made the most of every opportunity given to her. Her unbreakable spirit opened doors at a time when women were expected to have children, stay at home, or do menial jobs. Her determination to be more than what was expected of her allowed her to live her life independently, full of laughter, heartache, sports, and love who she wanted.
This isn’t simply just a story of one of the most decorated woman softball player. This is a story of a forgotten era in women’s history and one amazing woman’s place at the heart of it all.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
What I really like is how Ames takes great care in making sure that we hear this story in Dot’s own words.
She starts off with how she met Dot. On a hot day in Phoenix, she pulls up to Dot’s house for an interview. And while the greatest softball player of all time was a little reluctant, she eventually warmed up to Lynn Ames – anyone who’s met her can understand how easy it is – by giving her the biggest seal of endorsement: reading her book. From there a great and beautiful friendship was born, and Ames goes through those first few months of their meeting with humor, heartache, and unbelievability that the Dot Wilkinson wanted to spend time with her.
As we get into the nitty gritty of Dot’s life – her childhood, how she was introduced to softball, who she dated – it’s not Ames telling the story. It’s Dot. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how much of Dot’s own words were used. I felt like I was sitting with Dot on her back porch, listening to her retell of events that were important to shaping who she was as a person. Whether it was about her early days on the Ramblers, the agony of losing the national championship, meeting her first girlfriend, I could feel every emotion Dot felt in those moments. I even laughed a little bit at her telling of how she got into a little tizzy with her girlfriend because another woman took a shine to her. This is what I expect not only from Ames, who is an amazing author, but from a woman who loved her friend and wrote her story exactly the way Dot told it.
Cons And Heads Up
Be prepared to read about a lot of softball. This isn’t really a con. After all, it’s Dot Wilkinson, Softball Hall of Fame player. But, if you’re not familiar with the sport, this book is a great starting point if you ever wanted to learn more about it.
The Conclusion
I wish I had the chance to meet Dot personally. I know she’s in a better place (Dot passed away in March, 2023), playing with her late partner, Ricki, and all her friends on heaven’s All-Star softball team, but she left her story in the best hands. Ames did an exceptional job of giving us her words, her stories, and her emotions so we all could enjoy who Dot was. This is a love letter to Dot from Ames, but it’s also a love letter to softball. Dot Wilkinson was a formidable force. Because of that, she will always be remembered as a great human being who gave it her all in every moment of her life.
Excerpt from Out At the Plate: The Dot Wilkinson Story by Lynn Ames
“How’s Ricki?” I finally ventured.
Dot shook her head. “It’s no good. She’s in a lot of pain.”
“I’m so sorry, Dot.”
“We’ve been together forty-seven years. It’ll be forty-eight years in October. I hoped we’d make it to fifty.” Her voice trailed off. She glanced up at me. “I told her about your book. She couldn’t believe I’d read it.”
“Why?”
“Ricki’s the reader. I haven’t picked up a book in all the time we’ve been together.”
“Seriously?”
Dot shrugged. “I never had time to read. I was always out playing ball or working. By the time we’d get home, I was too tired to do anything but put my feet up.”
I digested this information. “Why’d you read my book?”
“I read the back. It sounded interesting. I’ve never read anything like it. You wrote about people like me. My friends.”
“You mean you’d never read anything with lesbian characters?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know anyone wrote about things like that.”
I was intrigued by this piece of information and by the fact that Dot was willing to talk to me openly about her sexuality and her relationship with Ricki. In my experience writing historical fiction, I’d had a very hard time getting people of Dot’s generation to admit to same-sex relationships and discuss what their lives had been like in the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s.
“You said you and Ricki have been together forty-seven years…” I hoped by leaving the comment open-ended, Dot would pick up the thread.
“She came over here after the 1962 season. She left her own team, the Orange [California] Lionettes, and her life on the west coast, to come here for me. Can you imagine that?” Dot looked at me, obviously perplexed. “Why would she do that?”
“Love?”
“She had a good job as a technical illustrator at Hughes Aircraft. She had a stake in the Lionettes. She had an apartment. She walked away from all of that.” Dot speared a sweet potato fry, dipped it in ketchup, and popped it in her mouth.
“She fell in love with you, and she obviously knew you’d never leave Phoenix.”
“No,” Dot shook her head, “I never would’ve done what she did. I was a Rambler for life.”
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 978-1-64160-999-9
Publisher: Chicago Review Press Incorporated
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