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Mo'Ne Davis has become the queen of Little League Baseball. The 13-year-old pitcher from Philadelphia - one of two girls in the Williamsport, Pennsylvania, series - threw a two-hit shutout in the opening game for her team.

The original "Queen of Baseball" would be proud.

Only 18 girls have ever played in the Little League World Series, and just four of them have been American. So now we celebrate the return of young girls - and maybe women - to the game of baseball with boys and perhaps men as if it is breaking new ground.

It is, though, a return. A century ago, women playing the National Pastime was not such a novelty. Their numbers were growing, and so were the occasional opportunities to play with and against men on a competitive level.

But, ironically, it was Little League Baseball that dealt the death blow to women playing with the founding of the organization in 1939 and the decision that it would be for boys only.

Softball began growing in popularity, and was emphasized by physical educators as a less strenuous way for women to participate in the competition of baseball. Women who were determined to play hardball did so among themselves, the most well-known outlet of which was the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded by Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley during World War II.

But just two decades earlier, the door had seemingly been open for women to possibly be more than a wartime exhibition. There was debate about whether women would be playing baseball with men. And at the center of the debate was the original "Queen of Baseball" - Lizzie Murphy.

She grew up in a man's world - born in Warren, Rhode Island, in 1894, and working in one of the textile mills there when she was 12 years old. When she wasn't working, she would compete against the boys in town in all sorts of sports - baseball in particular.

In an interview years later, Murphy talked about how her love for the game grew.

"I was always dreaming of the outdoors and baseball," she said. "Even when I was too small to play, I used to beg the boys to let me carry the bats. Finally, I was allowed to join the team for only one reason - I used to steal my father's gloves and bats and bring them along, so I was a valuable asset to them when I could furnish some of the equipment."

Soon she became more valuable as a player, and by the age of 15, she was playing for the top amateur baseball clubs in town - the Warren Silk Hats, the perennial Inter-State League champions, and the Warren Baseball Club.

Murphy would be recruited to play for the town semi-pro baseball team, and became its star attraction. She had the talent and the toughness to survive and thrive in a man's game.

The story goes that the team managed to bring in $85 for her first appearance in a game, but when the money was divided among the team, she received nothing. That didn't happen again.

Warren had a big game coming up on the road in Newport, and Murphy's presence on the Warren team was a big selling point for promoting the game. So when it came time to get on the bus for the game in Newport, Murphy told the manager she wasn't going unless she got a cut of the gate. "No money, no Newport," she said.

Murphy got her money.

The legend of Lizzie Murphy grew, and so did her stature in the game. She began playing pro ball full-time in 1918 for the Providence Independents, and toured around New England.

Eddie Carr noticed. The ballplayer/performer had put together a popular barnstorming pro team known as "Eddie Carr's All Stars," playing about 100 games throughout the summer in New York, New England and Canada. He signed Murphy to play first base for the club.

"No ball is too hard for her to scoop out of the dirt," Carr told reporters upon signing Lizzie. "And when it comes to batting, she packs a mean Wagon Tongue" - a brand of bat manufactured by Spalding.

Murphy was the star of the All-Stars - the only player to have her name on the front and back of her uniform. She sold postcards with her picture on them to the crowds, and sold tickets for the team with her presence.

"She swells attendance, and she's worth every cent I pay her," Carr said. "But more important, she produces the goods. She's a real player and a good fellow."

Then came the moment - Aug. 14, 1922, at Fenway Park in Boston - where Murphy would step on the field against major league ballplayers.

It was an exhibition charity game featuring the All-Stars against the Boston Red Sox. Murphy was not in the starting lineup, but entered the game later at first base, where she played two innings, and got the attention of the crowd by fielding a wide throw from the third baseman to get the runner at first.

Her appearance gained national attention, and seemed, given the tenure of the times - women emerging in political and social circles - that Murphy had perhaps paved the way for women in the men's game.

But it never came to pass.

Murphy would go on to play another less-heralded all-star game against the Boston Braves in 1928, and made an appearance with the Cleveland Colored Giants in the Negro Leagues.

She stopped playing in 1935, married two years later and worked a variety of jobs in the mills in Warren and on oyster boats. Murphy died on April, 17, 1964, at the age of 70 - a pioneer who could play a slick first base, the "Queen of Baseball."

* Thom Loverro is co-host of "The Sports Fix," noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 radio and espn980.com.

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LOVERRO: Mo'Ne Davis would be rooted on by Lizzie Murphy, the original 'Queen of Baseball'

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Only 18 girls have ever played in the Little League World Series, and just four of them have been American. So now we celebrate the return of young girls - and maybe women - to the game of baseball with boys and perhaps men as if it is breaking new ground.

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Harry Caray, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Chicago Cubs (Listen First!)

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Harry Caray, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Chicago Cubs (Listen First!)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnHV5FaqvEs

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1908 Edison Recording of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Listen Second!)

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1908 Edison Recording of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Listen Second!)

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https://archive.org/details/EdwardMeeker-TakeMeOutToTheBallGame1908

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Rebuttal to Frank Deford: Alana Glass, Forbes.com

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Rebuttal to Frank Deford: Alana Glass, Forbes.com

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http://www.npr.org/2014/01/15/262386412/womens-team-sports-where-is-the-love

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http://www.npr.org/2014/01/15/262386412/womens-team-sports-where-is-the-love

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Contemporary: "Girls Flock to Little League after Success of Mo'Ne Davis," NY Post

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Contemporary: "Girls Flock to Little League after Success of Mo'Ne Davis," NY Post

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http://nypost.com/2015/05/16/girls-flock-to-little-league-after-success-of-mone-davis/

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Contemporary: French Female Teen Makes MLB History

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Contemporary: French Female Teen Makes MLB History

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http://m.mlb.com/news/article/132044338/melissa-mayeux-france-eligible-sign-mlb

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Contemporary: "Will a Woman Ever Play Major League Baseball," NY Post

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Contemporary: "Will a Woman Ever Play Major League Baseball," NY Post

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2418403-throwback-thursday-female-ace-jackie-mitchell-strikes-out-babe-ruth

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Lizzie Murphy didn't take 'no' for an answer. Even as a little kid, when the boys told her she was too small to play with their team in baseball, she persuaded them to let her carry the bats. So began the career of the first woman to play major league baseball.

Largely because she could borrow her father's equipment - he was a semi-pro ball player - Lizzie soon got herself a spot playing first base with the local boys, and there was no stopping her after that.

Lizzie Murphy

Murphy, born in 1894 in Warren, R.I., was a pure athlete - skater, runner, and swimmer. She had athletic ability to burn. But it was baseball where she would make her mark.

Like many girls of her era, Murphy left school at age 12 to work in a woolen mill. But her talent wouldn't stay buried. She caught on with local teams, the Warren Silk Hats and the Warren Baseball Club, and she was a big draw.

In those days, the teams would pass a hat through the crowd and collect up donations that the team would divide up among the players. After her first game, the story goes, the manager didn't pay Lizzie Murphy a share.

For the next weekend, he spread the word far and wide that he was bringing his girl ballplayer to Newport. The unusual presence of a girl playing with the boys would be quite a draw.

Just before the game, though, Lizzie told him what professional athletes have always said: No pay, no play. Lizzie Murphy got her share, and a bonus for every game she appeared in.

By the 1920s, Lizzie had moved on to bigger events. She was a regular with Ed Carr's All Stars of Boston, a barnstorming team that played as many as 100 games a year throughout New England and Canada. In between innings she would enter the stands to sell photographs of herself.

Lizzie Murphy, who wore her red hair wound up under her cap, had her name written large across front and back of her jersey so the fans could spot her. She went by the name 'Spike Murphy' and billed herself as the 'Queen of Baseball.'

Fenway Park

The high point of her career came in 1922, on August 14, when Lizzie's team played an exhibition against the Boston Red Sox of the Major Leagues. The team put together the event at Fenway Park to raise money for the family of Tommy "Little Mac" McCarthy, a Hall-of-Famer who played in Boston in the 1880s and 1890s who had recently died.

Lizzie Murphy entered the game to cheers and boos, and performed well at first base - the first time a woman would play against a major league team. Ed Carr would say of her: "No ball is too hard for her to scoop out of the dirt, and when it comes to batting, she packs a mean wagon tongue."

She never got to bat in that game. She wasn't a bad hitter, though, averaging .300 throughout her career and once collecting a hit off Satchel Paige while playing in an exhibition with the Negro Leagues.

In 1935, Lizzie hung up her glove and settled back in Warren. In her later years, she was somewhat bitter about the game she once loved, saying she didn't really know why she had ever done it

This story about Lizzie Murphy was updated in 2018.

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How Rhode Island's Lizzie Murphy Played Major League Baseball in 1922 - New England Historical Society

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Lizzie Murphy didn't take 'no' for an answer. Even as a little kid, when the boys told her she was too small to play with their team in baseball, she persuaded them to let her carry the bats. So began the career of the first woman to play major league baseball.

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