Malden mourns loss of famed, local women’s baseball pioneer, Golden Tornado Hall of Famer, Helen ‘Nordie’ Nordquist, 91

By Steve Freker 

Malden lost a great one recently with the passing of Helen “Nordie” Nordquist, who lost a battle with cancer on July 11 at her home in Franklin, N.H. at the age of 91.

Miss Nordquist brought great joy to the city in recent years when her story became more well-known following her induction into the Malden High Golden Tornado Hall of Fame in 2019.

A life-long Red Sox Fan. Miss Nordquist, known as “Nordie,” grew up playing baseball and tag football with the neighborhood boys in Malden and was the first girl in her junior high school to earn a school letter for sports. In high school, she co-captained the softball team as a junior and senior.

“Malden High School and the Golden Tornado Club offers its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Helen “Nordie” Nordquist,” said Malden Public Schools Director of Wellness, Physical Education and Athletics Charlie Conefrey. “We only got to know her well before and since her induction into the Golden Tornado Hall of Fame in 2019, but she was just a treasure. She was so proud of her contributions to professional women’s baseball and her time at Malden High, and we were proud of her.”
Nordie signed as an outfielder for the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in 1951 and played for the AAGPBL’s Rockford Peaches (1952–53), and South Bend Blue Sox (1954). After the AAGPBL folded, Nordie played amateur softball in the New England states and took up bowling.

She worked as a switchboard operator, an accountant, and retired as a toll collector on Interstate 95 for the State of New Hampshire. According to her biography on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League website  https://www.aagpbl.org  “few residents of New Durham, N.H.  know that their neighbor was once featured on baseball score cards and newspaper sports pages.  Because Helen is modest, she has told few people that the popular movie “A League of Their Own” was about Helen’s team, the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches.

“Indeed, Helen and her old teammates were invited to “try out” as extras in the movie.  Helen smiles as she recalls the invitation, which stated to bring your “spikes” (baseball shoes) and glove, no matter how old they were.”

After graduating from Malden High School, “Nordie” read a notice in a Boston paper announcing tryouts for the All-American Professional Baseball League. “She recalled that the tryouts were competitive. This was real baseball. The women played hardball—overhand pitching with the same rules as regulation baseball. She made the team, and she was assigned to play with the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Comets. “I was very young, one of the youngest on the team,” she said in her biographical sketch. “I was in awe of being on the team and didn’t mind when my teammates teased me about being a rookie. I loved the traveling, but I did get lonely sometimes. I remember when we played at a town in Iowa. It reminded me of Massachusetts towns and I got really homesick.”
After a year with the Comets, Helen played for the Rockford Peaches of Rockford, Illinois. She stayed with the Peaches for two years, playing center or right field. She also played for a year as a pitcher for the South Bend Blue Sox.
The teams disbanded in the mid-1950s due to the advent of television and lack of ticket sales for the games. Helen returned home to Massachusetts and adjusted to the changes by continuing her involvement in sports on a local level.

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