Nelson, Maud
[Clementina Brida]
Baseball
b. Nov. 17, 1881, Italy
d. Feb. 15, 1944
Something of a mystery woman, Clementina Brida came to America with her family at an early age. She learned to play baseball when she was young and took the name "Maud Nelson." Before she was sixteen, she was pitching for the Boston Bloomer Girls, who travelled across the country in 1897. She started virtually every day, though she often pitched only a few innings and then moved to third base for the rest of the game.
Nelson played for several teams during her career, including the otherwise all-male Cherokee Indian Base Ball Club in 1908. There she met her first husband, John B. Olson Jr., the team's manager. They organized the Western Bloomer Girls in 1911. Despite the name, the team usually had three male starters.
Olson died in 1917 and Nelson rejoined the Boston Bloomer Girls. She also played for the American Athletic Girls and the Star Bloomers at various times. She retired as a player after the 1922 season and organized yet another team, the All Star Ranger Girls, which she managed until the Great Depression made barnstorming unprofitable. She then retired to Chicago with her second husband, Constante Delacqua.