Rockford Peach Helen “Sis Waddell” Wyatt, who won a title with the team, dies at 95

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Helen “Sis Waddell” Wyatt, a former Rockford Peach who was with the team for one of its four championships, has died at age 95.

Wyatt, who spent the past six years living at Heritage Woods Assisted Living Center, died Tuesday in her sleep. Four days earlier, Mayor Tom McNamara had presented her a key to the city, the mayor’s highest honor.

“It was an honor. I was able to meet with her wonderful family and hear stories about Sis. I then presented the key to her great grand daughter,” McNamara said. “Very fitting as Sis literally knocked down the door so young girls like her great grand daughter and my 9 year now have so many more opportunities.”

Wyatt grew up in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, with five older brothers. They gave her the nickname “Sis,” and toughened her up for sports. She excelled in athletics in high school, particularly basketball and softball. In 1948 she was named a girls high school All-American basketball player, according to her obituary with Honquest Funeral Home.

It was baseball that brought Wyatt to Rockford.

She got called to try out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League after a scout saw her playing softball in Pennsylvania. She made the cut and was assigned to spring training with the South Bend Blue Sox, but she never ended up playing for the team. She was traded to Rockford days before the 1950 season.

Wyatt played second base and batted and threw right-handed for the Peaches, who won the league title that season. The Peaches also won titles in 1945, 1948 and 1949. The team played in all 12 seasons of the league’s existence.

“Women’s baseball is making a comeback right now and that would simply not be possible without Sis,” McNamara said.

Her AAPGPL career also included stints with the Springfield Sallies and Battle Creek Belles. She relished the opportunity to prove men of the time wrong in their opinions about women in sports.

In 2007, the then 77-year-old Wyatt recounted to the Rockford Register Star about a time a Rockford fan went to the Peaches game as a gag.

“They said, ‘Let’s go laugh at them and see the pretty legs,'” Wyatt told reporter Emily Tropp. “He came to the game, and he never missed another one because he saw good baseball. He saw good women playing good baseball.”

Wyatt played for the Peaches again in 1951 and was traded to Battle Creek for the last few weeks of the season. She then retired from baseball to marry Neil, who she met while working at National Lock Corporation during the off-season, and start a family.

They were married for 53 years until his death in 2004. They had two sons, Neil Wyatt II and Scott Wyatt. Scott died in 2007.

“Helen loved all things sports, especially Pittsburgh Pirates baseball and Steelers football. She enjoyed coaching and working with women’s softball and baseball, continuing to coach well into her 80s,” according to her obituary. “She was especially proud of her two granddaughters, Elyse and Brittany, as well as a great-granddaughter, Monroe, and a great-grandson, Donovan.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas