Isora del Castillo

Who is Isora del Castillo?

Isora del Castillo [ee-soa'-ra del cast-ee'-yo] is a former infielder who played from 1949 through 1951 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 1", 117 lb., she batted and threw right handed. She played under the name of Ysora Castillo, as a result of a misspelling.

Born in Havana, the diminutive Isora del Castillo was one of seven players born in Cuba to play the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in its twelve years history. The others were Isabel Alvarez, Luisa Gallegos, Mirtha Marrero, Migdalia Pérez, Gloria Ruiz and Zonia Vialat. A light-hitting, defensive specialist, Isora batted a measly .128 average in her three-year career, but collected a solid .305 on-base percentage and a 1.42 walk-to-strikeout ratio.

Isora learned her baseball skills from her father, Argelio del Castillo, a well-respected amateur shortstop in Cuba. She followed the steps of her father at shortstop, and also played efficiently at second base and third base. In 1947, at age 15, she played third base for the Habaneras, one of two women's teams that roamed Cuba playing games with each other.

The first AAGPBL spring training outside the United States was held in Cuba in 1947, as part of a plan to create an International League of Girls Baseball. The experiment took shape when Cuban executives Alfonso Rodríguez and Rafael León and AAGPBL president Max Carey formed two teams, one called the Cubans and the other called the Americans. Both teams toured Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, playing exhibition games with each other. After that, Isora and her aforementioned fellows were contracted by the AAGPBL between 1948 and 1949.