Jackie was born in
Waukegan, Illinois, the youngest of 8 children, to a
carpenter father (Siebert) and
homemaker mother (Edith Adeline), the latter of whom only finished fifth grade. Her mom was thus not always supportive of Jackie's love for baseball, with Jackie recalling: "She didn't like it at all. She could not understand why her 'little girl' found every moment she could to play baseball with the boys. I remember one time when my mother sent me to the store and on the way I went by some boys playing a scrub game. I joined them, and was two hours late getting back home. I was even late for supper, and as punishment, had to go without." But it was not to be helped. Jackie simply "fell in love with the round ball when [she] was just able to walk. It [was] a gift, it was [her] salvation." In 1942—in order to try to ease some of the financial burdens her parents were encountering—Jackie moved to Milwaukee to live with her sister (14 years her senior), her husband and their five kids. And there began her introduction to organized ball. Her coaches in the Milwaukee playground were impressed with her passion for the game accompanied by her strong arm. Her love for sports was not confined to baseball though. Jackie also did well at
basketball and
speed skating, amongst other recreational activities. ==Jackie's baseball career==