Nelson began pitching professionally at the age of 16, as a starting pitcher for the
Boston Bloomer Girls. She played for several professional baseball teams, including the
American Athletic Girls. She was a leading player of the Chicago Stars who were billed as "Champions of the World". She was their star pitcher during 1902 and 1903 when the team would tour by
Pullman coach. In addition to her starting pitching duties, she often played third base in the later innings of a game. Other skilful players in the Chicago team was Julie St Clair and Maggie Burke. In 1911, Maud Nelson became owner-manager of the
Western Bloomer Girls, along with her first husband, Olsen. The "Bloomer Girl" style was well known with an easier game and the bloomer style of dress was strongly associated with women's baseball. She also became a baseball scout in 1911, recruiting both male and female players for a number of professional teams. After John died in 1917, Maud again played for Boston, and managed a women's team for the Chicago Athletic Club. In the early 1920s, Maud married
Costante Dellacqua, with whom she later started the
All Star Ranger Girls team. The team wore cowboys hats, skirts, shirts and cardigans with the initials A and R on the sleeve. In 1934 she signed future star
Rose Gacioch to her team. This was towards the end of the Bloomer Girls teams as softball became the more popular game. Nelson retired to a house in the neighborhood of
Wrigley Field, living there until her death in 1944. In 2001, Nelson became part of the
National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as a posthumous inductee. ==See also==