Noted for her enthusiastic, high-spirited personality and great knowledge of the game, Ziegler excelled at second base, where her range and acrobatic plays impressed baseball fanatics and experts.
Her father had been a linotype operator in Chicago, but went into different work after moving to California, while her mother was a housewife and an avid bridge player.
As expected, Ziegler expressed disappointment over very little organized women's school sport in her new home, but she recalled that various girls athletic associations in the Los Angeles area provided compensation, as her hectic later teenage years involved memberships on several softball, basketball and speedball teams.
Ziegler attended a tryout for the AAGPBL arranged by scout Bill Allington, who would join the league for the upcoming season as manager of the Rockford team.
Ziegler joined the Chicks, along with Thelma Eisen, while Faye Dancer, Annabelle Lee, Lavonne Paire and Dorothy Wiltse were allocated to the Millerettes.
[7][8][9] In 1944 Ziegler played second base for the debuting Milwaukee Chicks, a well balanced squad managed by Max Carey that counted with talented players as Josephine Kabick, Merle Keagle and Connie Wisniewski.
Ziegler hit a modest .191 average in 115 games, including 51 runs and 25 RBI, but she established as a flashy defender who made outstandings plays routinely.
In fact, the Chicks were forced to play all seven games of the series at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium because the Brewers were using the Borchert Field in Milwaukee.
In addition, the high ticket prices charged for AAGPBL games failed to encourage significant fan support.
Due to lack of community support and skepticism of journalists, the Chicks moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan prior to the 1945 season.
She also tossed 43 straight shutout innings, and finished second in ERA behind the stellar South Bend hurler Jean Faut (1.12), who won the Pitcher of the Year Award after going 21–9 (.700 W%).
As an added bonus, Ziegler hit .191 with 51 runs and a career-high 35 RBI in 115 games and served as the interim manager for the Chicks late in the season.
[1][2][5][14] The Chicks clinched the AAGPBL title in 1953, led by the strong pitching of Eleanor Moore, who won 17 games to tie Faut for the league lead.
Grand Rapids, with Woody English at the helm, finished second in the regular season (62–44) and faced Rockford in the first round of the playoffs in a best-of-three series.
[17] In Game 3, Grand Rapids starter Dorothy Mueller pitched well enough to beat Rockford, 4–3, and the Chicks advanced to the Championship Series to face the Kalamazoo Lassies, managed by Mitch Skupien, who have eliminated Fort Wayne in the other playoff contention.
With the bases loaded, Ziegler drove home one run with a sacrifice fly to put the score in favor of Grand Rapids, 3–2.
When the Lassies first two batters reached base in the final inning, manager English brought Eleanor Moore to the rescue.
After retiring she became an avid golfer, was devoted to her family and her cats, and helped out the elderly as an active participant in the Meals on Wheels program.