The Softball Player

April 11, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that loves a good Yogi Berra quote.

 

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about the woman who struck out Ted Williams.

Most baseball fans have never heard of Joan Joyce, but she’s one of the most badass athletes in the history of sports.

Here’s a few of Joan’s most mind-blowing stats:

  • Record as a player: 753-42

  • Record as a coach: 1002-664-1

  • Lifetime ERA: 0.09

  • No-hitters: 150

  • Perfect games: 50

She also spent 19 years on the LGPA, just for fun.

As a 12-year-old girl, Joan made her brother’s little league team, but after getting two knocks in her first game (a single and a triple), they decided girls weren’t allowed on the team.

In high school she joined the Brakettes, one of the best softball teams in the country that was based about 30 miles from her house in Waterbury, CT.

After a few years, Joan started to catch her stride.

She switched her mechanics from a windmill motion to a slingshot delivery, and in no time, she was dominating everyone in the league.

This is what led to her facing off against Ted Williams.

Every year the Waterbury police department set out to raise money for "The Jimmy Fund," a charity to help kids suffering from cancer.

One of the officers had the idea of getting Ted Williams to come out as a way to draw more people to the event.

Williams agreed to attend the fundraiser, and also committed to hitting against Joan Joyce as part of the festivities.

The matchup took place in ‘61 - one year after Williams retired.

So while he wasn’t necessarily “in his prime” he still wasn’t too far removed from his glory days - he hit .316 for Boston in his final season.

Around 17k people packed into a stadium to watch Joan face Ted in the exhibition matchup.

When the Splendid Splinter stepped into the box, he was confident, but that confidence faded quickly once Joan started pitching.

Her pitches were coming in around 70 mph from about 40 feet away - equivalent to about 119 mph from 60’ 6”.

Ted swung and missed repeatedly for almost 15 minutes until he finally threw the bat down and said “I can’t hit this.”

He was only able to make contact three times, all three were foul balls.

A legend was born that day, and Joan Joyce never stopped winning.

Inked Up

Most of us will never forget the magical feeling of getting our first autograph.

Over the years, I’ve been blessed enough to meet a few of my favorite big leaguers in person and not to brag, but I’ve built up a nice little memorabilia collection.

But there’s a lot of signatures still on my bucket list.

Luckily, I don’t have to run into Mariano Rivera on the street to get his signature because I buy from Steiner Sports.

These guys know a thing or two about autographs - they’re one of the biggest sports memorabilia companies in the world.

All of their products come with a certificate of authenticity, and they offer a 100% money-back guarantee on all purchases.

And they legitimately have everything.

They’ve even got a baseball signed by Pete Rose that says “I’m sorry I bet on Baseball.”

For the next 48 hours or so, they’re running discounts of up to 30% off, so head over there and pick up a little something to add to the collection.

Strange Names

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

They didn’t call my man “Ice Box” for nothing - dude was cold af on the mound.

He threw over 400 innings in three different seasons, and completed 264 of the 301 games he started.

On May 9, 1888 he became only the third pitcher in professional history to switch arms during a game.

After playing, he got hired as an umpire and tried to make a career as a boxer, but it didn’t work out.

Dead Legends Archive

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That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!

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