Joan Joyce - The Greatest Female Athlete Ever

https://offtherecord.rep-am.com/2011/08/16/the-truth-about-ted-williams-...

Straightening out the lore of Williams’  visits to Municipal Stadium for the Jimmy Fund

It is the story that won’t go away, and for good reason. We won’t let it.

For anyone who was there, remains the most amazing thing they have ever seen. Now, 50 years later, everyone, it seems, was there.

We are talking about Aug. 16, 1961, 50 years ago today, when famed Water­bury sports legend and softball great Joan Joyce struck out the greatest hit­ter who ever lived, Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

There is only one problem with the story: It never happened.

Waterbury native Joan Joyce is one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.

Understand, The Splendid Splinter did step to the plate against Joan Joyce, but not in 1961. He hit against “Joanie,” as he called her, twice, in 1963 and 1966. If you were there, and I was there, it is something you will never forget. Unfortunately, the unfor­gettable moment has been consider­ably muddled through the years. There is likely to be more muddling this week. Using Republican-American newspaper accounts, let us set the record straight.

On a Web site called ESPN W, a Dave Scheiber story published Aug. 5 of this year started like this: “Joan Joyce still remembers the night in vivid detail. The twilight sky above Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Conn., was clear, the sum­mer air thick with hu­midity and growing excitement on that August evening in 1961.”

He goes on: “It was a showdown, pit­ting the man long known as baseball’s best hitter, Ted Williams, against a woman regarded as the best pitcher in softball, a fiery 20-year-old sporting the uniform of the national champion Raybestos Brakettes.”

He concludes saying the event is “etched in Waterbury sporting lore.”

Geesh, I wish someone writing about Waterbury “sporting lore” would get the gosh darn “lore” correct.

It gets worse. The great Leigh Montville, Connecticut native and renowned Boston Globe and Sports Il­lustrated writer, wrote a book called “Ted Williams: The biography of an American hero.”

Montville has some good stuff in there, but when he writes that, “Both times, in 1961 and 1966, Joan Joyce struck (Williams) out,” it is an­other example of our lore being un-lore like.

When The Associated Press selected its top 100 Connecticut athletes of the 20th century, Joyce was picked at No. 4, but yet again, the myth of ’61 was shrouded in undeserved validation. For crying out loud, even Wikipedia has it wrong, and I thought Wikipedia knew everything.

Yes, it is true: Teddy Ballgame came to Waterbury’s Municipal Stadium for the first time on Aug. 16, 1961, as part of a fundraising event for the Jimmy Fund. No, it is NOT true: Williams did not bat against Joan Joyce. In fact, on that first trip, Williams never touched a bat.

Ted Williams made five trips to Waterbury between 1961 and 1967.

Joan Joyce did pitch that night. She tossed a no-hitter against the Hartford Laurelettes. Joyce was honored after the game. She was cheered on by no less a personage than Waterbury na­tive and famed New York Daily Mirror sports columnist Dan Parker. But the only connection between Williams and Joyce that evening was a hug and a photo-op. Williams, in street clothes, told a crowd of more 13,000 that he was thrilled to be in “the home of Jimmy Piersall.” He did that from the center of the diamond. He never went near home plate 50 years ago.

Williams and Joyce were at the Stadium again on Aug. 15, 1962. This time nearly 17,000 showed up. Williams was in uniform and he hit against the Naugatuck Nugget, Frank “Spec” Shea. Before he stepped into the batter’s box, Williams shouted to the fans that Spec was known to dust off a few hitters in his day. “If he moves me back, I’ll sizzle one by his head.”

Shea, never a man to need a microphone, answered back: “If he hits one down the middle past me, the next time he will be on his …”

Shea did not finish the sentence. The crowd went crazy. Spec threw a pitch.

Williams hit a home run.

You just can’t make this stuff up, but, it appears you can really get it all botched up if you’re not careful.

Joyce played first base that night in another Brakettes exhibition. She was supposed to pitch to Teddy, but she explained to the crowd that a pulled muscle in her throwing arm would not let her.

The moment that all had waited for did, in fact, happen, but in 1963. On Aug. 12 Williams came back, and this time Dom DiMaggio came too. The crowd was pegged at more than 17,000. DiMaggio and Williams managed an all-star exhibition. Joyce pitched in another Brakettes exhibition, and yes, this time she pitched to Williams.

Williams, in full Red Sox regalia again, had watched Joyce warm up and was worried enough that he asked the legend to not throw her famed sinker. He called it, “A terrible pitch to hit.” Joyce was far too competitive to back off.

Waterbury Republican sports writer P.J. Conway described the showdown this way: “Judging by the few balls (Williams) was able to hit, Joan must have thrown quite a few sinkers.”

There is no mention, anywhere, about Joyce striking out Williams. It was, if I understand the stories correctly, more like a batting practice session, but yes, the greatest hitter could not get a hit off the greatest pitcher.

The next Williams visit, in 1966, is the one most-likely retro-fitted to 1961 “lore.” This was the night, Aug. 5, that most Waterburians remember. Ted was late. The Stadium was jammed and the fans were antsy. I remember distinctly that every one of us sitting in the main grandstand never took our eyes off Watertown Avenue, waiting for the motorcade we knew was coming from New Haven. Cars sat in a massive traffic jam on the Avenue. Everyone, it seemed, was trying to get to Municipal Stadium. When the cars began to move over, when we saw police lights flashing, we knew The Great Man was back.

It was an electric evening, and yes, Joyce struck Ted out.

Williams was not in uniform this time. He was dressed in slacks, casual shirt and street shoes. Montville writes that Williams, a notorious teetotaler, actually had a glass or two of wine at dinner before arriving in Waterbury.

He was profoundly overmatched.

Williams swung and missed at the first two pitches from Joyce. He took the third for a ball. He swung and missed the next pitch. He walked away to grab another bat. When he got back to the plate, Joyce was not on the mound. It was Jim O’Loughlin, the man most responsible for getting Williams to Waterbury five times.

Williams popped up the second pitch from O’Loughlin, and it was then I gather that Ted figured he wasn’t going to hit anyone on this evening. Conway described the moment beautifully: “Williams departed hurriedly after his batting appearance. As he left the Stadium in a convertible, Ted turned toward the pitching mound and shouted at Miss Joyce, ‘Hey Joanie.’ Williams waved. Miss Joyce waved back. And Ted was gone.”

Williams came back one last time, in 1967. The crowd dwindled. Ted wasn’t hitting against Joan. Over seven years the city raised $100,000 for Ted’s beloved charity, the Jimmy Fund.

Today is indeed a grand day in Waterbury “sporting lore.” It was 50 years ago that Ted Williams first visited the city, however, the legend conjured around the 1961 visit still needed a few more years before it finally turned to fact.

Related

Yikes, calm down. Merely posting an alternative viewpoint to a folklore tale. I have no dog in this silly race.  If Dad and dear old Uncle Morty say it was so, then it was so. 

The headline is a bit silly (best Ted Williams ever faced) but I'm sure she was quite the pitcher and athlete. 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games is not too shabby.

6th place is pretty good. 

How many greens did she hit in that 17 putt round?

You're not going to win hitting three greens.