Ruth Williams [Heverly] (February 12, 1926 – February 10, 2005) was a pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...

. Listed at 5' 4", 139 lb., she batted and threw right handed.

Ruth Williams debuted in the AAGPBL as a 20 year rookie

Rookie

Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...

 and had a solid if unspectacular career that spanned eight seasons. Used as a spot starter and reliever

Relief pitcher

A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...

, Williams collected at least ten wins in five of those seasons, while her 2.19 career earned run average

Earned run average

In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 ranks her twelfth in the all-time list of AAGPBL pitchers

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League pitching records

This is a list of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League pitchers who posted the best records in the history of the circuit.-All time records:-Single season records:-Perfect games:-No-hitters:-Sources:...

 with at least 1,000 innings of work

Innings pitched

In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...

. During her career she hurled eight eight two-hitters, one of them a no-hitter

No-hitter

A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...

 going into the ninth inning of a contest.

Born in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania

Nescopeck, Pennsylvania

Nescopeck is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,528 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nescopeck is located at ....

, Williams began playing softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

 at age 12 in a church league. When she was a sophomore at East Stroudsburg University

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania is a public university located in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. It is one of the 14 state universities that compose the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education . It is commonly referred to as ESU by its students and members of the community...

, Wiliams played for the New York Traders, a fastpitch

Fastpitch softball

Fast-pitch softball is a form of softball played commonly by women and men, though coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. The International Softball Federation is the international governing body of softball...

 softball team that paid her travel and food expenses for her to play during the weekends. After her father read about the AAGPBL in a Philadelphia Enquirer advertisement, he motivated his daughter to attend a tryout in Allentown

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...

. About 400 girls attended, and three days later she received an offer to join the league.

Williams opened 1946 with the Racine Belles

Racine Belles

The Racine Belles were one of the original teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing from through out of Racine, Wisconsin. The team played its home games at Horlick Field.-History:...

, but ten days later was transferred to the Fort Wayne Daisies

Fort Wayne Daisies

The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

. She was relegated to a bench role for most of the year, pitching in just one game while striking out

Strikeout

In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

 a batter in one inning. She was traded to the South Bend Blue Sox

South Bend Blue Sox

The South Bend Blue Sox were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

 a year later. Meanwhile, she finished her Physical Education and General Science degrees from ESU and began teaching at Wissahickon High School

Wissahickon High School

Wissahickon High School is the sole public high school of the Wissahickon School District, and is located in Ambler, Pennsylvania, in the United States.-Academics:...

 in Ambler, Pennsylvania

Ambler, Pennsylvania

Ambler is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, approximately 16 miles north of Philadelphia.- Village of Wissahickon:...

.

In 1947, Blue Sox manager Chet Grant

Chet Grant

Donald Chester Grant was an American football player, coach and sportswriter....

 gave Williams a chance to join the pitching rotation, which included the experimented Jean Faut

Jean Faut

Jean Anna Faut [Winsch/Eastman] is a former female starting pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 4", 137 lb., she batted and threw right handed....

, Phyllis Koehn

Phyllis Koehn

Phyllis C. Koehn [″Sugar″] was a pitcher and utility who played from through for six different teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5' 5", 120 lb., Koehn batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Madison, Wisconsin.By the fall of 1942, World War II...

 and Ruby Stephens

Ruby Stephens

Ruby Lee Stephens [Stevie] was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League...

. Williams responded with a 12-8 record and 1.70 ERA in 25 games, striking out 48 in 180 innings. Her performance slacked to a 10-10 mark and a 2.25 ERA in 1948, but she still managed to strike out 55 and collect 160 innings in 23 games.

Her most productive season in 1949, when she posted a 10-6 record with a career-high 1.64 ERA, which ranked her as the ninth best in ERA and winning percentage

Winning percentage

In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...

 (.625), helping her team tie for first place with the Rockford Peaches

Rockford Peaches

The Rockford Peaches were a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League playing out of Rockford, Illinois for the entire existence of the league from 1943 to 1954....

. Since she was still teaching in Pennsylvania, the Blue Sox flew Williams in for the Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...

 weekend in order to pitch. She then won two games and returned to school to finish out the school year.

Williams started 1950 with South Bend, but was traded to the Peoria Redwings

Peoria Redwings

The Peoria Redwings were a women's professional baseball team who joined the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the season. The team represented Peoria, Illinois....

 during the midseason and ended the year with the Kalamazoo Lassies

Kalamazoo Lassies

The Kalamazoo Lassies were a team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team represented Kalamazoo, Michigan. Home games were initially played at Lindstrom Field, but later games were played at the Catholic Athletic Association Field, now the...

. She combined for a 5-10 record with a 3.47 ERA in just 19 games. She did not have much run support from the Lassies and recorded losing records for the remaining three years of career by going 10-11, 10-12 and 8-12. Nevertheless, she posted low earned runs averages of 1.96, 2.48 and 2.12, pitched a career-high 174 innings in 1952, and finished ninth in ERA in 1951.

Following her baseball career, Williams married Leonard Heverly and continued her work in Ambler. The couple adopted a son, Mark, but tragedy struck in 1980 when her husband died in an unfortunate traffic collision caused by a drunk driver. She retired after the accident.

Williams later attended the AAGPBL Players Association reunions. The association was largely responsible for the opening of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...

, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

In 1995 Ruth Williams Heverly suffered a heart attack, which slowed her life down considerably for the next ten years. She died at her home in Ambler, Pennsylvania, just two days short of her 79th birthday.

Pitching statistics

Regular season

GP Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while...	W	L	W-L%	ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...	H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....	RA Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...	ER Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...	SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....	WHIP Walks plus hits per inning pitched In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. It is a measure of a pitcher's ability to prevent batters from reaching base...
162	65	69	.485	2.19	1114	879	403	271	395	315	1.14

Postseason

GP Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while...	W	L	W-L%	ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...	H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....	RA Run (baseball) In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...	ER Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...	BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...	SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
4	1	2	.333	2.19	29	19	7	7	7	6

Sources