Josephine D'Angelo

Josephine "Jo Jo" D'Angelo (November 23, 1924 – August 18, 2013) was an American baseball left fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at , 135 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.

She was one of the sixty original players to join the AAGPBL for its inaugural season. D'Angelo set an all-time record in the league for the fewest strikeouts in a single season. As an outfielder, she had sure hands and a strong and accurate arm for balls up the middle and double plays.

Life Born in Chicago, Illinois, D'Angelo grew up playing sandlot ball with her neighborhood kids at an early age, most of them boys, but did not start participating in an organized league until she was at high school. At the age of 13, she put on her first uniform with the De Young Floral on the southside of Chicago. The next year she joined the Raab Taylors and received a symbolic emolument as a player, when they paid her $1.00 a night for playing for the team.

D'Angelo batted a .221 average with a .324 on-base percentage and 53 stolen bases in her rookie season. She appeared in a team second best 104 games, driving in 38 runs while scoring 62 times. She also finished ninth in the league in stolen bases and tied for seventh in runs scored. In a moment of the season, she made the headlines after hitting a home run to win a game for the Blue Sox.

But D'Angelo developed prestige as the best contact hitter around when she struck out only three times in 358 at bats (once every 119.3 at-bats) to set an all-time single season record.

D'Angelo's contract was not renewed after the 1944 season. She later attributed this to a "butchy haircut" she was convinced to get by a hairstylist. D'Angelo was a lesbian.

Career statistics Batting Fielding GPPOAETCDPFA 144 204 27 11 242 8 .955