Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams [Heverly] (February 12, 1926 – February 10, 2005) was an American pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at , 139 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

Ruth Williams debuted in the AAGPBL as a 20-year-old rookie and had a solid if unspectacular career that spanned eight seasons. Used as a spot starter and reliever, Williams collected at least ten wins in five of those seasons, while her 2.19 career earned run average ranks her twelfth in the all-time list of AAGPBL pitchers with at least 1,000 innings of work. During her career she hurled eight two-hitters, one of them a no-hitter going into the ninth inning of a contest.

Born in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, Williams began playing softball at age 12 in a church league. When she was a sophomore at East Stroudsburg University, Williams played for the New York Traders, a fastpitch 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 Inquirer advertisement, he motivated his daughter to attend a tryout in Allentown. About 400 girls attended, and three days later she received an offer to join the league.

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 (.625), helping her team tie for first place with the Rockford Peaches. Since she was still teaching in Pennsylvania, the Blue Sox flew Williams in for the Memorial Day weekend in order to pitch. She then won two games and returned to school to finish out the school year.

Pitching statistics Regular season GPWLW-L%ERAIPHRAERBBSOWHIP 162 65 69 .485 2.19 1114 879 403 271 395 315 1.14 Postseason GPWLW-L%ERAIPHRAERBBSO 4 1 2 .333 2.19 29 19 7 7 7 6