OT Best Female Athlete You Ever Saw?

[TheGOAT23]

“She boasted a 753-42 record and tossed 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games. Her lifetime ERA was 0.09.” Struck out Ted Williams, too! DANG!!!!

I think that the most difficult opponent that Serena faced in her career was herself. I don’t have any statistics to support this, but every match of hers that I watched, she made so many unforced errors.

 

[RogueDave]

Joan Joyce,
Met her in 3rd Grade for field day she was assigned to teach our class how to hit.
Her sister was our 3rd grade teacher.

Her and Brakettes did a 4 players exhibition against 9 men players from Waterbury Brass men’s team. Joan pitched her sister was catcher, shortstop and 2nd baseman.

The 4 of them smoked the men’s team it went 3 innings, they called the game Brakettes 12-0…

 

[hoopingcrane]

Hmm.

I have to go with Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Not only is she the finest heptathlete of all time, with the WR and the six top scores-- the WR set in 1988, she won three medals in the long jump. No one can excel in a multi-event and also in a single event. That is not possible. It is, if you are Jackie Joyner. She won medals in four Olympics.

In her prime, when she completed in the heptathlon, there was no question who was going to win. And, of course, she was going to break her own WR. The only question was: by how much was she going to break her own WR.

And, she played excellent basketball for UCLA, and had a very short stay in the WNBA.

And, she was a lovely person, and overcame very severe asthma. And grew up in bitter poverty in East St. Louis. I just loved to watch her compete.

Thoughts?

saw Joan joyce drive to the 360 yard first hole at wallingfird country club, playing with Jane blaylock, onto the green. Don’t know if she made the putt.

 

[The deacon]

Watched Joan Joyce strike out Ted Williams . She then decided to be a golfer, played 9 holes with her at HillNadler in Trumbull, she was as nice as she was great.

Cool you got to play golf with Joan, Phil. I'd probably go with her for the greatest I ever saw compete. I'm glad you brought up her strikeout of Teddy Ballgame. He was in his final years as a player, but he grudgingly admitted Joan's pitching was very impressive. I believe that happened at Waterbury's old Municipal Stadium.

I'm not quite old enough to have seen Babe Zaharias, but the stories are endless, kind of the Jim Thorpe of our conversation?

If you count watching on TV, I'd lean to Jackie J-K, for versatility, for longevity and for the grace of her movement.

Re tennis, I'm with UConn82 in backing Steffi as the sport's GOAT. Ucbart, Monica indeed beat Steffi often before the tragic stabbing, but I've read Graf was by then often hurting and not quite at her peak of a few years earlier. Seles would fit into the 'What If" HOF, for sure. And they were both classy and nice young women.

 

[Woof 101]

Joan Joyce the minute I read the thread title. Absolutely nobody even close. @Alluminny69 has it all listed above.
The ability at multiple sports and the success level is hard to comprehend. That and the fact she is still coaching and involved with sports at the age of 81 is a statement in itself.
Nothing against others listed, simply my answer to the question.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't know why people ignore Steffi.

So, I am the most firm believer that Monica Seles would've dominated women's tennis like no other if she hadn't gotten stabbed. She had clearly taken over Steffi as #1 and was beating her regularly. Monica dominated women's tennis from the 1990 French Open - basically the time of her stabbing. So, while Steffi was great and won all those slams, several of them sort of have an asterisks next to them because Monica was sidelines.

That's why. And the the Graf-fan assailant got away scot-free in Germany. And Graf is also behind Navratilova and Evert as well.

 

[donalddoowop]

Have to add this incredible record:

Joyce pitched for the Raybestos Brakettes, a women’s major fastpitch softball team, for 19 seasons. During that time, she boasted a 753-42 record and tossed 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games. Her lifetime ERA was 0.09.

That sounds otherworldly. Quite a feat.

 

[phil sampieri]

Watched Joan Joyce strike out Ted Williams . She then decided to be a golfer, played 9 holes with her at HillNadler in Trumbull, she was as nice as she was great.

That’s Hillandale C.C in Trumbull.

 

[oldude]

Just about all the ladies who played for the Brakettes had full time jobs, so most of the games were played on weekends as part of back-to-back double-headers. Some combination of Joyce, Tickey & Lopiano would usually pitch the 4 games. If you took in both double-headers it was relatively common to see multiple no-hitters and or perfect games.

 

[Aluminny69]

“She boasted a 753-42 record and tossed 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games. Her lifetime ERA was 0.09.” Struck out Ted Williams, too! DANG!!!!

As much as I believe Joyce is the GOAT, I also believe that striking out Ted Williams is grossly overrated. Yes, I know Joyce was able to make her pitches break four ways, up and down, in and out. But the pitcher in Softball is right on top of the hitter, so the timing is much different. Softball hitters have to use a different bat. I often wondered how Joyce would do pitching against the Raybestos Cardinals, a world class men's Fast pitch softball team. Those guys knew how to hit in softball. I guess we'll never know, but I'm somewhat surprised if it never happened, even as an exhibition. That would be a much truer test.

 

[oldude]

As much as I believe Joyce is the GOAT, I also believe that striking out Ted Williams is grossly overrated. Yes, I know Joyce was able to make her pitches break four ways, up and down, in and out. But the pitcher in Softball is right on top of the hitter, so the timing is much different. Softball hitters have to use a different bat. I often wondered how Joyce would do pitching against the Raybestos Cardinals, a world class men's Fast pitch softball team. Those guys knew how to hit in softball. I guess we'll never know, but I'm somewhat surprised if it never happened, even as an exhibition. That would be a much truer test.

As I recall, the Raybestos Cardinals had a big first baseman by the name of Carl Walker who could hit a softball a long, long way.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Katie Ledecky, greatest free style swimmer of all time.

 

[MilfordHusky]

There was another great pitcher on that Brakettes team. Donna Lopiano, from Stamford, CT had been denied the opportunity to play Little League because she was a girl. She started playing for the Brakettes at age 16, and along with Joyce & Tickey became the most formidable trio of pitchers in the history of WSB.

Lopiano went on to become the Director of Women’s Athletics at the University of TX, and was instrumental in the promotion and passage of Title IX legislation, without which women’s college sports would never have achieved the growth and recognition that it has.

I'm familiar with Lopiano. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Golden Husky]

Ruffian

 

[Dokey]

Joan Joyce

 

[oldude]

Ruffian

She was the only horse in the history of thoroughbred racing to be in the lead of every point of call in every stakes race she ever ran in.

 

[Fossil]

Tia-Clair Toomey. Cross fit

 

[cohenzone]

Althea Gibson was no slouch. Top notch tennis player turned pro golfer. Never saw Zaharias but as a multi sporter, as someone mentioned, always seen as the female version of Jim Thorpe, reputedly the most versatile high level male athlete of all time.

 

[Majic Hands]

Tia-Clair Toomey. CrossFit champion.

Have watched her on TV, not in person.

 

[BostonBay]

Cheryl Miller, freshman year at USC. She redefined the WCBB game.

 

[Yorkeez4]

I have heard a lot of people assert Serena as the GOAT in women's tennis. I most emphatically disagree.

Steffi Graf is easily as good, if not better. No one mentions Steffi, but she won 22 majors, one less than Serena. So what! (She had to retire at age 30, due to a neck injury.)

And, she did something Serena did not, something no one ever did. In 1988, she won the "Golden Slam" = all four majors and Olympic Gold.

And, she played against Martina, Monica Seles, et al. Serena did not have nearly as difficult competition, the only great player she really competed against was his sister. But she owned her sister on the tennis court.

I don't know why people ignore Steffi.

Thoughts?

Seles was a better player than Graf. She won 8 Grand Slams as a teenager. Who knows what her record would have been had she not been stabbed. Graf’s path to championships was made much easier after that. Seles never returned to her pre-stabbing form - although she did win a slam after the stabbing. Although Graf had nothing to do with the stabbing it was a Graf fan who stabbed Seles because she was the better player.

@ucbart and @Waquoit - didn’t get to your response until after I responded. Guess I need to learn to read everything before responding.

 

[Stymie]

Best I ever SAW?
I think Martina Navratilova.
Dominant in a grueling sport.
Top of her sport for many years.
Relentless and disciplined.
Awesome competitor.

 

[UConn82]

I think one cannot separate Martian, Steffie, and Serena. Martian did not have quite as many majors, but early in her career there was less emphasis on them. And, she was the greatest female doubles player ever.

 

[Waquoit]

Joan Joyce is hard to beat. GOAT in one sport and highly ranked in others is a high bar.

 

[Waquoit]

Althea Gibson was no slouch. Top notch tennis player turned pro golfer.

Thanks, I did not know about the golf. I learned something today.