Joyce Ricketts (April 25, 1933 – May 8, 1992) was a

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

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

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. Born in

Oquawka, Illinois Oquawka is a village in Henderson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,371 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Henderson County. Oquawka is part of the Burlington, IA–IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geograph ...

, Joyce Ricketts barely got a chance to play before the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded after the 1954 season. An All-Star for the two years she played in the league, Ricketts ranked high in several offensive categories, which combined with a fine defense and a strong and secure throwing arm, to help the

Grand Rapids Chicks The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954, winning championships in 1947 and 1953. History The franchise ...

win the league championship in the 1953 season. In 1953 Ricketts played all 114 games for the Chicks, batting a .288

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

and five

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, while ranking fourth in

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(71) and fifth in hits (120), doubles (19) and

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, whil ...

(164), being selected for the All-Star Team. Grand Rapids, with

Woody English Elwood George English (March 2, 1906 – September 26, 1997) was an American professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1927 and 1938 for the Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers ...

at the helm, swept the

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 th ...

in the final best-of-three series. In the series opening, Ricketts hit an RBI-single in the bottom of the fourth to put his team up (3–2), an advantage that was never lost and ended up winning the game, 5–2. Mary Lou Studnicka earned the victory, while Eleanor Moore was credited with a save. In the next game, Ricketts smashed a go-ahead, two-RBI double in the sixth inning, to give the Chicks a 4–3 lead for the rest of the game. Late in the inning, she used her strong arm from right field to throw out the potential tying run at home plate. Pitcher

Earlene Risinger Helen Earlene Risinger (March 20, 1927 – July 29, 2008) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 6' 2", 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. One of the tallest player ...

went the distance and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

nine Lassies players, including a

bases loaded B backdoor breaking ball :A breaking pitch, usually a slider, curveball, or cut fastball that, due to its lateral motion, passes through a small part of the strike zone on the outside edge of the plate after seeming as if it would miss the p ...

strikeout to retire slugger

Doris Sams Doris Jane Sams (February 2, 1927 – June 28, 2012), nicknamed "Sammye", was an American outfielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 145 lbs., she batted and threw righ ...

for the last out of the game. In the series, Ricketts went 4-for-6 (.667) with a pair of doubles and four RBI to lead all hitters. In 1954 Ricketts hit .317 and clobbered 15 home runs in 92 games, ending fourth in RBI (72) and eight in total bases (159). She also finished ninth in average and tied for second in doubles (14), while joining the All-Star Team for the second time.All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book Joyce Ricketts is part of ''Women in Baseball'', a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She died in Oquawka, Illinois, at the age of 59.

Statistics

Batting Fielding

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricketts, Joyce All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players Baseball players from Illinois People from Henderson County, Illinois 1933 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American women 20th-century American people