Jean Anna Faut ''Winsch/Eastman(January 17, 1925 – February 28, 2023) was an American
starting pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...
who played from through in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
. Listed at , 137 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Jean Faut is considered by baseball historians and researchers as the greatest overhand pitcher in AAGPBL history. From 1946 through 1953, Faut set several all-time and single-season records. She compiled a lifetime record of 140–64 with a 1.23
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
in 235
games
A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...
, registering the lowest career ERA for any pitcher in the league. Besides being the only professional baseball player to pitch two perfect games, her league achievements include pitching two
no-hitter
In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...
s, twice winning the Triple Crown and collecting three 20-win seasons. She also led in wins and
strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...
s three times, set the league record for single-season
winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...
at .909 (20–2), and led the
South Bend Blue Sox
The South Bend Blue Sox was a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented South Bend, Indiana, and played their home games at Bendix F ...
to consecutive championships in 1951 and 1952.
Faut never had a losing season or an ERA above 1.51, being surpassed only by Helen Nicol for the most career wins (163). A four-time member of the All-Star Team, Faut was named Player of the Year in two out of eight possible seasons. Her baseball career, which spanned eight years, reflects the experiences of many women who played in the competitive era of overhand pitching in the AAGPBL, however like several other players from the league, she coupled her professional playing career with a more traditional lifestyle as a wife and mother.
Professional career
A native of East Greenville, Pennsylvania, Faut grew up in the home of a working-class family. She was the second oldest daughter of Robert Faut, an automobile plant worker and park guard, and Eva (''nee'' Gebert) Faut, a housewife. The young Jean, along with her two sisters and three brothers, were raised during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
era. The children were instructed by their parents to live frugally, save, and avoid debt. Unlike most AAGPBL players, Faut never played softball while growing up and had no previous professional experience. She attended East Greenville High School, where she excelled in
track and field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and
field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
. She also pitched batting practice for the school baseball team and hurled in exhibition games against the Cubs, a semiprofessional team in her hometown. In the process, she learned how to throw different pitches. After graduating from EGHS in 1942, Faut worked in a clothing factory until the spring of 1946, when she attended a tryout for the AAGPBL in
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula metropolitan area, and is part of the Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi, Biloxi–Pascag ...
.
As a result of the success of the league in its first year, two new teams were added in the 1944 season: the Milwaukee Chicks and the
Minneapolis Millerettes
The Minneapolis Millerettes were an expansion All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team that played for one season in 1944 based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Millerettes played home games at Nicollet Park, home of the men's minor lea ...
. But both teams lost their franchises by the end of the year and were replaced by the Grand Rapids Chicks and the
Fort Wayne Daisies
The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana that played from through as members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
History
The Daisies represented Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ...
in the 1945 season. The league added two more teams in
1946
1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and the sports editor for the ''
South Bend Tribune
The ''South Bend Tribune'' is a daily newspaper and news website which is based in South Bend, Indiana. It is distributed in South Bend, Mishawaka, north central Indiana, and southwestern Michigan. It has been named as a "Blue Ribbon Newspaper ...
''.
In 1946 the AAGPBL made significant changes in its rules, extending the length of the base paths and pitching distance and decreasing the size of the ball. Later in the season the league allowed a sidearm pitching delivery, permitting the pitchers to add a
curveball
In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...
fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...
and
changeup
A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball.
The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball, but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced spee ...
, all of which Faut had hurled before joining the league. All of these rules changes were designed to make the game more exciting and more like men's baseball. In her rookie season Faut appeared in 101 games, mostly at
third base
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
, hitting a .177 (61-for-344)
average
In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
with 40
runs batted in
A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...
while scoring 37 runs. She committed 60 errors at third for a .893
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...
. When the sidearm motion was approved, Blue Sox manager Grant included her on the pitching staff for the rest of season. Faut posted an 8–3 record with 21 strikeouts and a 1.32 earned run average in 12 outings, including nine starts, eight
complete game
In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...
s, and a pair of two-hitters in 81 innings of work, ranking third in ERA and winning percentage (.727).
That season, South Bend led the circuit in team batting with a .220 average, while finishing third in fielding with an average of .943. Grand Rapids' star Connie Wisniewski led the circuit in ERA (0.96) and shared with Racine's
Joanne Winter
Joanne Emily Winter '' o' (November 24, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Early life
A nativ ...
Dorothy Kamenshek (.316), South Bend's Bonnie Baker (.286), Racine's Sophie Kurys (.286), Grand Rapids' Merle Keagle (.284) and Kenosha's Audrey Wagner (.281). The Blue Sox finished in third place with a 70–42 mark though lost in the semifinal round to Rockford, three games to one. In her first post-season, Faut went 0–2 with a 1.13 ERA against Racine. In Game 1 of the playoffs, she suffered the loss in a 17-inning pitching duel against
Anna Mae Hutchison
Anna May Hutchison Hutch"(May 1, 1925 – January 29, 1998) was a female pitcher and catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 149 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes s ...
, when Maddy English knocked in the winning run in a 3–2 game.''All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book''
Faut was a pitcher with an analytical mind, allowing her to remember pitching sequences from batter to batter and game to game. In pre-game team meetings, she would memorize the weakness of the opposite hitters and during the game vary the rotation of pitches she used. "Part of my success", she once reflected, "was that in my mind I could record the order of pitches I threw to each girl, so they never saw the same thing twice". She added "I was a mathematical whiz in school. They’d never know what was coming, so they’d start guessing".
The first AAGPBL
spring training
Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
outside the United States was held in 1947 in
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Seville-Biltmore Hotel, and they played their games at the Gran Stadium.
The AAGPBL made the transition from underhand to full side-arm pitching in 1947. Before starting the season, Faut married
Karl Winsch
Karl Edgar Winsch (February 10, 1915 – December 21, 2001) was a pitcher and manager in Minor League Baseball. Listed at , 180 lb., Winsch batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Karl Winsch spent two decades in ...
, a former
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
pitching prospect from East Greenville, near her hometown. The couple established their initial residence in
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...
, where she worked in the off-season for Ball-Band, a local division of the
United States Rubber Company
Uniroyal, formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and op ...
. Pitching in 44 games, Faut came through with a 1.15 ERA to go with her 19–13 record, allowing 56 runs (38 earned) on just 179 hits in a career-high 298 innings. She walked 67 batters and struck out 97, ending third in innings, fifth in ERA and eighth in strikeouts, while tying for fifth in wins. She also posted a .236 average in 56 games, ranking 19th in the league behind Kamenshek, who won her second consecutive title with a .306 mark. Her most durable performance came on July 31, when she defeated
Eleanor Dapkus
Eleanor V. Wolf (née Eleanore Dapkus; December 5, 1923 – June 6, 2011) was a center fielder and pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Early years
Dapkus was born to Lithuanian parents, Fr ...
and the Belles in 22 innings by a 4–3 score. Faut spaced 16 hits, walked five, struck out eleven, and contributed two hits to her own cause.
In 1947 South Bend earned a respectable fourth place in the eight-team league with a 57–54 record, although was beaten by Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs, three to two games. Faut went 1–1 with one save and a 2.37 ERA in the postseason. At the time she was two months pregnant and gave birth to her first son, Larry, in March 1948.
The league moved fully to overhand pitching in 1948, which made the game close to regulation baseball. Such change adversely affected the performance of underhand pitchers, because many of them were experienced submariners who could not make the transition to the new pitching style. Consequently, many teams converted their
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
s to pitchers since they were used to throwing the ball overhand with power. Batters, too, had to make adjustments, since underhand pitches tend to rise, overhand to drop. In that season also were incorporated the Chicago Colleens and the Springfield Sallies, and the AAGPBL expanded to a historical peak of ten teams divided into Eastern and Western Divisions.
In 1948, Faut missed the spring training camp to be held in March and reported to the Blue Sox after her postnatal period. She recovered her old form in mid-June, determined to adjust her arm angle on her pitching deliveries. This change to overhand pitching did not mean that a pitcher could not drop down in her delivery. Occasionally, Faut threw a pitch below sidearm to keep opposing hitters off balance with an array of five quality pitches. She still produced a fine season, fashioning a 16–11 record with 165 strikeouts and a 1.44 ERA in 34 games, hurling 250 innings, ranking seventh among pitchers with at least 45 or more innings, ending seventh in ERA and eighth in strikeouts. The smaller ball and overhand delivery made her curveball pitch more effective. That season, Grand Rapids' Alice Haylett went 25–5 with a league-best 0.77 ERA, while Racine's
Joanne Winter
Joanne Emily Winter '' o' (November 24, 1924 – September 22, 1996) was a pitcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 138 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Early life
A nativ ...
finished 25–12 and led in strikeouts (248). On September 4, Faut pitched her first no-hitter, beating the host Racine Belles, 7–0. Her teammate Lillian Faralla had thrown a no-hitter against Racine on May 11, so two Blue Sox pitchers defeated the Belles with two no-hitters in the same season.
South Bend, with
Marty McManus
Martin Joseph McManus (March 14, 1900 – February 18, 1966) was an American baseball player and manager.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, McManus spent two years in the United States Army before beginning his professional baseball career in 192 ...
at the helm, ended third (57–69) and lost to Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs, three to two games. In Game 1, Faut pitched 20 innings to beat Haylett, 3–2, in the longest game in AAGPBL post-season history. The Chicks won Game 2 in 11 innings, 3–2, to tie the series, but Faralla hurled a four-hit, 2–1 victory in Game 3. In another extra-inning duel, Haylett took revenge in Game 4, defeating Faut and South Bend in 15 innings by a 1–0 score, while in decisive Game 5 Mildred Earp silenced the South Bend hitters in a one-hit, 1–0 shutout, and Grand Rapids advanced to the finals. For the next year, the Colleens and the Sallies became rookie training teams, playing in exhibition games, recruiting new talent as they toured through the South and East.
Faut had mixed results in 1948, because she was forced to set aside from her teammates. Recently married, with a baby to care for, she began handling baseball like a professional job and could not socialize after games. As she recalled in an interview, "I had to go home, take care of my family, cook and clean, and all of those things". Nevertheless, in 1949 she recorded her best career season so far, considered by many historians to be the best individual season for any pitcher in AAGPBL history. Faut posted a 24–8 record with a 1.10 ERA in 34 games, allowing 47 runs (36 earned) on 136 hits and 118 walks, while striking out 120 in 261 innings of work. She led the league in wins and shutouts (12), finished second in innings and third in complete games (20). Only two pitchers gave up fewer earned runs, both of Rockford: Lois Florreich, who finished 22–7 with a 0.67 ERA in 269 innings, and Helen Nicol, who was 13–8 with a 0.98 ERA in 212 innings.
Throughout the
1949
Events
January
* January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025
* January 2 – Luis ...
season, South Bend mainly battled Rockford for first place. Although South Bend had a four-game lead in August, both clubs tied with identical records of 75–36 at the end of the year. On September 3, in the final home game of the regular season, Faut hurled her second no-hitter, a 2–0 victory against Fort Wayne. She pitched flawlessly and faced the minimum 27 batters, but still did not qualify for a perfect game, since she allowed an eighth-inning walk to Dorothy Schroeder, who later was erased on a
double play
In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs.
In Major Le ...
. In the playoffs, Rockford eliminated South Bend in four straight games. Faut went 0–2 with a 2.58 ERA in two starts.
In
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
, the Muskegon team became 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 the ...
. By then the advantage began to shift toward the batter. Rookie Betty Foss of Fort Wayne topped the loop with a .346 average, Rockford's Eleanor Callow and Racine's Sophie Kurys tied with seven home runs, and Grand Rapids' Pepper Paire finished with 70
runs batted in
A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...
.
The new rule did not disrupt Faut; she finished 21–9 behind a 1.12 ERA in 36 games, allowing 64 runs (36 earned) on 175 hits and 104 walks while striking out 118 over 290 innings. She paced the circuit in ERA, edging Rockford's Lois Florreich by a minuscule 0.06%, and trailed Fort Wayne's Maxine Kline in wins (23) and Florreich in strikeouts (171). Faut also led in innings pitched and complete games (29), and joined the All-Star team for the second consecutive year. She contributed at the plate as well, hitting .217 (43-for-198) with 23 runs, 26 RBI and 15
stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...
s. Besides her accomplishments, it would almost be a lost effort for Faut, because South Bend finished in fifth place with a 55–55 mark and dropped out of the playoffs. The Racine team would change its name to Battle Creek Belles for the next year.
By the time the 1951 season rolled around, Faut was a successful and established pitcher. That year, her husband
Karl Winsch
Karl Edgar Winsch (February 10, 1915 – December 21, 2001) was a pitcher and manager in Minor League Baseball. Listed at , 180 lb., Winsch batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Karl Winsch spent two decades in ...
took over as manager of South Bend. It was to be a breakthrough year for the Blue Sox as well. Faut finished 15–7 with a 1.33 ERA in 23 games, striking out 135, while giving up 43 runs (28 earned) on 121 hits and 65 walks in 190 innings. She led the league in strikeouts, tied for seventh in wins, and ranked third in ERA and in shutouts (seven). Meanwhile, Winsch enjoyed an auspicious managerial debut, Nevertheless, when he became manager of the team, it made the situation even stickier and increased Faut's isolation from her teammates. Perhaps to avoid charges of favoritism, Winsch reduced significantly the number of games and innings pitched by Faut in 1950. Most women in the league were unmarried, making Faut odd-woman-out on her team.
Faut reached her peak of the season on July 21, when she hurled a perfect game against the visiting Rockford Peaches at Playland Park. Ahead 2–0, Faut struck out five of the last nine hitters, including pitching ace Helen Nicol to end the game. The season started inauspiciously for Faut; her record in the first half was a good, however rather unremarkable 8–5 mark although, and notably, all five losses were by one run. This historic victory set the tone for the rest of the season. While South Bend placed third in the first-half standings, the team finished first in the second half, thus giving them a playoff berth. Their complete season record of 75 and 36 was best in the league that year. The competition she faced in that special game was among the best highlights of her career, because Rockford would end the season battling South Bend for the league championship.
South Bend defeated Fort Wayne in the first round of the playoffs, two games to one. Faut won two complete games by identical scores of 2 to 1 in the first and third contests. In Game 1, she allowed six hits, three walks and one earned run, while in the clincher Game 3, she struck out nine batters and gave up eight eights in a 10-inning effort. She finally was part of a club that advanced to the finals. In the other series, Rockford swept Grand Rapids in two games.
In the best-of-five championship round, Rockford won the first two games over the visiting South Bend. The final series moved to South Bend for the rest of the event. Faut started Game 3 with her team against the wall, 2 to 0. She responded with a 3–2 victory over Rockford, striking out 11 batters and walking two. The Blue Sox won Game 4 by a 6–3 score, in a contest shorted to seven innings by rain. The series was evened at 2–2.
In decisive Game 5, what was supposed to be a pitchers' duel between Lillian Faralla and Rose Gacioch turned out to be a hard-fought slugfest. South Bend came away a surprise winner to clinch the club's first AAGPBL title in the league. In addition to her 15 victories during the regular season, Faut won four more in the two playoffs. She earned the
Player of the Year Award
Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award.
Association football
In association football, this award is held on b ...
and made her third All-Star team in a row.
By
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, ...
, only six teams remained in the league after Kenosha and Peoria were disbanded. That season saw Winsch become more demanding of his players in an extremely heavy-handed way with close scrutiny of each player. Faut again led the league in several pitching categories, but the fact her husband managed the team created friction between Faut and many of her teammates. Some of the women bristled under Winsch's leadership, so many refused to speak to either the manager or their star pitcher. Nevertheless, Faut overcame internal conflicts to command the circuit with a 20–2 mark in 23 starts for a .909 winning percentage, setting the all-time single season for this category. She allowed 31 runs—only 19 earned—on 111 hits and 42 walks while striking out 114 in 184 innings for a career-best 0.93 ERA. In addition, she led all pitchers in ERA, 0.51 ahead of Battle Creek's Gloria Cordes, and also in strikeouts, 23 ahead of Fort Wayne's Nancy Warren, while tying Fort Wayne's Rose Gacioch for the most wins, which was enough to win the pitching Triple Crown. At the plate, she hit a solid .291 average to finish in seventh place.
Faut missed the Player of the Year Award (by one vote) to Fort Wayne's first-bagger Betty Foss, who led the batters in runs (81), hits (137), doubles (26), triples (17) and RBI (74), was second in stolen bases (80), and hit .331 to finish second in the batting race behind her sister and teammate Joanne Weaver (.344). Faut failed to make the All-Star team, but pitched in the All-Star Game with South Bend as the host team. South Bend finished with a league-best record of 76–36, then eliminated Grand Rapids in the best-of-three series (2–0). Faut was the winning pitcher in the first contest in a 2–1 complete game, in which she got out of a no-outs, bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning, surrendering just one unearned run. South Bend handily defeated the Chicks in the second game, 6–1, with Faut delivering two RBI and relieving in the ninth to seal the victory. Rockford disposed of Fort Wayne in the other series, two games to one.
The 1952 championship series was a repeat of the previous year with South Bend again facing Rockford. It was a contest rocked by controversy as Faut lost the first game, delivering a sub-par performance when she surrendered an uncharacteristic seven runs on 13 hits. She was pulled in the seventh inning after giving up a two-run homer. The second game ended in another Rockford victory and a South Bend protest. Because their playing field was being readied for football, the Peaches had moved the right field fence in to 190 feet, 20 feet shorter than the league minimum. Consequently, the league disallowed the victory and forced a replay of Game 2. South Bend won it in 12 innings with Faut getting the victory when she pitched a scoreless final four innings in relief. As in the previous season, Faut was the winning pitcher in the decisive Game 5, hitting two triples and driving in two runs while turning in a 6–3 complete game performance. She was 2–1 with a 5.40 ERA in the playoffs, allowing over a hit per inning. It was the second league championship for South Bend and the second time Faut pitched the deciding game.
In 1953, the Battle Creek team became the Muskegon Lassies, and by the end of the season, it too, folded. Faut came back for her final year in the AAGPBL. Her team was weakened considerably by the player losses at the end of the previous season, and Faut was worn down from all the dissension. South Bend would finish the season second from last, compiling a 45–65 record. In spite of everything that had gone wrong, Faut still returned to post a 17–11 record and produced a league-best 1.51 ERA in 29 games, though league offensive levels were increasing. By her final season, only overhand pitching was allowed, the ball was a lively cork-centered ten inches, and the basepaths were seventy-five feet. More importantly from a pitching perspective, the pitching rubber was moved back to fifty-six feet, thirteen feet farther away than in 1946. At the same time, fences were moved in to allow for more home runs.
In her last season, Faut led all pitchers in ERA for the fourth year in a row and tied for the most wins with Eleanor Moore of Grand Rapids, who went 17–7 with a 2.00 ERA. In addition, Faut topped the league with 143 strikeouts to win the Triple Crown pitching for a second time. She also finished third in shutouts (5), seventh in innings (226), and tied for the third in complete games (24). On September 3 of that year, she hurled a perfect game against the Kalamazoo Lassies, 4–0. She is the only professional baseball player, male or female, to have pitched two perfect games. She helped herself with the bat as well, hitting a solid .275 (87-for-316) with 11 doubles, one triple, and a career-high four home runs, while driving in 38 runs and scoring 33 times in 98 games. In addition, she was included in the All-Star team for the fourth time, and once again won the Player of the Year honors, although South Bend finished fifth and missed the playoffs. Making that, she joined Doris Sams as the only two-time Player of the Year winners in AAGPBL history. On September 6, 1953, the Blue Sox management and around 1,500 fanatics honored their longtime diamond ace with a ''Jean Faut Night'' before a game at Playland Park. After collecting four hundred dollars in gifts, Faut ended her baseball career that evening with a 3–0, nine-hit defeat to the visiting Grand Rapids Chicks.
Faut retired from baseball, frustrated by tension with teammates owing to being the team's best player but also the wife of the disliked team manager. The 1954 season ended with only five teams remaining: Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Rockford and South Bend. The AAGPBL folded at the end of the season.
Life after baseball
Faut became a competitive bowler after her baseball retirement. Divorced from Winsch in 1968, she married again in 1977 to Charles Eastman, a resident of
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...
who worked as a salesman for Textron Corporation. He died in 1993 after 16 years of marriage. After that, Faut excelled as a recreational
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
er. An active grandmother with four grandchildren, she lived in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Faut was part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
at
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...
, which was opened in .
Faut died in
Rock Hill, South Carolina
Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...