Jean Faut, author of 2 AAGPBL perfectos, dies at 98

Jean Faut, a star of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League -- the women's professional baseball league that inspired the movie "A League of Their Own" -- died on Tuesday. She was 98.

Faut was a two-time Player of the Year and four-time All-Star in the AAGPBL and is the only professional pitcher to pitch two perfect games.

She played eight seasons in the AAGPBL from 1946-53, joining the league in its fourth season after it was founded in 1943 to help keep baseball in the public eye while men were serving in World War II. Faut's South Bend Blue Sox won the league championship in back-to-back seasons in 1951 and '52.

"I am the most proud of our team for winning the 1952 championship than anything else," Faut said in 1995. "Because we won that championship with only 12 girls."

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Faut, who began her career as a third baseman before becoming a pitcher, had a 140-64 record, 1.23 ERA and 913 strikeouts in 235 games, the lowest career ERA in AAGPBL history.

Born on Jan. 17, 1925, in East Greenville, Pa. -- where she would routinely practice against the local semipro baseball team, the East Greenville Cubs -- Faut was 21 when she traveled from her hometown to Pascagoula, Miss., to try out for the AAGPBL in the spring of 1946. She was assigned to the Blue Sox, and her professional baseball career began.

She pitched her first perfect game on July 21, 1951, against the defending league champion Rockford Peaches. Her second perfect game came against the Kalamazoo Lassies on Sept. 3, 1953, in one of the last games of her career. Faut was named the league's MVP in both of those seasons.

Besides throwing two of the five perfect games in the league's 12-year history, Faut threw two additional no-hitters. She also won two pitching Triple Crowns in the AAGPBL, leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA in her final two seasons, 1952 and '53.

"My talent came from God, and I loved the game," Faut told Sports Illustrated in 2015. "And I just had a tremendous team behind me."