Joyce Elaine Westerman (néeHill; December 29, 1925 – January 18, 2021) was acatcher who played from1945 through1952 in theAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), 150 lb., she battedleft-handed and threwright-handed.^[1]

Born inKenosha, Wisconsin, Hill did not play any sports at Kenosha High School because they had none for girls. She acquired softball experience while playing in the county softball league for 12-to 15-year-olds and then in an industrial league for two years. In Kenosha, she gained a good reputation as a hard throwingpitcher andshortstop for the team ofNash Motors, which later boughtHudson Company to foundAmerican Motors.^[2]

Hill entered the league in 1945 with theGrand Rapids Chicks, but was converted into a catcher. She was a force behind theplate and had capacity as a left-handed hitter to drive the long ball.^[1] Nevertheless, Hill was traded six times in a span of eight years because each season the league would move players to try to keep teams competitive. So, in 1946, she divided her playing time between theSouth Bend Blue Sox and theFort Wayne Daisies, before stabilizing with thePeoria Redwings the next year.^[1][3][4]

Hill became the everyday catcher for Peoria in 1947. While she turned in a good defensive performance, she also showed a strong throwing arm and the ability to get the most out of a pitching staff. She then found herself on the move again, this time to theRacine Belles during the 1948 midseason. Through 1949 she shared catching duties withIrene Hickson, returning to Peoria from 1950 to 1951.^[5] While Hill loved to catch, she also suffered a litany of injuries that hurt her play. She recalled one game in which she had four broken fingers taped on her throwing hand. During the off-season, she continued to work for the Nash Company.^[6]

Following the 1950 season, Hill and Raymond A. Westerman were married in Kenosha, the couple's home town. During her last two seasons in the league she played under her married name, Joyce Westerman, but her days of catching were over and she had to switch tofirst base and, eventually, to playoutfield.^[1][7] Her most productive year came with Peoria in 1951, when she posted career-numbers inbatting average (.277),runs scored (51),hits (86),extra bases (105),runs batted in (50) andstolen bases (20).^[1]

Joyce rejoined the Blue Sox during her last year in the league. Near to the end of the 1952 season, a South Bend team decimated by injuries had lost six regular players. Then she won a decisive game with awalk-off RBIsingle in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Blue Sox relied on their ace pitcher,Jean Faut, to finish off Grand Rapids in the first round of the playoffs, and win the championship title against theRockford Peaches.^[8]

Hill retired after 1952 to become a mother and raise a family of two daughters, Janet and Judy, both of whom became ball players. She later went to work for theUnited States Postal Service, retiring in 1985. She also played fast-pitch softball from 1960 to 1975, becoming a member of several championship teams.^[7] Hill, along with her former teammates and opponents, received their long overdue recognition when theBaseball Hall of Fame and Museum dedicated a permanent display to the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1988. When the1992 filmA League of Their Own was filmed at Cooperstown, she was one of the women who appeared for the last segment of the movie. Widowed in 2005, she lived in Kenosha as of 2005.^[7][9] She died on January 18, 2021.^[10]

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• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players
• Grand Rapids Chicks players
• South Bend Blue Sox players
• Fort Wayne Daisies players
• Peoria Redwings players
• Racine Belles (1943–1950) players
• Baseball players from Kenosha, Wisconsin
• United States Postal Service people
• 1925 births
• 2021 deaths
• 21st-century American women

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata