Billy Crafford

Player

Inducted 1999

 

Billy Crafford was a premier fast-pitch softball player in the Portsmouth Major League in the mid-fifties and early sixties.  In 1956, Billy won twenty-five games.  In another year, he won twenty-three games of which ten were shutouts.  He had three consecutive twenty game seasons.  Billy pitched two no-hitters during his career including a perfect game on May 17, 1957.  One year, he was selected as the best hitter in the league.  In his ten years as a pitcher, he was the league’s Most Valuable Player for two years.  It must not be forgotten that Billy was an outstanding pitcher, hitter and a winner as well as a family man.