Delbert Purdin

 

Player

 

Inducted 1988

 

Del was a fast-pitch pitcher who learned his trade from two of the best hurlers in the United States in Todd McKinney and Dick Easter.  During his years in fast-pitch, Del pitched in over 1,500 games averaging seventeen strikeouts per game.  He had one hundred no-hitters and approximately fifty-four perfect games to his credit.  These stats go along with a lifetime batting average of .350.  Del played in the old Seaboard Coast League in Portsmouth with Atlantic Seaboard, Myran Cromwell Brothers, Pepsi Cola and Pittsburgh Paints.  In addition, while in the military, Del threw in the All-Navy, All-Marine, and the All-Armed Forces championships held both in Tidewater and abroad.  Del played in numerous State, Regional and National ASA tournaments prior to his retirement from the great game of fast-pitch at the age of 42.  At the time of his induction, he was an assistant athletic director at N.A.B. Little Creek which had hosted numerous ASA Regional tournaments.