Louisville, KY has had its share of good softball players, but there was no one that was as well known as the Great Gatti, Bill Gatti. A former University of Louisville football and baseball star, Gatti was one of the top players playing Major and Super Slow Pitch for more than 20 years. Gatti starting playing slow pitch for a local team, Guards, in 1969 before joining Jiffy Club in 1971. That year, he led Jiffy club to a 11th place finish in the national tourney and led the tournament in batting (.867). He also earned the first of his five first-team All-America selections. In 1972, he led Jiffy Club to the national title, batting .714 with 14 homers to lead the tourney as well as being named tourney MVP. In 1973, Jiffy placed fourth before Gatti played pro football for two years before re-joining Jiffy Club in 1976. In eight Major/Super Nationals, Gatti batted .674 with 123 hits in 187 at-bats, driving in 144 runs and hitting 70 homers. During his career, Gatti smashed 1,937 homers and drove in 4,076 runs. In 1989, he led Ritch’s Salvage to ASA Major and Super Slow Pitch national titles and was the MVP in the Major National.
