Born in Rockford, Illinois, Jean Cione was a dominant lefty pitcher who enjoyed a prolific career over ten seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Cione is regarded one of the few pitchers to make the successful transition from underhand to overhand through the many stages of the league, although she hurled on awful expansion teams that did not give her much run support. An All-Star, she posted a 76-65 record with a 2.33 earned run average in 169 career games and pitched three no-hitters. In addition, she was a member of a champion team and turned in an unassisted triple play. Interestingly, from 1909 through 2010 there have only been 15 unassisted triple plays in Major League Baseball history.
After the league folded in 1954, Cione taught sports medicine and physical education at the university level for 29 years, earning inductions into several halls of fame across the United States