What is Jennie Finch's Net Worth?
Jennie Finch is a former softball pitcher who has a net worth of $1.5 million. Jennie Finch is considered to be the most famous softball player of all time. She rose to fame in college as a member of the Arizona Wildcats softball team, with which she won the 2001 Women's College World Series. Finch later played with the US women's national softball team at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, and pitched for the National Pro Fastpitch's Chicago Bandits from 2005 to 2010.
Early Life and High School
Jennie Finch was born on September 3, 1980 in La Mirada, California. She has two older brothers named Shane and Landon. Finch began playing softball when she was five and started pitching at the age of eight. As a teenager, she attended La Mirada High School, where she excelled in softball, basketball, and volleyball. Finch lettered four times in softball and twice each in the other two sports. Upon her graduation, she became the first softball player in her school's history to have her jersey number retired.
(Photo by Skip Bolen/WireImage)
Collegiate Career
For college, Finch went to the University of Arizona, where she played for the Wildcats softball team from 1999 to 2002. As a freshman, she threw her first career no-hitter during the NCAA tournament in May. Finch helped the Wildcats reach the Women's College World Series, where they were eliminated by the DePaul Blue Demons. She went on to have a remarkable sophomore season, throwing three no-hitters and leading her team in home runs and slugging percentage. The Wildcats made it back to the World Series, where they were defeated by the Oklahoma Sooners in the semifinals.
Finch continued firing on all cylinders as a junior, opening the season with 31 consecutive scoreless innings and finishing with career highs in RBI and WHIP. For the year, she was named Pitcher of the Year and won the Honda Sports Award. The Wildcats finished the season as the number-one seed in the NCAA tournament and returned to the World Series for the third-straight year. This time, they were victorious, defeating the UCLA Bruins 1-0. With her perfect season, Finch set an NCAA record. As a senior in 2002, she broke the season strikeouts record and again won Player of the Year honors and the Honda Sports Award.
By the time of her graduation from Arizona, Finch had set numerous school and NCAA records. Among them, she set an NCAA record with 60 consecutive wins, and recorded school records for career strikeouts, shutouts, and innings pitched. Finch also tied for the most no-hitters in school history, with eight. In 2003, her jersey number, 27, was retired by the University of Arizona.
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Olympic Career
Finch made her Olympic debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Pitching for the US women's national softball team, she went 2-0 and struck out 13 batters in eight innings to help the US win the gold medal. Finch returned to the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, but was unable to keep the US's gold medal streak going, as the team fell to Japan in the final to leave with a silver medal. Softball was subsequently dropped from the Olympics.
National Pro Fastpitch
In 2005, Finch joined National Pro Fastpitch and began playing for the league's Chicago Bandits. She had an incredible first year, recording a perfect season. Finch continued her streak in 2006 before opening with a loss in 2007. She bounced back after that, and ended up setting the single-season NPF record for ERA. Finch remained consistent during her final seasons with the Bandits, pitching perfect games in both 2009, against the Philadelphia Force, and 2010, against the Akron Racers. In the summer of 2010, she officially retired from softball so she could focus on her family life. Finch finished her career as the NPF career leader in WHIP.
Media Appearances
Finch has made various appearances in the media. In 2005, she posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and in 2006 she appeared in the first season of the Spike TV reality game show "Pros vs. Joes." Finch later competed on "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2008 and "Dancing with the Stars" in 2018. On the latter, she was paired with professional dancer Keo Motsepe. Elsewhere on television, Finch hosted segments of the show "This Week in Baseball," and later did color commentary for ESPN's coverage of NPF and college softball games.
Other Activities
Among her other activities, Finch pitched for the MLB's National League in several Legends and Celebrities Softball Games between 2010 and 2018. She also served as Grand Marshal of the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade in 2008. For one day in 2016, Finch was guest manager of the Bridgeport Bluefish minor league baseball team, making her the first woman ever to manage a professional baseball team.
Personal Life
In early 2005, Finch married MLB pitcher Casey Daigle. Together, they have two sons named Ace and Diesel and a daughter named Paisley. Finch is a devout Christian.
In 2011, Finch published the book "Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself," which she co-wrote with Ann Killion.