Baseball's first million-dollar player was Nolan Ryan. This week, the Houston-area Scrap Yard Dawgs signed Monica Abbott to a record-breaking new contract, making her the first million-dollar player in fastpitch softball. Just like Ryan, she holds down some pretty impressive records, including most NCAA strikeouts (with 2,440), most games pitched (253) and most career shutouts (112).
But there's one thing Abbott's done that Ryan hasn't -- and that's throw a perfect game. Actually, she's thrown six in NCAA Division I softball, and in 2008, she threw the first perfect game in Olympic history.