If Bruce Springsteen’s song stands true, Joe DePugh was quite the baseball player back in his “Glory Days.”
DePugh, who inspired Springsteen’s iconic song, has died after a battle with cancer at 75 years old.
“Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold native and ballplayer Joe DePugh,” Springsteen posted to his Instagram. “He was a good friend when I needed one.”
Springsteen and DePugh both hail from Freehold, N.J., and played baseball there together growing up.
While Springsteen ultimately became the musical superstar, it was DePugh who was “the star” on the baseball diamond while Springsteen was “the guy at the end of the bench.”
“We used to call him ‘Saddie’ because he hardly ever played,” DePugh said in the past about Springsteen.
As Springsteen’s song put DePugh’s skills, “He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool.”
The “speedball,” was what Springsteen called DePugh’s fastball.
“I don’t know, man! Speedball is a term from the ’50s, so it’s just an old term that I heard my grandparents use at different times,” Springsteen said in an interview in 2019. “So, in the context of that, ‘Glory Days,’ I thought it was funny! I guess! I don’t know!”
The song’s origin came from when the two ran into each other in 1973 outside a bar, “Headliner,” in Neptune City.
Just as the song tells it, Springsteen was walking in and DePugh was walking out. DePugh went back in with his old friend, they sat down, had some drinks and all DePugh kept talking about were the glory days.
“I was tickled pink I would even get into the song. I certainly wasn’t going to complain about what he decided to write about,” DePugh said in 2011. “It’s about living in the past and letting go, especially for jocks, to get out of that and live in the present. That certainly wasn’t the first time I was accused of that.”
DePugh worked as a substitute teacher before becoming a contractor and ultimately moving to Florida, where the two Freehold natives wound up being close by yet again as DePugh lived in a condo in Lake Worth and Springsteen owns a home in Wellington.
Just like his baseball career from his youth, DePugh’s name will live on.
“Glory Days my friend,” Springsteen concluded his Instagram tribute.
