Meet Justy Buttballski, legendary pitcher and manager of the Great Whites baseball team. The Great Whites were formed to honor the shark that took Justy’s leg off the New Jersey coast in the early 1890s. At the time, Justy had just graduated the sixth grade at age 23 and was working as a beachside porta‑potty cleaner. He was standing in waist‑deep water scrubbing the bottom of the Jersey Sisters Swim Team’s restroom when a sudden sharknado hit, tearing away his right leg just below the knee.
A quick‑thinking bystander used a towel roll to create a makeshift tourniquet and saved Justy’s life. Later in the hospital, in a haze of pain and determination, he vowed to avenge his honor by starting the most fearless, fish‑inspired ball club in history. He batted with a wooden leg until his swing became powerful enough to take on the shark that changed his life.
After two years of pro fishballing — a wild version of the game using puffer fish instead of baseballs — his legendary bat shattered every puffer pitched to him. Fueled by pride and grit, Justy returned to the beach where he had been maimed, ready for a final showdown. As soon as the great white saw him, they charged at each other, a clash of shark and slugger. But when Justy reached down to grab his wooden leg and strike, the shark lunged, taking his good leg and knocking him down, where baby sharks swarmed and ended his story in the sand and surf.
This is the legend that built the Great Whites — a team forged in grit, baseball history, and the fearless fight against the sea’s fiercest predator.
