Bruce Springsteen has paid tribute to Jo DePugh, the New Jersey pitcher who inspired his 1984 hit ‘Glory Days’.
- READ MORE: Bruce Springsteen live in London: the heartland hero remains firmly at his majestic peak
DePugh recently passed away from cancer at the age of 75.
“Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold native and ballplayer Joe DePugh,” Springsteen wrote in an Instagram post . “He was a good friend when I needed one. ‘He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool’ …. Glory Days my friend.”
DePugh and Springsteen grew up together in Freehold, New Jersey, and played baseball in the same youth league. Their chance encounter at a bar in 1973 served as the real-life basis for one of the most iconic verses on Springsteen’s ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ album.
The classic hit reached Number Five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985 and Number 17 on the UK singles chart.
“Whenever we’re together, it’s the same dynamic: I’m the star and he’s the guy at the end of the bench,” DePugh told the Palm Beach Post in 2011. “That’s who he has always been to me, my right fielder.”
He continued: ”Once I saw Bruce we went back in and closed the place. He had a little entourage with him. They all sat in a booth, but it was just me and him at the bar. All of a sudden, it’s 1:30 (a.m.) and they started blinking the lights.”
Joe DePugh, pitcher who inspired Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Glory Days,’ dies at 75 – The Athletic https://t.co/lzjE1lUWAn
— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) April 1, 2025
DePugh and Springsteen remained friends throughout their lives, occasionally crossing paths in Palm Beach County, where Springsteen owns a home and DePugh lived in Lake Worth.
Elsewhere, last week The Boss, Flea, Karen O, Michael Stipe, Johnny Depp and more led an all-star jam with Patti Smith at her tribute concert in New York.
During the show, Springsteen and the night’s house band led by Tony Shanahan, a longtime member of Smith’s band, along with Flea and Rolling Stones tour drummer Steve Jordan, also performed a rendition of ‘Because The Night’.
Meanwhile, Adolescence star Stephen Graham recently revealed that he was left in tears after Springsteen got in touch to praise his performance in the upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere.
The film, which stars The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as a young Springsteen, follows the heartland rocker during the making of his 1982 album ‘Nebraska’, with Graham playing his late father, Douglas “Dutch” Springsteen.
