Padres Ace Breaks Pitching World Record in Support of Challenged Athletes Foundation

Jeremy Hanna | Aug 18, 2024

May 26, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove (44) throws a pitch in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-USA TODAY Sports / David Frerker-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball recently shared a post of a San Diego Padres ace breaking a new world record that will put a smile on your face.

This year, the Padres have broken numerous franchise and MLB records. That being said, pitcher Joe Musgrove was already breaking a world record back in January of 2023.

In a mission to raise awareness for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), Musgrove went to Antarctica to throw the ball around with some friends. While he was there, he just so happened to break the record for the fastest pitch thrown in Antarctica.

Musgrove first pitch came in at 79 mph. After setting a goal of 80 mph, he eventually worked his way up to 86 mph.

On January 5th, 2023 Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove was throwing a baseball in Antarctica with a few friends from the Challenged Athletes Foundation. In a mission to raise awareness for CAF, Joe set the record for the fastest pitch thrown on Antarctica.

“I feel like I’m the one… pic.twitter.com/5VXUnyiFi3

— MLB (@MLB) August 17, 2024

The trip came to be after Musgrove held a fundraiser in September of 2022 that raised nearly $100,000 for CAF. This included enough money for the Padres hurler to bring Landis Sims, a 16-year-old baseball player who was born without arms and lower legs.

After Musgrove threw his pitches, Sims followed suit, throwing a 44 mph pitch. The San Diego hurler then challenged him to hit 45 mph, which he did on his very next throw.

They were also joined by two Paralympic athletes: Roderick Sewell, the first bilateral above-the-knee amputee to finish the IRONMAN World Championship, and Justin Phongsavanh, a javelin thrower who is paralyzed below the waist who took gold in the 2019 Parapan American Games and bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic games.

“This trip exceeded every expectation I had, man,” Musgrove told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “There’s so many moments throughout this trip that I’ll never forget, and the group of people that we came with couldn’t have been a better collection of people. I’m just very, very grateful that I was given the opportunity to come on this trip and to try to make a little bit of an impact.”

“The whole idea of this trip was to face these limits and face things that are going to hold these athletes back due to the physical condition they're in. Watching these guys take every one of these challenges on, head-on ... They found a way to get through it. We accomplished everything that we were trying to go for.”

"Challenged Athlete Foundation is committed to creating opportunities for individuals with physical challenges to participate in sports," MLB shared on social media. "Adaptive sports equipment such as running prosthetics or a sport wheelchair is expensive - and that’s where CAF steps in. Through grants and donations, they are able to provide specialized equipment, adaptive sports training, competition expenses and recreational programs."

If you're interested in working with CAF or attending events, you can check out their website here.

More Padres: Former San Diego Pitcher on Brink of Major League History