Coach's Corner: Allure of neighborhood softball legends lives on

Once upon a time in America, a sport that was played by local neighborhood men and women was the main source of entertainment on sultry summer evenings. It wasn't televised (most families didn't own a TV at this time). It wasn't played in huge stadiums but rather, mostly on elementary school playgrounds. The players didn't get paid amazing amounts of money (almost all never earned a cent for playing). And it provided some of the most exciting spectator events from the 1930s to the mid-1950s.

Raise your hands out there if you remember fastpitch softball.

Some of my fondest memories from childhood growing up in Annapolis were when my brother and I headed to the nearby elementary school playground to watch men from my neighborhood compete in the City Recreation Department Fastpitch Softball League. The league was made up of several teams that mostly had bars or taverns for sponsors. In my section of Eastport (read poor side of Spa Creek), that meant that you went to see our local Sportsman's Bar team play the likes of City Market from downtown; or on a good evening, you got to see either of those two teams play the Warriors, an all Afro-American team that drew huge crowds. Remember, this was pre-integration days. At this point in time in the racially segregated state capitol, my brother and I were pretty oblivious to all the underlying prejudices that were a part of our society. In our rather limited world, you could either play good ball or not.

We loved watching those games that featured some athletes who possessed the quickest reflexes known to man. The best part: watching them play was free. The umpire usually passed around the hat to the crowd, and that was how he got paid. We were in awe of local heroes with names like "Fireball" Jackson and "Peck" Jones. But the player that was most fascinating to watch was ace pitcher "Jumbo" Teurs. Jumbo could take a softball and do magic things with it. Like all great fastpitch windmillers, he could throw a fastball at close to 100 mph, a wicked riser, a change-up that had hitters falling down, and a curveball that started at a batter's hip and finished on the outside corner.

Although Teurs played for his neighborhood team, he frequently hired out to several teams in the Baltimore Industrial League to give them a little extra edge when it came to tournament time. Sometimes he might pitch every night of the week somewhere within a 50-mile radius. It was said that "Jumbo" pitched so much that his right pitching arm was two inches longer than his left.

A typical men's game was almost always dominated by the pitchers. With balls being delivered from 40 to 43 feet at the baseball equivalent of 125 mph, it was almost impossible for hitters to put a ball in play. Bunting was a large part of the offensive strategy. I can still picture the first and third basemen creeping in before each pitch and winding up about 15 feet from the batter when the ball crossed the plate. You had to have unbelievable reactions and amazing courage.

The epitome of the sport of was the barnstorming fastpitch softballer Eddie Feigner and his team, the King and His Court. Feigner's rise to stardom and national attention began in 1946 when in a moment of bravado in a local game, he told the opposing team that they couldn't beat his squad even if he only took the field with himself pitching, a catcher, a shortstop, and a first baseman. The opponent's nine-man team was defeated and the King was on his way to softball fame. Over the next 51 years, Feigner and his teammates entertained crowds in cities and small towns all across the U.S. and in a number of countries.

In his prime, Feigner, who reportedly could throw a 104 mph fastball, dazzled fans by striking out opponents while he wore a blindfold, or while pitching from second base, or releasing his pitch behind his back or through his legs. Once in an exhibition game against major league all-stars, the King struck out every batter, with the only player to hit a foul ball being Hall of Famer Rod Carew. The game was called after four innings because the baseball players got frustrated and called it quits.

Feigner, like the basketball barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters, was financially successful in his promotions, and during the 1950s was one of the highest-paid athletes in America. He kept rather detailed records of all of his 10,000 games, in which he threw 930 no-hitters, 238 perfect games, 1,916 shutouts, and 8,270 wins. Because of his contribution to the game of softball, he was selected to throw out the ceremonial ball for the women's softball competition for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He truly was one of the sports world's greatest performers.

Sadly, men's fastpitch softball has faded into history and is not widely played in the U.S., with the exception of a few states in the Midwest and on the West Coast. In fact, today, it is much more popular in Canada than here. The sport lost its popularity in the 1950s with the increasing number of people who started watching TV in the evenings and with the growth of slow pitch softball.

The good news is, however, that women's fastpitch softball has flourished during the past several decades. High school teams and youth leagues have provided great opportunities for female players to demonstrate their athleticism. Frederick County teams have won more than their share of state titles since the sport began being played at a championship level. In 1996 it was added to Olympic competition. Team USA won the first three gold medals that were awarded in '96, 2000, and 2004. Japan won the gold in 2008. The International Olympic Committee just recently dropped both baseball for the men and softball for the women, claiming that too few countries competed in those sports to warrant them continuing to be a part of the Olympic Games.

So, in the next few weeks when there will be hours of TV coverage of all the pageantry and excitement of the Olympic Games, I'll be tuned in to watch the track and field, gymnastics, and swimming events. But I'll probably reminisce about a simpler time, when I used to head to the elementary school ballfield and watch "Jumbo" mow 'em down for Sportsman's Bar.

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