For a long time most baseball players considered softball a sissy game. They insisted that it was much more difficult to hit a baseball than a softball. After all, a baseball is much smaller than a softball, and a baseball pitcher throws overhand, which means his pitches can be faster.
Then a few major leaguers met Eddie Feigner, softball’s all-time greatest pitcher, and the big leagues changed their mind about softball.
Feigner was so good that he didn’t have to play with a full team behind him. He organized a “team” that he called The King and His Court. It consisted of four players: a catcher, a shortstop and a first baseman; they were the “court.” Feigner, who did the pitching, was “the king.” Feigner dreamed up all sorts of stunts. Sometimes he would move back near second base and pitch from there. Or he’d pitch blindfolded. He gained a great reputation as a showman, but few baseball players took him seriously.
Then on February 18, 1967, a softball game was played in Hollywood. One team consisted of major league baseball players. the other was composed of movie actors, including James Garner, Don Adams and Steve Allen. The major leaguers did not know that Feigner had been slipped into the movie stars’ lineup.
Feigner took the mound only when the Hollywood stars were in a bad spot. Then he strode to the rubber, and in succession struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Harmon Killebrew, five of baseball’s greatest sluggers.
Feigner wasn’t used to losing. When he faced the major leaguers his teams had won nearly 3,400 games against 300 defeats. Feigner himself had pitched 530 no-hitters, including 152 perfect games in which no opposing batter reached base safely.
Strangest of all, Feigner may have been the fastest pitcher ever. Bob Feller had been one of the fastest pitchers in major league history, and his fastball was once timed at just under 100 miles per hour. Feigner’s fastball, pitched underhand, was timed at 104 miles per hour!
From The Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Feigner
Liss didn’t specify that the celebrities lost the 1967 game, although he did allude to it. Final score was 6-5, which is certainly more competitive than you’d think it would be. Plus, it doesn’t look like Feigner played much in that game anyway. If he’d been the starter, chances are the score would have been much different.
I seem to recall seeing The King and His Court on ESPN. He must have been in his 60s but he could still fire them.
I’ve also seen videos where top women softball pitchers have gone against major leaguers and smoked them. The combination of speed, shorter distance from mound to plate, and completely different delivery and angle really messes the guys up. Here’s Pujols striking out.
A softball pitching instructor and D1 coach told me the secret is you only give them 5 pitches. Any more than that and they will get the timing down and tee off.