Remember when...men's fast-pitch softball flourished in Arizona

Back in the 1960s,1970s, and 1980s, men's fastpitch softball flourished in the state of Arizona.

It was the Tucson Kings who dominated the scene over at Santa Rita Park, the center arena for fastpitch softball in those days. Standout players like Dick Griesser, Ray Judd, Cal Hodgeson, and Ned Stock took to the field nightly to lead their respective teams.

 In Phoenix, it was such teams as the Southern Truck Raiders, Hays Roofing, and a team called Seventh Avenue Auto Parts, which was fortunate enough to have a hard-throwing pitcher by the name of Jay Bob Bickford. Jay Bob was one of three hall-of-fame pitchers to take the mound in Arizona during the heyday of men's fastpitch softball; the other two were Jerry Wells and Gil Aragon.

 If you talk to an old-time fan of the game who can still remember those bygone days, he or she may argue that Wells, who pitched for Hays Roofing, was the fastest of the three hall-of-famers. Some say Wells could throw up to 100 miles an hour. Unfortunately, for the Tucson teams, it was the Phoenix-area teams that dominated the game back then. At any rate, men's fastpitch was big enough in those days to attract Eddie Feigner and the "King and his Court" to both Phoenix and Tucson.

Feigner was well known back in those days as a big promoter of the game, and it was well-documented that he could throw the white oval over 104 miles an hour. Feigner, who hailed from the Washington state area, assembled a traveling team consisting of a catcher, a first baseman, and a shortstop. The four of them traveled around the country, taking on all nine-man teams that were willing to play them in an exhibition game.

In the early 70s, Feigner and his crew showed up at Hi Corbett Field one night before a Tucson Toros game for an exhibition contest against a Tucson team called That's-A-Bargain Furniture. That's-A-Bargain was no match for Feigner, who not only threw rockets to the plate but also struck out his share of players blindfolded from second base as 5,000 fans looked on. Feigner pitched over 10,000 games in his career. He struck out a total of 141,517 batters and, at one point in his career, faced and struck out (in another exhibition) Willie Mays, Wille McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, and Roberto Clemente. Feigner passed away in 2007.