The softball King will get his throne

By Scott Benjamin

In 1972, Sports Illustrated (SI) ran a headline “King Without A Crown” for an article on the four-man barnstorming softball team that featured a pitcher who threw faster than Aroldis Chapman and had a repertoire more vast than the dispensers in the Pez collection.

“Softball being what it is, the simple fact about Eddie Feigner (pronounced Fayner) remains: at 47 years of age he is the most underrated athlete of his time,” stated SI writer Curry Kirkpatrick, a former Westport resident.

“A consummate showman, he has been denied the center ring all his life.” Kirkpatrick wrote. “He is vaudeville in the age of television, a giant only in the bushes; a king without a throne.”

An ESPN readers’ poll rated Cy Young’s 511 career victories as the greatest sports record of all time.

Did those readers consider that Feigner had 9,743 victories, 141,517 strikeouts, 930 no hitters and 238 perfect games?

Kirkpatrick wrote, “He has been, as any fool for history must consider, a phenomenon in his sport—equal parts Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson, Cy Young and Boots Poffenberger with some flavor of Ruth and Cobb in there, too. Because, of course, Eddie Feigner can hit the ball as well as throw it. Such names long since have been mounted on pedestals, but Feigner belongs, just the same. He is that good.”

So good that Feigner struck out a Louisville Slugger Row of Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Brooks Robinson, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills and Harmon Killebrew in a 1967 exhibition game at Dodger Stadium. Heck, the “Say Hey Kid” even swung and missed at a ball that the King threw between his legs.

“I think he was one of those once in a lifetime players,” said Charlie Dobbins, a former player for the King And His Court, who now coaches the women’s softball team at Peace University in North Carolina.

“He just kept performing at a high level for decades,” related Dobbins, who formerly lived in the Danielson section of Killingly.

ESPN.com’s Jim Caple wrote, “Feigner was Sidd Finch with a crew cut. Clint Eastwood with a fastball.”

Consider that Feigner not only threw a softball at 104 miles an hour, but had 19 windups, 14 hand deliveries and five speeds, sometimes pitched blind-folded and from second base. Some of his pitches dropped 18 inches as they crossed the plate.

Forty-nine years ago, Jim Morier of Glastonbury, CT., sent Sports Illustrated a letter to the editor: “I recently had the pleasure of seeing The King and His Court in Hartford. My friend and I jumped the fence and saw the game for free. But I was so amazed at the startling repertoire of pitches The King displayed, I paid my two dollars on the way out.”

“He would even throw behind his back to pick off runners on the bases,” said Dobbins, a member of the executive committee that is aiming to build a museum to honor the King And His Court in southeastern Washington, near where Feigner grew up.

Caple stated, “The King and His Court went to towns even McDonald’s ignores. That was the beauty of the team. No town was too small for them, no fan too unimportant.”

The team played before 20.8 million fans, in 4,405 cities and 104 countries.

“Eddie performed on more aircraft carriers than Bob Hope,” said Steve Beden, the managing owner of the King And His Court, who is leading the fund-raising drive for the museum.

In a phone interview, Dobbins remarked, “We went out with the opposing team for beer and pizzas afterwards. The King And His Court went to the YMCA and the Boys And Girls clubs to hold clinics.”

Douglas Lyons’ 2004 biography on Feigner was titled, “From an Orphan to a King.”

Feigner was separated from his unwed mother shortly after birth. He worked dozens of jobs before becoming a strikeout artist.

One of the major influences was his service in the Marines.

Dobbins related, “He was very regimented in how he did things. He took care of everything. Ordering, the schedule, handling money, paying the players.”

Beden, who became acquainted with Feigner in 2006- the year before he died – said, “He was fearful that he would be forgotten.”

Dobbins said, “My players don’t know about Eddie Feigner. Their fathers and grandfathers probably do.”

In a phone interview Beden said, “There is interest, but not as much as 10 years ago” when the team came to Walla Walla, where it all began, to play its final game.

Rich Hoppe, who succeeded Feigner as the team’s pitcher, told ESPN.com at the time, “We can’t compete with modern entertainment” when asked about why the Court was going out of session.

However, the Globetrotters are still bouncing around the world and The Wall Street Journal recently did a profile on the Savannah Bananas show baseball team, which doesn’t allow hitters to leave the batter’s box and where each inning counts since the team that has the most runs in an inning wins it and after a team captures five innings the game is over.

“It would be hard to duplicate,” Dobbins said about resurrecting the King And His Court.

Beden said there are just a limited number of fast-pitch softball leagues in the United States – largely confined to the Midwest and California.

“In Australia, putting together a fast-pitch softball barnstorming team probably could happen in a heartbeat,” he said.

The King And His Court’s web site – https://kingandhiscourt.net – includes a bio on the team and the individual players, information regarding the executive and advisory boards, a donation section and a shopping area to purchase caps and trademark King And His Court red, white and blue jerseys.

Beden said a number of fans have donated souvenirs. Just recently, for example, someone offered a bat from the 1960s that had been signed by all four players.

He said they already have a souvenir book from each of the 65 years of the King And His Court. Those artifacts included are array of photographs of Feigner with such A-listers as Jerry Lewis, Mike Douglas, Joe Morgan, Rafer Johnson, Bob Barker, Jack Whitaker . . .even Lassie

Beden, who is the executive director to the president of the National Booster Club Association, said fund-raising efforts began in 2019 and were largely interrupted during the pandemic. He said early signs are encouraging that they can entice some corporate sponsors.

The “wish list” is a $2.5 million, two-story structure that would house souvenirs from the King And His Court and include meeting rooms. The less ambitious plan is a $1 million, 2,000-square-foot building. There also plans for a podcast, a documentary and a historical book.

It appears that although the King never got his crown, he will finally get his throne.