![]() On an old episode of Sport Science, they estimated Jennie Finch's fastball at 70 mph. He struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente, and Brooks Robinson consecutively the exact order of the batters varies depending on your source, but everyone agrees that he struck out all six in a row. In 1967, when Feigner was a month shy of his 42nd birthday, he appeared in a softball exhibition against a major-league all-star team. Yet he bragged more about his off-speed and breaking pitches than the heater, and his control really was legendary - even with a blindfold, or pitching from the outfield. ![]() Take away 1/4 of the hitter's reaction time and give the pitch an extra 10% or so in velocity, and that's Feigner's fastball. A baseball mound is 60' 6" from home, and 95-mph fastballs are considered blazing. ![]() When the mound is only 46 feet from home plate, that is unhittable. Feigner's fastball was clocked at 104 mph. Who else pitches blindfolded? Who else pitches from second base? I used to throw strikes from center field." He goes on like this at great length, but there's substance behind the boasting. My in-drop and in-raise are superpitches and unique. I throw the best changeup there ever was. The King retired with over 8,000 victories, 900 no-hitters, and 200 perfect games.Īs you might expect from a man who dubbed himself The King, Feigner was far from modest: "I have perfect control. Perhaps it's hard to take such a man seriously, but ESPN's Gare Joyce wrote that Feigner was more than a gimmick: "For all the entertainment, he amazed more than he amused." Sports Illustrated called Feigner the most underrated athlete of his time. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" and pitched blindfolded to Johnny Carson. Sometimes he simply abandoned the pitching mound, backing up to second base or even center field. In addition to the sparse defense, Feigner would often pitch from unusual positions: behind his back, between his legs, on his knees. That was The King and His Court, and Feigner played that way for over 50 years, retiring only after a stroke at age 75. Epstein wrote that when Jennie Finch took the mound against Mike Piazza, Aaron Boone took off his glove and lay down, while Hank Blalock left the field for a drink of water. He came into his own in 1946, when Feigner took the field as "The King and His Court" - Feigner (The King) backed by only a catcher, a shortstop, and a first baseman. Feigner's performances had more than a little bit of Globetrotting to them.īorn in 1925, Feigner was a successful softball pitcher by age 16. Can you overlook the glitz and gimmicks to judge him as a legitimate sportsman? On the other hand, can you avoid being swayed by remarkable (and seemingly ridiculous) feats to keep his accomplishments in context? The Harlem Globetrotters do amazing things, but the show doesn't make them better than the guys in the NBA who play it straight. Eddie Feigner is.įeigner was a showman, so it's tough to evaluate him objectively. No one could touch her.īut Finch is not the best softball pitcher ever. Throughout her career, Finch was close to unhittable, whether facing the best softball players in the world or the best major league hitters. National Team are even better, with 397 strikeouts against 36 walks (11:1 K-to-BB) and a 0.42 ERA. ![]() As a striking example of a larger point, Epstein writes about the success of softball pitcher Jennie Finch against major league hitters like Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds.Īt the University of Arizona, Finch won an NCAA-record 60 straight games, including a 32-0 record and 0.54 ERA as a junior. The piece is fascinating, and if you haven't read it yet, I'd encourage you to do so. Sports Illustrated recently ran an excerpt from David Epstein's new book The Sports Gene. Pitchers dominate softball, to the extent that the best of them are nearly unhittable. But batters have an even tougher job in baseball's cousin, softball. It's often said that the best hitters in baseball still make an out 60% of the time. ![]()
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