Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as you do.

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Today’s story is about the greatest athlete you’ve probably never heard of.

Even though he never played in a Major League game, ESPN called Eddie Feigner one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball history.

He struck out over 8,000 batters, threw more than 200 perfect games, and his fastball was so unhittable that he was banned from men’s softball multiple times.

He was also batshit crazy, and honestly, he had some pretty valid reasons.

Feigner was abandoned at birth.

His biological mom gave him away, apparently because his father was her own brother in law.

The woman who adopted him was deeply religious.

She was basically the real life equivalent to Bobby Boucher’s mom from Waterboy.

Growing up, Feigner wasn’t allowed to go to parties, school dances, eat candy, or anything like that.

He didn’t even know Major League Baseball existed until he was 15.

At 17, he joined the military, became severely depressed and found himself wanting to end his own life.

He attempted suicide multiple times and went to a facility to get treated.

Feigner felt that if he found his real mother, it would help him get back on track, and he did exactly that.

Turns out, she lived in the same town that he grew up in, and he literally even mowed her lawn as a kid without either of them knowing they were related.

He moved in with her and started dominating on the softball field.

Now I know what you’re thinking…

This guy was playing men’s fastpitch softball, how good of an athlete could he actually be?

During this time, softball was one of the most popular sports in the county and was highly competitive.

And Eddie was so good, they banned him in 1940 from competing in National Championships.

In 1946, Eddie was pitching for Kilburg's Grocery in Washington's Green Pea League, dominated a game against an Oregon team, winning 33-0.

After the game, Feigner's pitching ability was insulted by the opposing team's manager.

Feigner claimed he could defeat any team with just a catcher.

The manager challenged him, and Feigner accepted, with the condition that he had four players to bat if the bases were loaded.

Feigner threw a perfect game and his four-man squad beat the team 7-0.

Soon after, Feigner took “The King and His Court” on the road and they played EVERYWHERE.

They went city to city, beating the brakes off every opponent they faced - local teams to the best in the world, Feigner wanted all the smoke.

Him and his four man team were like the Harlem Globe Trotters of Softball - except they beat the world champions in their sport multiple times.

Eddie would throw blindfolded and behind his back.

He also had 19 different windups, 14 delivery motions, and five speeds.

But most importantly, his fastball was faster than any other player on Earth at the time.

Legend has it that Feigner could throw 104 mph.

Which is equivalent to 140mph from a big league mound.

This was a time before radar guns, but the 104 number was widely reported by Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and others.

It was also verified by scientists at the University of Windsor.

And what makes this extra crazy is that Feigner was truly doing this for the love of the game.

For the first six years of touring, he was dead broke.

He even got an offer to come to Yankee’s Spring Training in the 50’s but had to turn it down because he literally didn’t have the money to make the trip.

But by the time the 60’s rolled around, he was making upwards of $100,000 per month.

To put that in perspective, the highest-paid player in the big leagues at the time was Willie Mays, who was making $130,000 per year.

It was during this time that The King displayed his true dominance.

In a charity softball game against MLB players, he struck out Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Brooks Robinson, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills and Harmon Killebrew in a row.

Obviously it’s not what we would call “a fair fight,” but STILL, pretty impressive.

Over a 50 year span, Eddie travelled over 4 million miles (hopefully he was getting those travel points) and played everywhere you can think of.

He played in North Korea, Cuba, and even pitched against Fidel Castro.

Altogether, Feigner played in 104 different countries.

That included the North Pole, the Great Wall of China, and the DMZ zone between North and South Korea.

Unfortunately, Feigner never really got the praise and respect he deserved and was even quoted saying he felt like sometimes he was “in a nothing game.”

By the 70’s - things were in deep decline and Eddie told Sports Illustrated that he was making $40K per year.

In 2000, he was invited to throw out the first pitch in the Olympic Games.

Here’s the finally tally on his stats:

• 11,125 Games Played

• 9,743 Wins

• 141,517 Strikeouts

• 930 No Hitters

• 238 Perfect Games

Over 20 million fans showed up to watch him pitch over the years.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Baseball was a family business - “Rip” and his cousins all had Big-League careers of varying lengths.

Tommy Sewell only got one AB, but his cousin Joe is actually a Hall of Famer.

“Rip” is credited with inventing the eephus pitch.

Gets ‘em every time.

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