Men's Fastpitch question

[GOINGDEEP]

I've seen a lot of posts over my couple of years on here about our members playing/played men's fastpitch. I guess the first time I saw a man throw underhanded was "The King and his Court" as a vey young kid ( 10? ). At that point I figured it was just a "exhibition" type sport.

Fast forward a few years, the next time I saw men's FP was high school. We were playing at a multi field complex and there was a men's FP game going on. Again I just thought "hmmm, wonder what their deal is". To me seeing a man throw underhanded was as rare as we see girls playing football now. ( that's just me )

We all grew up playing baseball, I had about .001% knowledge of fastpitch ( men or women ) but knew in our area women played FP. I can understand the defense could come crom a BB background. But how and when did these men learn to pitch? Were there leagues set up in youth like we have plenty of now for girls? Was it just not in our area? Was it just not in my time, born in 73.

I'm not knocking men's FP, it just wasn't an option ( that I knew of ) and wonder where they all learned to pitch. We all know the art of pitching takes years and I'm curious to how men developed their pitches. ( age, league, competitive, etc )

Thanks for the history lesson in advance.

 

[straightleg]

The only fastpitch I know of is my Dad played in the Navy. He was on a AirCraft Carrier. (Korean War Era)


SL

 

[X pitcher]

There are still people in the female FP world, today that don't know men played or still play fast pitch softball. The men's game has changed, to one foot on the rubber and leaping and replanting are legal. It is called FASTBALL and it is slowly dying.

 

[redhotcoach]

I started after college. A lot of the better pitchers were, and still are from New Zealand. If you get a chance to see the movie documentary "Fastpitch" it is pretty good. That is the time period I played and the one year of travel I could afford was against these guys, like Darren Zack.


It was on netflix for awhile
Fastpitch - Rotten Tomatoes

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I guess I'm trying to figure out where these men learned the mechanics of FP. I do realize the game use to be pretty common in the armed forces, but certainly no one waited until 18+ to learn this style?

We start our girls ( FP ) and boys ( BB ) at an early age, pitching wise. Years and years of games, lessons, etc. So how did these "men" learn? Was it in their youth, or later on in life like after the HS years?

 

[Lozza]

I'm not sure for Americans but they start pretty young here.

I didn't start pitching full time till 18. It's not hard to pick up as an adult. In America you won't go far if picking up later because after college it stops. But in other countries the best players are older, mid 20s.

 

[smddad]

I first heard men's FP back in the 80's when Pay n Pak was dominant and Jimmy Moore was throwing for them.

 

[crystlemc]

Hillhouse grew up watching his dad's team play. He grew up in Erie, PA, which had a very large men's fastpitch following. GE, which was the area's major employer, had it's own in house league complete with a complex on the company campus. I do not know all the finer details, but I do know that all Bill wanted to do was pitch and he worked on it constantly and watched the old timers to learn. He first started pitching with his dad's team when he was about 12. Baptism by fire, I suppose.

 

[ktm rider]

I remember my step father pitching for a team called the Somerset Allisons. ( in Somerset Pa. ) it was apparently a mens fastpitch league. He did however get paid to pitch for them. I am guessing by the sponsor of the team. I do remember he threw unbelievably hard and they played 'The King and His Court" once also. The Allisons won that game easily if i remember right. But then again the King and his court is only like 5 players so there are plenty of holes out there in the filed.

I was only 8 yrs old so I don't remember much. He and my mother split up not long after.

 

[mm'spapa]

I am old, really old. I remember men playing fastpitch in small towns in the 50's. A fellow I knew was pitching a rise ball at that time. Fast forward to the 70's in Bishop, Ca. They had many tournaments in the summer. Great pitching, slap hitters, pretty much everything we have today with the girls. The slappers could pound the ball into the dirt so hard it would bounce into the outfield over a crashing 3rd basemen. At that time the best pitchers came from New Zealand and I think Australia. I believe I was told that they did not play baseball in those areas. Boys grew up playing fastpitch softball. I think coaching mechanics, probably came from there.