I thought it might have been this guy but probably not given the location.
Memories of Chuck and Junkers soda fountain in Elmira
Saw my first Men's Fastpitch games this weekend
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I thought it might have been this guy but probably not given the location.
Memories of Chuck and Junkers soda fountain in Elmira
Are you from Elmira. A good friend of mine from college is from there. Last name Sechrist.
Not from there but I live in the general area.
My dad used to play fastpitch back in the 70's. He was in the Navy at the time and played on either the base or his ship teams. He started playing the game when he was stationed in Australia. I used to enjoy watching those games. He was a pitcher and threw a wicked knuckle ball. I remember playing catch with him and I used to hate it when he threw that pitch!
Men's Fastpitch is still alive in the Midwest, but not to the extent it once was. I've known several people who played Fastpitch. None play it anymore.
The biggest issue is finding pitchers. One friend of mine was called out of retirement, way too old to play the game at the high level he once did, just because pitchers were so rare. He lasted part of a season in his comeback.
Recently some of the old-timers around here started a 55+ Fastpitch league. From what I hear, this is the hottest league around. These are the guys who played Fastpitch when it was a BIG game in the Midwest. Some of them even played in national championship tournaments. My DD 3 has actually picked up more about pitching from retired Men's Fastpitch pitchers than she has from the ladies. These are old-timers who will give her some pointers, for free, because they are bored or whatever. One time a guy was driving by and stopped by in his car to give some pointers to some girls who were pitching. I've seen old guys with huge pot bellies throw the ball in ways that boggled the mind.
The biggest issue is finding pitchers. One friend of mine was called out of retirement, way too old to play the game at the high level he once did, just because pitchers were so rare. He lasted part of a season in his comeback.
Recently some of the old-timers around here started a 55+ Fastpitch league. From what I hear, this is the hottest league around. These are the guys who played Fastpitch when it was a BIG game in the Midwest. Some of them even played in national championship tournaments. My DD 3 has actually picked up more about pitching from retired Men's Fastpitch pitchers than she has from the ladies. These are old-timers who will give her some pointers, for free, because they are bored or whatever. One time a guy was driving by and stopped by in his car to give some pointers to some girls who were pitching. I've seen old guys with huge pot bellies throw the ball in ways that boggled the mind.
I remember reading about a Men's Fastpitch team in Cincinnati in the very old days run by "Dud" Zimmer, The sons of the players would be the bat boys and ball boys, and, if they were talented, would play for the team.
Three of the boys who played on Zimmer's team had careers of over a decade in the majors, including Don Zimmer. "Dud" Zimmer kept trying to get the Reds to pick up the kids. The first two times they passed, and let talented players wind up in other organizations. Finally he convinced them to pick up Pete Rose. Rose said the fielding skills he got from Fastpitch were more valuable than what he picked up playing baseball.
Three of the boys who played on Zimmer's team had careers of over a decade in the majors, including Don Zimmer. "Dud" Zimmer kept trying to get the Reds to pick up the kids. The first two times they passed, and let talented players wind up in other organizations. Finally he convinced them to pick up Pete Rose. Rose said the fielding skills he got from Fastpitch were more valuable than what he picked up playing baseball.
...for those of you that have doubts whether a rise ball really rises, go watch some Men's FP sometime.
I'm talking about a pitch that starts on a level plane, then breaks UP.
I haven't seen those pitches, but I've heard stories from people who have had to hit those pitches. One guy claimed the pitches would suddenly jump up right before the plate.
I am not taking sides in the rise ball rises or not debate. i'm just mentioning stories I heard. That's all
I played the game for 14 years and miss it a lot. Three knee surgery's and I guess it was time to quit. Most all ASA and a little ISC ball. We did not have the AA caliber team like Penn Corp but we had a Hall of Fame pitcher that could keep us in every game. Someone mentioned baseball players retiring and playing fastpitch, I remember at one tourney in Minnesota they were selling t-shirts about the days Bo Jackson was big in football/baseball scene. On the front the shirt said "Bo Knows Football, Bo knows baseball" on the back it says "But Bo doesn't know Fastpitch".
As an umpire...I've seen it...
