King story brings back memories

Berea reader recalls experience of playing with Eddie Feigner

Dean Acker

The series of jinx columns I have written recently for the Register have stirred some memories for several readers.

Their comments and questions have encouraged me to do some research and write follow-up columns about two of the teams I “jinxed” — the four-man softball team, the King and His Court, and the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

One reader, Doug Breeding, recalled listening to the game on the radio the night that Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score was hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald. I was in the stadium when that terrible injury occurred.

Local bowler Carl Daniels saw the King and His Court play twice while he was in the service.

Fellow Register columnist Fred Engle sent me a nice note stating that the column about the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series caught his attention as he has long been a baseball fan. Also, he was intrigued by the reference to Joe Bftsplk from the “Li’l Abner” comic strip, which was a favorite of his.

I received a most interesting phone call from Robert “Peanuts” Johnson of Berea, who had the privilege of playing a few games for the King and His Court.

Johnson played shortstop for a top-notch fast pitch team in Oklahoma, the Tulsa Teamsters. His team made it to the International Softball Congress World Series in 1971 in Clermont, Calif.

On five or six occasions in the late 1960s, Feigner invited Johnson to play for the Court when they were playing in the Tulsa area so one of his regulars could have a night off. A few other elite players received this invitation from time to time. Johnson stated that he did not get paid, but the honor was enough.

Although Feigner continued pitching into his 60s, Johnson noted that he often used a pinch-runner when he got on base in his later years.

Johnson was very impressed by Feigner as a person, and they stayed in touch after Johnson moved to Pennsylvania. The family contacted Peanuts when Eddie passed away in 2007.

One of Johnson’s teammates on the Teamsters team was John Bateman.

Bateman was the catcher for the Houston National League baseball team when they began play as the Colt 45s. They were such a young team that they were often called the Baby Colts. In Sept. 1963, Houston started for an all-rookie line-up, which consisted of an age average of 19, against the Mets.

Bateman was drafted by the Montreal Expos in an expansion draft and was the first catcher for that team. For those without a scorecard, the Expos are now the Washington Nationals. He finished his major-league career with the Philadelphia Phillies.

After his baseball career, Bateman played for the King and His Court and hit 190 home runs for the team in 1980.

Bateman was not the only major league baseball player to play with the Court. Ron Cooper had played for the White Sox before joining the team in 1958 and Doug Anderson had pitched for the Dodgers and Red Sox before joining the King and His Court as a catcher in 1971.

Feigner’s son, Eddie Jr., had the second-longest tenure with the team, playing with the team off and on for 25 years during a 35-year period.

The King and His Court is still functioning and booking engagements to benefit local groups and charities. But much of the glamour is gone without Eddie Feigner.

Johnson directed my attention to a female version of the King and His Court called the Queen and Her Maids.

This team was a family affair. Royal Beaird organized a team which featured his daughter, Rosie, as the pitcher. The maids included two sisters, Eileen and Karen, and a close friend, Debbie Bevers, who later played in women’s professional softball leagues. Rosie’s brother dressed as a girl, but with no attempt to deceive, and did the catching as the sisters had trouble handling Rosie’s pitches. The brother was known as “lotta chatter” as he talked constantly during the game. They started out playing in Utah and that area, but soon traveled more widely, defeating teams of nine men.

They made several appearances on television programs, including “To Tell The Truth” and “The Dating Game.” The Queen and Her Maids only played about 10 years before the team members went their separate ways to concentrate on their families.

Although they occasionally crossed paths with the King and His Court and were sometimes photographed together, the two teams did not play one another.

Great thanks is due to Peanuts Johnson for providing me information about Eddie Feigner and the Court from a unique perspective.

I will write a follow-up column about the Harlem Globetrotters next week.

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