I had mentioned in previous columns that it seemed that sports teams often experienced bad luck when I was in attendance. The jinx rolls on.

One of the most unusual sports team in the U. S. was the four-man softball team, the King and His Court.

The King was Eddie Feigner, the greatest softball pitcher of all time, and the Court consisted of his catcher, first baseman and shortstop. Feigner organized a four-man team in Walla Walla, Wash., after he was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946.

In 1950, he named his team The King and His Court and started touring the United States playing nine-man fast-pitch all-star teams. They eventually played in all 50 states and in 98 foreign countries.

They played every where including small towns, military bases, rodeo arenas, Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, the Silverdome and China.

The members of the team changed over the years but Feigner remained the chief pitcher for more than 50 years. Feigner kept detailed records which showed he had pitched 930 no-hitters, 238 perfect games and struck out 141,517 batters.

All members of the team were excellent hitters, including Feigner, who hit 83 home runs in one 250-game season.

The King and His Court was sometimes described as the Harlem Globetrotters of softball. They had red, white and blue uniforms, and a public address announcer traveled with them, providing humorous banter during the game.

Examples — I can hear the batter’s knees knocking from here, or after a batter was called out on strikes — I heard that batter say that the last pitch sounded high.

Feigner’s underhand fastball was once timed at 104 miles per hour, faster than any pitch ever thrown by a major league baseball pitcher. But he did not rely on speed alone to strike out the majority of the batters he faced. He could throw pitches that would rise 20 inches upon reaching the plate or a curve ball that would break 18 inches.

He used a variety of windups and frequently pitched the ball behind his back or between his legs.

He would often pitch an inning blindfolded. The shortstop would stand next to him to tell him if the batter was right-handed or left-handed and where he was standing in the batter’s box. It was also his job to protect Feigner if a ball were hit at him. If his team had a big lead, he might pitch an inning from second base and still strike out many batters.

In a 1967 exhibition at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Feigner pitched against a team of major league players and struck out Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Brooks Robinson, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills and Harmon Killebrew, in succession.

The team would be booked by various organizations as a money-raising project, with the local group receiving a share of the receipts. At his peak in the 1960s, Feigner claimed he made $100,000 a month.

Feigner had the misfortune of being the best in the world at a sport which has nearly disappeared, men’s fast-pitch softball. Sports Illustrated magazine once called him “the most underrated athlete of his time.”

I had read about this team in newspapers and magazines, and I had seen them in newsreels. Younger readers can ask their parents or grandparents to explain newsreels.

Naturally, I was excited when I heard they were coming to a nearby town, and delighted that I would have an opportunity to see Feigner and his team in person.

I remember that Feigner’s right arm seemed to be twice the size of his left.

As you might expect, if you have been reading these columns recently, the King and His Court lost the game. This rarely happened, as they won 96 percent of their games playing against the best players in the community. But, if a batter did manage to hit a pitch, he had a good chance to get a double or triple before one of the two fielders could retrieve the ball.

Apparently, the dark cloud which hovered over Joe Bfstplk, the world’s worst jinx from the “Li’l Abner” comic strip, followed me again and brought bad luck for this outstanding team.

Feigner threw out the first pitch before the women’s softball competition at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. He had a stroke the next day and did not pitch again.

He died in February 2007 at the age of 81.