Author: Dan Pfeffer

Although men’s slow pitch softball was growing in California in the 1970’s, Campbell Strange took it to a whole new level. In 1973, Bay Area Merchants with a roster made up of players from Northern California won the Men’s USSSA World Series, beating favorite Dino’s Pizza of Detroit, 4-2 in Southgate, Michigan. The next year, Bay Area Merchants finished 2nd to Dino’s in Pinole, California out of an expanded field of 8 teams.

In 1975, a team from Southern California that would make a strong mark in Men’s Softball for more than a decade emerged, Capitol Insulation, sponsored by Don Webster and Bob Edmiston. Their first few years, they were made up exclusively of Southern California players and they made the USSSA World Series almost every year.

Campbell Strange, a native of Ireland, became interested in men’s softball in the mid-70’s through several of his employees in his successful carpet business. Soon, he took over sponsorship of Bay Area Merchants, called Campbell’s-BAM and entered numerous national tournaments. Although the team had a good showing in the 1977 ASA Championship, that experience caused Campbell’s competitiveness to seek out players from coast-to coast in order to capture a national title. During that off-season, he went to Tennessee to recruit Ron Masterson and Eddie Corum, North Carolina to get Russell Bradley, Louisiana by way of North Carolina to obtain Denny Jones, Oklahoma for Al White and Gordon Wheeler and closer to home, Southern California for Mike Cellura.

He also retained several of the Campbell’s-BAM team, including Charlie Pierce, at that time the best player to come out of Northern California. He molded that group into a true team through the efforts of manager Tom Crellin and coach Ed Mennosse and pretty much dominated the 1978 season, winning two of the initial four NSPC tournaments as well as other national titles, traveling across the country, before defeating Howard’s to win the ASA Championship in Elk Grove, California.

In addition to developing a championship team, Campbell did a great deal to promote softball in California and around the United States. He was very instrumental in making the 1978 ASA Championship and the 1980 USSSA Championship, both in Northern California, extremely successful events from a fan and publicity standpoint.

In 1979, Campbell continued his recruiting, getting Jerry King, Greg Fuhrman and Dick Bartel and went into the season as a prohibitive favorite. However, Nelson’s wound up with the Triple Crown that year. Unfortunately for softball but fortunately for Campbell, Bob Nelson retired from softball following that season. Campbell then obtained Richard Willborn, Mickey McCarty, Buddy Slater and Bill Ferguson from Nelson’s and also recruited Elby Bushong and Dennis Meyers from Capitol. That team, managed by Randy Gorrell, recovered after a relatively slow start and won the Triple Crown over Jerry’s Catering, the favorite going into 1980.

Campbell determined after that achievement to follow Bob Nelson into retirement from softball. During the relatively brief time that sponsored a team, he made a huge impact, both in on-field success and popularizing slow pitch throughout the country and in California in particular.

Men’s slow pitch softball in Northern Florida had been growing in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Jo’s Pizza, featuring H.T. Waller, finished second to Milwaukee Copper Hearth in the 1969 ASA Championship. Other teams were very competitive as well although most did not go to some of the big tournaments like the Stroh’s or Ohio Valley Classic during the regular season and if they didn’t win their Regional tournaments, they did not get as much national exposure. It was Harold Warren in Jacksonville who brought Florida its first Men’s Slow Pitch National Championship when his Warren Motors team won the ASA in 1976 in their hometown of Jacksonville, finishing the year with a 94-2 record.

He assembled players who came for the most part from the North Florida, including some of the best to ever play the game. Bruce Meade, Mike Nye and Ronnie Ford were the biggest stars along with Ray Fleetwood and Lonnie Turner and were managed by a top softball man, Darrell Leake. Mike Nye hit .769 that year and he and Ronnie were the co-MVPs of the ASA Championship Tournament.

The next year, despite losing Meade to Nelson’s, Fleetwood to Howard’s and Ford and Nye to Detroit Caesars (Nye started that year with Nelson’s), Warren still finished in the top 10 at the ASA Championship. Unfortunately, as other sponsors continued to recruit their players, Warren Motors was disbanded. However, that team will always have a prominent place in softball history.

Ken Sanders, a highly successful automobile dealer, began sponsoring and managing a top national team in the mid-1970’s featuring such stars as Craig Elliott, Charles Wright, Roger Mayo, David Beaird, Paul Wright, James Abercrombie, Sidney Cooper and Greg Smith, among others. In 1977, the team lost a heart-breaking ASA Championship Game Finals when they left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning in a one-run game. Ken continued to field one of the top teams in the country in the NSPC and ASA.  Ken continued to add great players including Curtis Williams, Ronnie Ford and Mike Nye when Detroit Caesars folded and in 1981, merged with York Barbells where he acquired Bill Pollock.

In 1982, Ken won the NSPC Championship which gave him his first national title. He retired from softball after that season and turned his attention to boxing where he was the first manager of one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all-time, Evander Holyfield. Ken’s legacy in softball is won of being committed to the sport for many years, fielding great teams, being a fiery competitor and along with Jim Snyder, Bob Nelson and Dave Neale, one of the few people who was successfully able to manage and sponsor a top team.

R.T. Nelson built a highly successful company, Nelson’s Painting Services, in Oklahoma City, where the company fulfilled government painting contracts. His son, Mike, encouraged him to get involved in men’s slow pitch softball and in 1974, he sponsored a successful team that won over 80 games. The next year, he began recruiting players from around the country who often worked for his company, including Mike Nye from Northern Florida. Nelson’s had another successful season at 98-13, this time expanding their schedule to various national tournaments but they failed to make it to the ASA Nationals.

Mr. Nelson resumed his quest for a championship in 1977 when he brought Bruce Meade, Herman Rathman, Al White, Joe Young, Henry Koper and Bill Howes to join his son, Terry Perryman, Dean Brunken, Homer Salazar and other Oklahoma based stars. Mike Nye was also a member of that team early on but he left in the middle of May to join Detroit Caesars of the Pro League who he eventually helped lead to 2 championships.

The 1977 team finished at 111-18 and won the ASA Championship, coming out of the losers’ bracket to defeat Ken Sanders twice in 2 one-run games that came down to the final at-bat. Meade, Rathman, White and Koper made the All-World Team with Meade named as co-MVP with Craig Elliott. Young also played a huge role in that title.

The 1978 team, still featuring Meade, Rathman and Perryman, got to the ASA Nationals where they lost to Howard’s. In 1979, Nelson’s once again conducted a national recruiting effort, landing Richard Willborn, Bill Ferguson, Buddy Slater and Mickey McCarty from CC Brick in San Antonio to go along with Myles Schexnadre, Danny Basso, Chic Downing and the return of Joe Young. This nucleus enabled Nelson’s to capture the NSPC and USSSA Championships. Because of ASA residency rules, many of the Nelson’s players were unable to play in the ASA Nationals . However, Nelson’s fielded a team, Nelco, led by Meade, Young, Perryman, Earl Chambers, Dean Brunken and Ed Berg went undefeated, beating favorite Campbell’s Carpets in the championship game.

Nelson’s became the first of three consecutive Triple Crown winners. Unfortunately, after accomplishing this great achievement, Bob Nelson disbanded his team and retired from softball.

Jerry Pendergast, whose Miami-based catering company serviced airlines and other top clients, began sponsoring a men’s slo-pitch team in the mid-1970’s. Ernie Yaroshuk was the player-manager and the team was made up primarily of Florida-based players although Al White was recruited from Tennessee. In 1974, Yaroshuk, White and Jerry’s lifer James Washington led the team to a 2nd place finish in the ASA Championship in York, Pa., falling to Howard’s in the Finals.

From then on, with the exception of 1978 when Jerry’s did not field a team, they were a perennial power, finishing near the top of every major regular season and championship tournament. In 1980, Jerry’s was featured in Sports Illustrated and was favored to win it all but came up short in the national championship tournaments. The following year, Greg Fuhrman, who had played with Jerry’s in 1976 and 1977, returned to the team but again, they came up short. In 1982, Yaroshuk returned as manager, the team added Bruce Meade, Mike Parrott and Denny Jones and Jerry’s won their first national titles, the ASA Super and the USSSA Major. They repeated as USSSA Champions in 1983 and played one more season in 1984 before disbanding. Among the many stars who played for Jerry’s in addition to Meade, Parrott, Jones and Washington were Joe Young, Craig Elliott, James Boyett, Curtis Williams, Mike Nye, and Bert Smith.

Jerry was instrumental in the restoration of the Men’s Basketball Program at his alma mater, University of Miami, in the mid-1980’s and he is still honored by the school each year for his commitment.

Steeles Automotive of Lima, Ohio began sponsoring a team in 1971. Gary Coates was the sponsor and Dennis Helmig was one of the first players, all of whom were based in Northern and Central Ohio. John Geckle, Larry Garrard and John Brenner were among the early stars of the team that was very competitive in regular season and national tournaments. Steele’s joined the National Slo-Pitch Conference in 1979 and made a name for themselves by finishing in top tier of many tournaments. Around the same time, the Company got into the softball equipment business with bats, balls and gloves and marketed these items as the team traveled around the country.

Dave Neale’s teams in Cleveland began using the bats and he became an investor in the softball company, promoting their equipment with his Nationwide Advertising Team. Meanwhile, Steele’s team added Jerry King, Herman Rathman, Chic Downing, Denny Jones and other top players in 1981 and finished 2nd to Howard’s in the ASA Super Championship that year.

The next year, Steele’s added Joe Young and joined Dave’s Cleveland Competitors team in the Professional Softball League. When the League folded at the end of the 1982 season, Dave took over ownership of the company and sponsorship of the team. The first year, 1983, he combined his pro team stars Mike Macenko, Steve Blanchette, Dana Andry, Doc Booker and Jim Bizzell, with Dennis Graser, Phil Higgins, Rick Trudeau, Cliff Carpenter and others to form a top team, finishing 2nd to Jerry’s in the USSSA Major World Series.

As the years went on, many championships were won and Steele’s became the best-known team in softball both on the field and in the balls and bats it sold. For the players, the softball season went from February to November with tournaments and exhibitions in cities and towns throughout the United States, ranging from recreation fields to big-league ballparks where Mike Macenko, Bruce Meade, Charles Wright, Craig Elliott, Greg Furhman and others wowed crowds of thousands with prodigious home runs which sold countless bats and balls. From 1984-1991, Steele’s was featured in Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, ESPN, countless local television sports shows and other publications. They were truly a business school model for how to sell a product through marketing a top team with relentless exposure.

Dave Carroll began his softball career in Chattanooga, Tennessee and soon developed into one of the top pitchers in the game. He was recruited to play for Howard’s Furniture in 1973 and was a major part of Howard’s first two national championships in 1973 and 1974, the latter of which he was First Team All-World. David was also a top salesman and had a flair for marketing and he and Richard Howard soon developed a company that distributed softball bats, balls and gloves throughout the country under the name Howard and Carroll Sports.

David played for Howard’s until 1977 when he formed his own team under that company name. He had a great eye for developing young talent and he built his team with players such as Denny Jones, Joey Raby, Tom Beall, Mickey Morrison, Gene Jones and Ron Woody. The team had early success in multiple national tournaments and in 1978, under the name Dave Carroll Sports, finished 2nd to Howard’s in the USSSA World Series. They repeated that finish in 1980 to Campbell’s, after picking up Bruce Meade, Mike Parrott and several players from Poindexter Lumber. A charter member of the National Slo-Pitch Conference, Dave founded his own conference in 1981.

Along with having a top national team, Dave was adept at promoting his softball equipment throughout the country by utilizing his team and players to build his brand. He sold equipment at tournaments, put on exhibitions in many local areas and relied heavily on very effective print advertising. In many ways, Dave Carroll was the forerunner of the success that Steele’s enjoyed for many years, combining a top national softball team with marketing products.

Dave also worked with singer Michael Bolton who was a softball fanatic and toured with a team around the country. Dave helped him acquire players such as Mike Bolen and Phil Higgins who played with Bolton for several summers

Men’s softball really began to become popular in the 1950’s as an alternative to fast pitch which had turned into a game where a great pitcher dominated and the other players were not active participants. Initially, the best men’s teams were from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area which dominated the first 10 years of the ASA Championship with multiple teams, Pittsburgh and Detroit. Milwaukee, Long Island and Cleveland also had top teams in the first two decades.

One of the best was East Side Sports out of Detroit which eventually became Michael’s Lounge and then Little Caesars.

East Side won the ASA Championship in 1958. Several of the players on that team had won fast pitch titles as well, including Roy Lombardo, who went on to manage the 1966 and 1970 ASA Men’s slo-pitch champions. East Side went on to finish 2nd in 1962, 3rd in 1963 and 4th in 1964, continually adding Hall of Fame and All-World  players such as Mike Gouin, Bill Cole, Tex Collins, Mike Axelson, Jim Puckett, Bob Malicki, Bob Auten, Tony Mazza and Gary Ladue. During those years, East Side was battling for titles with teams like Skip Hogan from Pittsburgh, Hamilton Tailoring, Yorkshire Restaurant and others.

In 1966, the team was sponsored by Michael’s Lounge and won the ASA Championship, defeating County Sports. Mike Axelson was MVP. Michael’s was runner-up in 1967 to Jim’s Sports Shop which had taken over sponsorship of the Pittsburgh team from Skip Hogan.

Little Caesars took over sponsorship of the team in 1969 when they finished 3rd and in 1970, they won the ASA Championship again, giving Mike Ilitch his first title. Mike Gouin was MVP. The next year, the team finished 2nd to Piledrivers then finished third to Howard’s and Country Sports in 1973. From 1967 to 1973, the team won the Stroh’s Invitational in Springfield, Ohio without a loss.

In 1976, Little Caesars joined the USSSA, won the Eastern Regional in Smithtown, New York and finished 4th in the USSSA World Series. The following, Ilitch joined the American Professional Slo-Pitch League.

Mike Ilitch decided to purchase a franchise in the newly formed American Professional Slo-Pitch League. When he did so, he immediately signed two of the top amateur players in Detroit, Doug Gerdes from Snyders and Al Gibson from Bert’s. He also signed Gary Vitto, who had managed Dino’s to the 1974 USSSA World Series Championship, as manager of the team. In order to gain media attention, he also signed two members of the 1968 World Champion Detroit Tigers, Norm Cash and Jim Northrup. Of course, Little Caesars All-World stars Mike Gouin, Tex Collins and Tony Mazza joined the team but many of the other members of that nucleus had been saddled with age and injuries.

The franchise then added Bert Smith, Ronnie Ford and Mike Nye. This combination of players and management allowed the Caesars to jump out to a fast start and draw crowds of 5000 fans each doubleheader night at East Detroit Memorial Field. While Benny Holt won the Triple Crown that year for Chicago, Nye and Ford were among the most exciting players in the League which included Bill Gatti, Phil Higgins, Steve Loya, Jim Galloway and other all-time great players. Detroit had a struggle with the Cleveland team in the playoffs but eventually won 2 of the 3 games and defeated Baltimore 4-0 to win the World Series.

In 1978, Caesars added Rick Trudeau and Chuck Drewicz from Snyders and repeated as champions, defeating Minnesota 4-0 in the World Series while continuing to draw large crowds both at home and on the road.

In 1979, several key players, including Ford, Nye and Smith, sustained injuries that kept them out of the line-up for extended time during the season. They never fully gained momentum and after beating Cincinnati in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs, lost to eventual champion Milwaukee who defeated them in the regular season.

Despite a national contract with ESPN, there was a split in the League and after much deliberation, Mike Ilitch decided to disband the team. Three years later, he bought the Detroit Red Wings and eventually won 4 Stanley Cups. He bought the Tigers in 1992 and they went to 2 World Series during his ownership.