Eddie Feigner, the greatest softball pitcher of all time, died February 9 in Huntsville, Ala. He was 81.

As The King and His Court, Feigner barnstormed the world for 55 years starting in 1946, with a team that was nearly unbeatable.

At his peak, Feigner threw a softball harder than any major league pitcher has ever thrown a baseball. His underhand fastball was once timed at 104 mph — or, according to some accounts, 114 mph. The fastest pitch thrown by a major league pitcher is 103 mph.

Throwing in hundreds of games each year against local all-star teams, Feigner won 95 percent of the time. He and his “court,” which included only a catcher, first baseman and shortstop, played everywhere from Yankee Stadium to the Great Wall of China, with countless military bases, rodeo arenas and cow pastures in between. He appeared in all 50 states and in 98 foreign countries.

In a 1967 exhibition at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Feigner faced a lineup of future Hall of Famers including Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Brooks Robinson, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills, and Harmon Killebrew. He struck them out in succession.

Feigner kept meticulous records of his victories (9,743), strikeouts (141,517), no-hitters (930) and perfect games (238). An excellent hitter as well, he once slugged 83 home runs in a 250-game exhibition season.

Feigner was also renowned for his stunts. He struck out players while pitching blindfolded 8,698 times. He could pitch behind his back and between his legs. He had a curveball that would dip 18 inches. To give his opponents a chance, he often pitched from second base or, on occasion, from center field.

Yet Feigner had the misfortune to be supremely talented at a sport, men’s fast-pitch fastball, that has all but disappeared.

“I’m a pipsqueak because I’m caught in a nothing game,” Feigner said in 1972. “It’s like being a world-champion noseblower.”

Feigner was born in Walla Walla, Wash., on March 26, 1925, and was almost immediately put up for adoption..

He was thrown out of school in his teens and joined the Marine Corps during World War II but was discharged after a nervous breakdown. The one thing he could do well was throw.

He was pitching on adult softball teams by the time he was 9. In 1946, after beating an Oregon team 33-0, he responded to a taunt by saying, “I would play you with only my catcher.” With an added shortstop and first baseman, he began his barnstorming tours.

In 1950, he dubbed his traveling team The King and His Court, and they became the Harlem Globetrotters of softball, complete with gaudy red-white-and-blue uniforms. Feigner, who always wore a flattop haircut, often arrived at the pitcher’s mound in a red Cadillac convertible. His son, Eddie Jr., played alongside him for 25 years.

At his peak in the 1960s, Feigner made $100,000 a month.

“I’ve made more money at this than any other ballplayer at any other sport,” he told The Washington Post in 1976.

In 2000, Feigner threw out the first pitch before the women’s softball competition at the Olympic Games in Sydney. A day later, he had a stroke and never pitched again.