When you played against teams like Howard's Furniture, Ken Sanders, or Nelson Painting Service you could never ever think you had enough runs. When you played these teams you played it like it was your very last game. Don Arndt and Stan Harvey were the coolest. They never let you think they were worried. They just hit when they were supposed to. When you had to play against players like Rick Scherr, Bruce Meade, Mighty Joe Young, Charles Wright, and Mike Nye you knew you had to bring your A game to the ball park. If you didn't have your top shelf stuff then you would be better off staying at home.

Crankin Craig Elliott was one of the most prolific home run hitters of all-time. The first time I played against him was in 1977 in Parma, Ohio at the ASA National tournament. His team Ken Sanders beat us something like 36 to 8. They hit more home runs than we scored runs. Craig hit 5 against us and all I kept saying to my shortstop was who in the hell were these guys? Charlie Wright was on that team and he hit 4. All I remembered was they kept circling the bases. I told myself that day that it was Craig that I wanted to be like.

Little did I know that one day we would both be on the same team. I can not express in words what it was like to play with him. Just him being on our team gave us the mental lift to win the big games that we had been missing for years. He was an unbelievable hitter. In 1984 he set the home run record of 390 in 142 games. What people don't realize is that was when we used RF-80 balls. Most of them were cork and you had to really be able to compress the ball to make it go. It was easy for him it seemed. No matter what tournament we were at or how big the ball park was you knew there was one guy who could hit it out of there and that was Craig Elliott.

I had the pleasure of playing with Craig from 1985 to 1997. I know that my coach Dave Neale was tired of losing to the big boys so we decided to get some of the big boys to play for us.. Dave was trying to bring a championship to Cleveland with just the local softball players. We came close a lot of times but when you play with the big boys you need some extra help.. So in 1985 we picked up Cranker, Mike Bolen, Mike Nye, Ricky Huggins and brought back Rick Weiterman and Dennis Graser.. That meant we didn't keep too many players from our 1984 team.
I remember the first game Craig played for us was in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1985.. We were playing some exhibition games before the season started to kind of get warmed up for the season. We were playing at a complex called Kendlewood. I believe Darrell Beeler was playing on one of the teams that day.

Anyway the Cranker had not shown the first game because he was flying in from Alabama. The ball park was 300 ft fences and the field we played on, there was a stiff wind blowing in from left. We were hitting some shots but they just weren't going . Right before the second game here walks Cranker up the walkway of this complex and he is wearing cowboy boots and carrying his duffle bag over his shoulder. I gave him his uniform and he went inside and changed. He came out and the next game we played he hits three home runs in a row right out of this place like it was a little kids park.. I knew right then what to expect out of him. What people don't realize is that Craig was a team leader also. He never ever even said the word quit. I wouldn't care if you were down 30 runs in the bottom of the seventh he still felt like he had a chance.

In 1984 Craig led the Elite team to the USSSA World Series crown and set the record for most home runs in a single season. He was the best in the game and the next year he's on my team. I knew then that if I could learn anything about hitting a softball he was the guy. One of the things Craig would do at the beginning of a tourney was to find out how many teams were in it. He would ask the tourney director how many teams were in it and the tournament director would reply 48. Craig would say that means there is 47 teams fighting for second place because my team is taking care of first place. No Brag Just Fact!!

The best part about competition is coming thru when you are really needed. The big hit in the big game. This next guy was one of the best of the best. His name is Don Arndt. All of the young players from yesteryear this ball player was the real deal. He stood 6 ft. 5 in. tall and never ever let you see him sweat. He was stand in one corner of the dugout puffing on a cigarette waiting for his turn to bat. He wasn't all that muscular but boy could he hit a softball...

He had the picture perfect swing. No matter what size the fence was he would hit it far enough for the Home Run... He never over swung trying to kill the ball. He just had a nice fluid swing. The man would never let you see him sweat. It seemed like he was always in total control. I don't really believe he depended on bat speed or working out with weights.. With him it was that same fluid swing every time he stepped up to the plate. The man hit over 6,000 of them. I really could not tell you. If he hit more or me?  Don is the only player in the history of the game to be the MVP on a losing team. He stood out with his bat when his team Howards Furniture finished 4th. In 1972 Jiffy Club won the tournament. Jiffy Club was led by Bill Gatti and Cobbie Harrison. Don hit so many home runs that his nick name was Left Turn Don...Don Arndt was MVP for Howard's in 1984 ISA World Series at age of 50.

  

There was no better player when it was time to show your stuff than Rick "Crusher" Scherr. The Crusher has been MVP of 5 Men's Major World tournaments. He is in the USSSA Hall of Fame. He is the All Time leader for most home runs in the USSSA World Series. The Crusher was one of the most feared hitters of all time. There wasn't a ball park that the Crusher could not hit it out of. Known for his pony tail and long beard he could have played with the band ZZ Top. Scherr, who played for Taylor Brothers of Texas, Howard's/Western Steer and Superior/Apollo, has ten ASA selections, seven USSSA selections and an ASA second team. He is a five-time MVP -- in the 1984 ISA, the 1981 ASA and USSSA, the 1983 ASA and the 1984 ASA.

In 1989 at the USSSA World Series, that was held at Omaha's baseball stadium where they play the NCAA finals, the Crusher hit two balls in a row on the very last step on top of the bleachers in left field. The ball had to travel at least 450  feet. Another good point about the Crusher was his will to win. He definitely got fired up to play.. He was one of the original bad boys in softball. He did not take any crap from no one. He also used a 14 inch barrel bat. Crusher led the Steermen from Denver, North Carolina to the ASA Super Crown in 1991 and what he did was literally dominate the tournament. There are those times when certain softball players have dominated the game for an entire weekend, or maybe an entire season. He was that type of player. In 1985 he set the record for most home runs in a season with 451 for the Howard's team. The crusher was a one man wrecking crew.

Howard's Furniture was one of the most famous softball teams of all time.. They were one of the few teams that won the Triple Crown of softball.  In 1980 Campbell's Carpet won all 3 legs of the crown and Howards came back to win the Triple Crown in 1981. "Stan the Man" Harvey and "Left Turn Don" Arndt  were the nuts and bolts of that crew. They were the anchor for the Steermen for a number of years. Rick Scherr was a part of that phenomenal crew also.

Stan and Don were the first players to hit over 200 home runs in a season year in and year out. Stan held the record for one year when he hit 290 home runs in 1977. There were a lot of great players on Mr. Howards softball teams over the years but it was Stan and Don that put Howards on the map. They later brought Crusher on board from a Texas team. In 1981 they helped win the prestigious NSPC that was held in Cleveland, Ohio. Don who swung right handed had one of the smoothest swings and Stan who swung from the left handed side was called the sweet swinger by Herman Rathman.  They had perfected swings and you knew that it was from hard work. A lot of batting practice is what Stan Harvery told me one time.

Elby Bushong is the original screamer. You know, the guy who hollers when he hits a home run. I remember the first time I saw Elby it was in 1977 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the Firecracker tournament. I was playing for the Hillcrest Tavern team out of Cleveland and thought we had a pretty good team. Well we played Elby's team at 8:00 (Capitol Insulation) first thing Saturday morning. Now I had heard of a Capitol team from out West but I had never played against them. To start things off Elby hits a towering home run in his first at bat. He then proceeded to hit 5 home runs in a row against us. Every time he came up he would hit the next one further. The best part was how he screamed after each hit. If you have seen him play then you know what I am talking about. Also each ball was going farther and farther. Needless to say I was mighty impressed. Elby was inducted in the USSSA Hall Of Fame in 1982 and is a Fire Chief in Phoenix, Arizona. He played with such teams as M&M , Kerr's , J&R Roofing , Capitol , and Campbell's Carpets.

He was part of the great Campbells Carpet team out of Concord, California that in 1978 defeated Howard's Funiture to capture the ASA Men's Major Crown in Sacremento, California. He helped the team establish a new record by scoring 86 runs in one game. He was the teams leader when and who ever he played for. He knew how to get a team pumped up to play some softball. The one thing that separates the best ball players from the other ones is how they play in the big game. Elby would always shine in the big games. He came to Cleveland in 1980 to play with Campbells in a NSPC qualifier. My Hillcrest Tavern team had the privilege of playing them (Campbell's Carpets) on Friday night at Rose Field at Brookside Park. In front of a full house Elby hits another 5 in a row only to lose to us 28-27. And as usual he was screaming louder and louder every plate appearance. Well known Parma softball legend Jerry Spangler did the pitching for us and had an outstanding game at the plate as well. To keep a high scoring team like Campbell's to only 27 runs was a job in itself.

What can you say about a guy like Bruce that hasn't been said. Bruce was like Jim Galloway. There was one player that stood tall among the players and it seemed like everyone knows him. You can't miss Big Bruce with his handlebar mustache. Bruce is your ultimate softball player. He can carry a team on his shoulders during thew big tourneys. He led the country in batting average for just about all of the seasons he played. He prided himself on his batting average.

Now take the long, long home runs and mix them together and you should get what I mean. A wrecking machine with a bat in his hands. Bruce hit the ball so hard that it was unbelievable. One time we were playing Bruce while he was playing with Dave Carroll Sports team. I was playing with Hillcrest Tavern out of Cleveland and we were playing in the NSPC Championship in Birmingham, Alabama. The game was close, we were trailing by 1 with no outs in the 6th inning. Bruce comes to the plate with two guys on and my coach pulls our starting pitcher and puts another pitcher. Now the tourney is being held in a baseball stadium with a temporary fence at 315 feet. There were a couple of home runs hit down the line and in the gaps. I had hit one to right field my first time up over the 320 sign on the right field fence.

So my coach tells the relief pitcher what ever you do don't throw it up in Big Bruce's eyes. If you have to walk him. But don't give him nothing good. Well, the first pitch he throws goes up right where Bruce likes them and he proceeds to hit ball not only over the temporary fence, but he hits it over the center field wall which reads 402. Completely out of the stadium. That was it. Right then and there. They ended up batting through the order that inning and ended up beating us by 10 runs.

Bruce has been selected to the ASA, USSSA, NSA, and the ISA Halls of Fame respectively. He has played with Warren Motors, Nelson's Paints, Elite Coatings, Steele's, Smythe Sox, Jerry's, Vernon's, and Nelco in 1979. He has been selected to over 30 All America teams and a MVP in 3 National Tournaments. When it comes to softball players, there is none better than Bruce Meade.

The great thing about being a softball player is meeting and playing against different types of people from all over the country. One of the most bizarre individuals I ever met was Mighty Joe Young. Joe Young was as good as anybody to play the game. He might of been the most fearless hitter of them all. He would do things that would just blow your mind. I remember in a game in 1981 at the NSPC championships when Howards was beating Steele's Sports Company from Lima Ohio at the time real bad. They were leading by the score of 31 - 12 or something close. Anyway Joe was playing left field. He calls time out and walks all the way into the Steele's dugout and sits down and smokes a cigarette and drinks a beer. Now during this time the Howards boys are raising havoc on the umpire about what Joe is doing. After a couple of minutes delaying the game Joe comes back out of the dugout and says to the Howards boys, Hey! if you guys are going to beat me, at least you are going to do it on my time. This was Joe's way of delaying the game.

I have also seen times when Joe would do something to delay the game or at least slow the game down to propell his team victory more times than you would want to believe. He had ice in his veins. Nothing really bothered him. He had his own views when it came to the game of softball. He didn't like to take a lot of batting practice because he felt if you took too much it would give you the opportunity to create bad habits. He would hit home runs when other players couldn't because of a stiff wind. He would just drive the ball through the wind.

Joe was an unbelievable athlete. He could play any sport he wanted. He was playing football for Grambling when he was called to the War in Viet Nam.. When Joe came back he started playing softball and the rest is history. He played with such teams as Lou Anna's Foods out of Louisiana, Marlton Trucking from Oregon, Jerry's Caterers of Miami, Fla., Steele's Sports, and of course Nelson''s Paints. In 1979 Joe was the MVP of the ASA Super Nationals and also the National Slo-Pitch Conference MVP. He also set the home run record of 337 in 1980 while playing for the Steele's team. Rick Scherr would break that record 2 years later with 356.

 Big Bill also known as The Punisher played for one of the best teams of all times. It seems like there were so many good teams that have been put together over the years. Bill played for Elite Coatings out of Gordon, Georgia. Sponsor Gary Hargis's Elite team had won the ASA Major crown in 1981 and that give him a taste of the real thing and the next thing you know he was wanting to have the best team in the country. So when you want the best you have to go out and recruit the best hitters your money will allow you to buy. I know that one of the first players he selected was Big Bill. Bill stood 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighted 285. He was a mammoth of a ball player. He was as big and strong as anybody that has ever played the game. One great thing about Bill was his friendliness. He was soft spoken but if you got him mad he could definitely raise the roof.

In 1983 Bill hit 312 home runs only to come in third on the Elite team.. He was third behind Freddie Trice who hit 327 and Craig Elliott who led the nation with 390 in 142 games. Bill made first team All-World in the USSSA World tournament in 1982, 1983, and in 1984 at his first base position. In 1982 he played for Ken Sanders-York Barbell team and played for Elite in 83, and 84.. Bill was so big that you didn't even try thinking about hitting one past him at first base..The one thing that people don't realize is that he played when we were using cork balls that were called RF-80. Bill made it look so easy. The bat looked like a toothpick in his hands.

I became real good friends with Bill. I use to talk to him about playing for their team. He would always say come on man. I would always say no I can't. But one week I got into an argument with my manager Dave Neale and left Cleveland to go play with Bill and the rest of the Elite team. I played in the Flag City Shootout that was held in Macon, Georgia. The wild part was that I batted 10th on that team. And guess what? All I did was hit .810 and led the tournament in home runs and was voted the MVP for the weekend. Not bad right! Well when I got back to Cleveland Joe Young was waiting for me at the airport and said hey man you have to talk to Dave. Now Craig Elliott told Gary Hargis if we let Mike go back to Cleveland he won't be playing for us any more. Craig was right because the next week I was in a Steele's uniform once again. So it was a real treat for me to play with those guys that year and it was a pleasure playing with Big Bill Pollock the Punisher!!

He was known as the Rocketman to his fellow teammates. Dick Bartel is one of the 4 players that was called the Texas Connection back in the late 70's and early 80's. All they did was win the Triple Crown of softball in 1981 with Howards Furniture and in 1980 with Campbell's Carpet. Bartel was one of the most feared hitters of all time. He was inducted into the USSSA Hall Of Fame in 1985 and the ASA in 1990. The Rocketman had two things that he excelled in and that was his rifle arm and thunderous bat. During his career Dick "The Rocket Man" Bartel was named to five ASA and four USSSA All-World teams. In 1981 in Willoughby, Ohio at the NSPC playoffs he led everybody in hitting. My Nationwide Advertising team had done very well in the NSPC Conference during the regular season. As a matter of fact we finished second in points totaled.

So we are at Willoughby for the NSPC championships and we are in a dogfight with Howards in the winners bracket final and the game can go either way. It's the bottom of the seventh with two outs and 2 men on when Doc Booker sent a fly ball to left center that every body in the ball park thought was a sure home run. But low and behold that is where Bartel is roaming and at the last second leaps into the air over the fence and makes the game winning catch.. I will never forget that play because of the way it ended and all the money that was bet on the game prior to the contest. The Rocketman was a money player.

One of the wildest things about the Rocketman was his bat speed. This was an era where bat speed had not come into play yet. Bartel was 6' 5" tall and weighed around 230. He had tremendous leverage in his swing and every time he swung you would hear the bat coming all the way around and hit him in the back. He was a great team leader and he knew what it took to win.. He was considered one of the best because he could do it all. I believe the Rocketman could have played for a lot longer but he decided to retire at an early age. I think 1986 was his last season. The last time I saw the Rocketman he was sipping on a magarita down in San Antonio, Texas.

If you got Charlie Wright on your team then you got a pretty darn good chance of winning. Charlie played on my Nationwide Advertising team in 1981 and he was one of the big reasons we did so well. A very confident player with the patience of two men. Charlie was a very discipline hitter and would take pitchers to their limit everytime he stepped foot in the batters box. He was part of the Ken Sanders Ford team that lost to Nelson's Paints in the ASA in Parma, Ohio in 1977.

It was during the winter of 1980 that Dave Neale Sr. and Skip Felice decided to merge our team Hillcrest Tavern with the Teamsters 293 from the same league that we played in. He went and got Ted Stepien to back our new club and we were called Nationwide Advertising. When Ted took on the sponsorship he brought his players from the Pro League. So it was actually a three team merger to form one. So to throw some spice into the mix Dave picked up Charlie and away we went. We played in what was called then the NSPC and went on to have a great regular season. Charlie played short and I played second and I don't believe that there was a better tandem. We really worked well together. Our team was ranked number 1 or 2 all season long, but when we got to the national tournaments we just could not get the job done. We lost in the NSPC championship game when Bartel stole a home run from Doc Booker in the bottom of thew 7th inning with two outs and the bases loaded.

. We played in the USSSA World Series which was held at Winton Salem, North Carolina and were defeated by Jerry's Caterers at 3:00 in the morning by the score of 44 - 43. In that game Mighty Joe Young made two catches that would have been 3 run homers that were very outstanding.
In 1986 Charlie set the national record for home runs in one season with a whopping 503. Not only were his home runs quite frequent but he also hits them a long, long way. He was the home run champ at the NSA Men's Major World Series with 21 in 1986. Charlie also has been on 6 or 7 Smokey Mountain Classic championship teams. There are a lot of players that can get you to the dance. Charlie was the won who got the job done once you got to the dance. Charlie also has a bother that played on the Super level and his name is Paul. It's a funny thing, the year after we had the Nationwide team Charlie goes back down south and his brother Paul comes up and plays in the pro league with me the very next year. Guess where he played. Shortstop.

Wright, who played for Ken Sanders, Elite, Marlton Trucking of Portland, Ore., Steele's, Ritch's/Kirk's of Harrisburg, N.C., Ritch's-Superior of Windsor Locks, Conn., and Sunbelt of Centerville, Ga., has seven ASA selections, six USSSA selections and four ASA second teams. He is a four-time MVP -- the ISA in 1991 and 1992, the ASA in 1989 and 1993. He last year of Major Ball was for Sunbelt at the age of 46.