Editor’s Note
This week’s Throwback Thursday features the October 1985 edition of Ray Andersen’s Fastpitch Bulletin.
Call this one the “Pay ‘n Pak” issue, the World and National Champions of 1985. On the front cover is a photo of Pay ‘n Pak manager Tom Wagner, whose Seattle Washington based team became the first to win both the ISC World Tournament and ASA National Championship in the same year. (a feat most recently accomplished by the New York Gremlins in 2023, headed up by skipper Gregg Leather. )
Page 3 has a photo and story about pitcher Jimmy Moore, regarded to the best pitcher of that year. Jimmy won both of the “majors” for that year (ISC and ASA), and for good measure, also won the National Sports Festival gold medal.
Page 4 lists the Order of Finish for the 1985 ISC World Tournament. The top three finishers were Pay ‘n Pak, of Seattle WA, ADM of Decatur IL and Larry Miller Toyota of Salt Lake City. California’s top finisher that year was the fourth place Guanella Brothers, led by First Team All World pitcher Chuck D’Arcy who posted a microscopic 0.75 ERA in the tournament. Another California team finished 7th, the Lancaster Chameleons, with ISC Hall of Famer Jerry Hoffman of the Chameleons earning second team All World honors, hitting over .300 against some very good pitchers. (Lancaster won the ISC two years prior in 1983, with Kevin Herlihy, and would finish as runner-up to Pay ‘n Pak in 1986 with Jimmy Moore outdueling Herlihy.
Page 19 features a regular “Umpires” column by longtime ISC umpire Les Novak. Les is one of the best and longest standing ambassadors of the game. This column ran some 40 years ago, but Les is still a fixture around the game. The Editor ran into Les just last July in Mankato Minnesota, where the aforementioned Gremlins captured the USASoftball (formerly ASA) National Championship.
Lots of photos and line scores to peruse.
Enjoy.
(on a mobile device, press the PDF below and see the controls to view the entire PDF will pop-up, at the top or bottom, depending on your device. Or click the “download” button to save the entire issue and view as and when you wish)
History_FPB_Oct_1985