Former Birmingham Barons pitcher Don Heinkel says he threw as hard as anybody else, adding that the ball just didn’t go as fast when it left his hand.

“I was one of those who tried to win the chess match,” he said during Wednesday’s Rickwood Classic. “I didn’t throw real hard, mid 80s. I would change speeds, hit spots, see if I could find a way to get them out. It was a lot of fun.”

Wednesday was a fun day for Heinkel as the doctor from Muscle Shoals was inducted to the Barons Hall of Fame.

Heinkel was the lone inductee in the 2016 Hall of Fame class. The former Barons ace was the only player, front office member or media member to receive the mandatory 71 percent of votes from the 14-person Hall of Fame committee.

“It’s a real treat,” Heinkel said. “I have such good memories here. We won the Southern League championship. That was a good year. To be able to come back and remember this with my family … it’s fun to go down memory lane with them.”

Don Heinkel, former pitcher for the Birmingham Barons and the 2016 Barons Hall of Fame inductee, attends Wednesday’s Rickwood Classic game. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Coming from Racine, Wis., Heinkel earned most valuable pitcher honors for the 1983 Southern League Championship-winning Barons. He went 19-6 during the regular season with a 3.39 earned-run average and 13 complete games in 30 starts.

The right-hander struck out 113 hitters in 207 1/3 innings pitched. He threw two complete games for the 1983 Barons, whose 57 wins at home remain a franchise record, and added a pair of playoff wins as Birmingham secured the league title.

Heinkel was with the Barons during parts of three seasons from 1982-85. He amassed a 25-16 record over 49 starts, throwing 18 complete games in 328 1/3 total innings, posting 190 strikeouts and a career 3.54 ERA for Birmingham.

“To me, the whole idea is getting people out,” Heinkel said. “If you’ve got a 95 mph fastball, that’s great. If you’ve got a forkball that starts at the knees and breaks into the dirt and makes him chase it, that’s great, too. Our job is to win the game, and there are a whole lot of different ways to do it.”

Off the field, Heinkel and teammate Jon Furman set out to find a church in Birmingham and found a lot more.

“We didn’t know this place from Timbuktu,” the Hall of Famer said of their search for a church in the phonebook. “We said a little prayer and we go to this church. They disciple us and we fell in love with the pastor’s daughters that year and ended up getting married down the road.”

Birmingham Barons All-Stars from 1983 included ,from left, George Foussianes, Stan Younger, Ray Younger and Don Heinkel. (contributed by Heinkel family)

Heinkel said he and his wife, Angela, weren’t supposed to be able to have children, but “the Lord did a healing.”

The couple’s desire for a large family was fulfilled as they now have 11 children, ranging from ages 13 to 28. With that, Heinkel said he believes in the power of prayer.

“And a prayer-answering God,” he said. “I believe in that.”

Related stories: Read all about the 2016 Rickwood Classic and this week’s Negro League Baseball Reunion.