[4] Stepien placed NASL teams in several APSPL markets, including Lexington, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.
[5] The owner of the Pittsburgh Hardhats of the APSPL brought an unsuccessful challenge in federal court in an attempt to prevent splitting the young professional sport.
The team catapulted in the standings in August with a 6-game, 3-doubleheader sweep of the Cincinnati Rivermen with strong hitting from Matt Partridge, Dan Murphy, Mike Turk and Gary Geister.
[20][21][22] Detroit would advance to the playoffs, winning the semifinals 4–1 over Cleveland (6–4, 8–7, 19–4, 5–10, 14–5) with a Mike Taylor grand-slam leading the way to an Auto King victory in the 5th game.
[27] 3B/SS Mike Turk (.518, 27 HRs, 115 RBIs) was the only Auto King to receive all-league honors in 1980.
[19][29][30] Auto King Mike Gouin is a member of the American Softball Association Hall of Fame.
[31] In addition, Cal Carmen is a member of the United States Slowpitch Softball Association (USSSA) Hall of Fame.
In 1982, Detroit Softball City, playing at and named for a large softball complex on the grounds of the Michigan State Fair, played in the UPSL and were led by Charlie Mitchell and Braxton Speller, along with former Caesars Rick Trudeau, Doug Gerdes, Chuck Drewicz, George Birch, Gary Geister and manager Gary Vitto, along with former Auto Kings Matt Partridge and Mike Turk.