BOB FELLER

'Robert William Andrew "Bob" Feller' (born November 3, 1918 in Van Meter, Iowa), nicknamed the ''"Heater from Van Meter"'' and ''"Rapid Robert"'', is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer.
He is currently (with the death of Phil Rizzuto on August 14, 2007) the second oldest living Hall of Famer after Bobby Doerr among players (Lee MacPhail, who is in the Hall as an executive, is now the oldest living Hall of Famer), and is also the senior living Hall of Famer in terms of date of induction (in 1962).

Contents

Professional career

Early life

Military service

Feller's opinions and controversy

Highlights

See also

References

External links

Professional career

Feller played for the Cleveland Indians, his only team, for 18 years, being one of "The Big Four" Indians pitching rotation in the 1950s, along with Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. He ended his career with 266 victories and 2,581 strikeouts, and led the American League in strikeouts seven times and bases on balls eight times. He pitched three no-hit games and shares the major league record with 12 one-hitters. Feller was the first pitcher to win 20 or more games before the age of 21. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility. When he was 17 years of age, he struck out 17 batters; he and Kerry Wood are the only two players ever to strike out their age (Wood struck out 20 on May 6, 1998).
Feller was taught to pitch by his father, an Iowa farmer of African-American descent, who built a diamond for his son, and installed a generator and electric lights in his barn for night practice. Although Feller's childhood dream was to pitch for the University of Notre Dame, he was signed by scout Cy Slapnicka for $1 and an autographed baseball. Upon being made GM of the Indians, Slapnicka transferred Feller's contract from Fargo-Moorhead to New Orleans to the majors without the pitcher so much as visiting either farm club, in clear violation of baseball rules. After a three-month investigation, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis made it clear that he did not believe what Slapnicka or Cleveland president Alva Bradley said, but awarded Feller to the Indians anyway, partly due to the testimony of Feller and his father, who wanted Bob to play for Cleveland.
On the opening day of the 1940 season, Feller pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox, with the help of a diving play on the final out by second baseman, Ray Mack.
When Feller retired in 1956, he held the dubious major league record for most walks in a career (1,764), and for most hit batsmen. He still holds the 20th Century record for most walks in a season (208 in 1938).
In 1943, Feller married Virgina Winther (1916-1981), daughter of a Wisconsin industrialist. They had three sons, Steve (b. 1945), Martin (b. 1947), and Bruce (b.1950). He lives with his third wife, Naomi Feller, in Gates Mills, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

Early life

Feller was raised in the small town of Van Meter, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, hence his latter nickname "The Van Meter Heater." The son of a hard-working Iowa farmer, Bob did many arduous chores that made him physically fit. He used to joke that shoveling manure and baling hay is what strengthened his arms and gave him the capacity to throw as hard as he did. Many attribute his blazing fastball to this. He refers to his farm days in Iowa very fondly, frequently worked on the farm during the off season, and currently collects tractors similar to the ones he used on the farm. When asked how he learned to throw his devastating curve ball, Bob replied, "One day as a nine year old, I was playing catch with my father and I twisted my wrist a bit. The ball broke and I've been throwing them ever since."

Military service

On December 8, 1941 Feller, enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS ''Alabama'',^[1] and missed four seasons during his service in World War II, being decorated with five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars. One year after his return to Major League action, in 1946, he registered an incredible 348 strikeouts while pitching in 48 games, starting 42 of those games. That year Bob was 26-15 with an era of 2.18 while pitching 36 complete games. He led the American League in strikeouts seven times and had 200 or more strikeouts five times. Bob pitched in 570 games during his career, and pitched in 40 or more games six seasons. Bob also threw three no-hit games inlcuding the only opening day no-hitter in baseball history in 1940. He had 46 shutouts during his career with 10 of those in 1946. Many baseball historians have speculated that Feller would have won perhaps 350 games with well over 3,000 strikeouts had he not joined the military. Even still, he was honored as "The greatest pitcher of his time" by the Sporting News.

Feller's opinions and controversy

In Feller's later years, he has been very vocal about his resentment of the idea of Pete Rose, who was banned in 1989 for betting on baseball games while serving as manager for the Cincinnati Reds, being reinstated into Major League Baseball (and Rose's subsequent induction into the Hall of Fame). Feller went as far as to state that Rose's status as a felon alone should make him unworthy of the Hall of Fame. Feller has also gone on record as saying that he'll never go back to Cooperstown if Pete Rose is ever inducted except to rip his own plaque off the wall.
During spring training for the 2003 baseball season, Feller called Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Jim Thome, who began his career with the Cleveland Indians, a ''"journeyman first baseman. He's no gazelle over there. More like a hippopotamus."''^[2]
In 2004, Feller criticized Major League Baseball for inviting boxing legend Muhammad Ali (because Ali protested over himself being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War) to throw out the first pitch at the All-Star Game in Houston (ESPN.com, 2004).
On August 10, 2005, while on a St. Louis radio station, a rambling and apparently intoxicated Feller claimed that Caribbean players ''"don't know the rules of the game."'' When asked by host Mike Claiborne, who ultimately accused Feller of being a racist, to provide an example of this, a flustered Feller tried to change the subject and eventually hung up.
Many of Bob Feller's critics (Jim Rome among them, who has frequently referred to Feller as "'Bitter, Old' Bob Feller") have frequently chastised him for his perceived bitterness, cynicism, and general plain-spoken demeanor in his old age. Modern baseball players are more indoctrinated with Political Correctness and thus less candid. Feller has also been criticized by some (including Feller's frequent target Pete Rose) for supposedly charging a substantial fee for his autograph. While being profiled on ESPN Classic's ''SportsCentury'' one of Feller's close friends disclosed Feller's initial cynicism towards hard-throwing pitching phenom Dwight Gooden, stating, '' He can throw but he can't pitch.'' Feller also criticized Jim Bouton's controversial book ''Ball Four'' despite allegations that Feller never even read it due to life-long problems with dyslexia.
Feller's son Stephen designed the Bob Feller Museum, built in 1998 in Van Meter, Iowa. In an interview there in 1998, Feller said he won more games in Chicago than in any other city except Cleveland. But he had one unhappy memory of Chicago. On Mothers Day, 1939, White Sox third baseman Marv Owen lined one of Feller's pitches into the stands near first base, hitting Feller's mother in the face. She spent the next two weeks in a Chicago hospital with cuts and bruises, as well as two black eyes. Upon his mother's discharge from the hospital, an apologetic Owen remarked to Feller, "Gee, Bob, now she looks as purty as you do." ^[2]
Feller also came under fire by many Brooklyn baseball fans for questionable comments made about Jackie Robinson, who entered the Hall of Fame the same year as Feller. Apparently, when Robinson first came up to Brooklyn, Feller said that if he were white he would not have made the Majors.
For those who criticize Feller's alleged bigotry toward African-American players, it should be noted Bob Feller was instrumental in putting together barnstorming games with Satchel Paige's all-stars from 1942 to 1950 during the offseason with black players before the game was integrated. Furthermore, Feller was a strong proponent in favor of integrating the game, contrary to the misinformed general consensus.
In March 2006, Feller said that Barry Bonds should be kept out of the Baseball Hall of Fame. This had nothing to do with race or performance but with Feller's perception of Bond's integrity. Feller said cheating was not unique to recent years: Feller has also stated he is opposed to the induction of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa into the Baseball Hall of Fame for illicit steroid use as well, stating, "Why don't they just open a separate wing called the "Steroid Users Hall of Fame"? They could have a great big sculpture of Bobby Bonds' head with pigeon droppings all over it. It is discouraging how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit."
Also in 2006, when Negro league baseball legend Buck O'Neil failed to get voted into the Hall of Fame, Feller was quoted as saying ^[4]

Highlights

★ Winningest pitcher in Cleveland Indians history (266 victories)

★ Led league in wins six times (1939-41, 1946-47, 1951)

★ Led league in ERA (1940)

★ Led league in strikeouts seven times (1938-41, 1946-48)

★ Led league in bases on balls twelve times

★ Led league in hit batsmen six times

★ 8-time All-Star (1938-41, 1946-48, 1950)

★ Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1962

★ In 1999, he ranked Number 36 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

See also

★ List of baseball players who went directly to the major leagues

★ List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins

★ Triple Crown

★ List of Major League Baseball ERA champions

★ List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions

★ List of Major League Baseball wins champions

★ List of pitchers who have struck out 18 or more batters in a nine-inning MLB game

★ Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time

★ Major League Baseball titles leaders

★ List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

References

1. http://www.bobfellermuseum.org/legacy.html
2. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/5198069.htm
3. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/5198069.htm
4. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/14019835.htm?source=rss&channel=kansascity_columnists


★ Media Views: Claiborne's "racist" label sparks controversy Dan Caesar

★ Feller: Ali 'shouldn't be honored this way'

★ Pietrusza, David, Matthew Silverman & Michael Gershman, ed. (2000). Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia. Total/Sports Illustrated.

External links

★

★

★ ''The Bob Feller Museum''

★ September 1995 by Barry Stagg

★ New Bob Feller book

Accomplishments