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Bob Feller Photo Gallery
1951, Sam Chapman, Bob Feller, and Luke Easter
Bob Feller, center, while Alva Bradley, left, Indiansí President and scout C.C. Slapnicka
1960 HOF induction : Ed Rousch, Jackie Robinson, Bob Feller, Bill McKechnie
Bob Feller induction into the Navy
Bob Feller at Old Timers game
Hal Trosky and Bob Feller with manager Ossie Vitt, the center of the "Crybaby" incident
Herb Score kids around with Bob Feller and Dizzy Dean
Herb Score and Bob Feller
Bob Feller with child at Olive Memorial Stadium, 1949
Bob Feller's traveling All-Star team
1960 HOF Induction with Jackie Robinson
Bob Feller with Cy Young
Bob Feller with Lou Boudreau
Bob Feller in the Navy during WWII
Bob Feller on the mound
Bob Feller pitching to Joe DiMaggio
Bob Feller with catcher Frankie Hayes on the day he pitched a no-hitter
“Rapid Robert” Feller’s Remarkable First Major League Start!
“Three days before he pitched I would start thinking about him. I’d sit in my room thinking about him all the time. God I loved it …I’d think about him for three days!” –Ted Williams, speaking of Bob Feller
Eighty-nine years ago today, August 23, 1936, a highly touted 17 year-old rookie from Van Meter, Iowa made his first major league start for the Cleveland Indians. He had made his major league debut a month earlier on July 19, a relief appearance against the Senators.
And what a start it was!
His name was Bob Feller, and all the rookie did is strike out three batters in the first inning, and six over the first three innings. He recorded 15 strikeouts in route to earning his first career victory, a 4-1 complete game win over the St. Louis Browns. His strikeout total was the highest for a starting pitching debut. Three weeks later, he struck out 17 batters, tying a single-game record previously set by Dizzy Dean. He finished the season with a 5–3 record, having recorded 76 strikeouts in 62 innings. His record-setting rookie year made him, according to baseball writer Richard Goldstein, “the best-known young person in America, with the possible exception of Shirley Temple.”
What a Career!
Over his Hall-of-Fame career, Bob Feller played 18 seasons in major leagues (1936-1941 and 1945-1956), with four years lost to the Navy during WWII. In a career spanning 570 games, he went 266-162 (.621) over 3,827 innings, with 279 complete games, 44 shutouts, and a 3.25 ERA.
Career highlights for the eight-time All Star include seven times leading the American League in strikeouts, six times in wins, once in ERA, a pitching Triple Crown (1940), three no-hitters, and a World Series championship (1948).
And how about 1946, which he called his “greatest season”? It was surely one for the record books. He started the year with a three-hit, 10-strikeout shutout. He went on to a 26-15 record with a 2.18 ERA. He led the league with 348 strikeouts, 36 complete games, 10 shutouts, and 371.1 innings pitched. He even saved four games for good measure. He struck out at least 10 batters 12 times, which is even more impressive when you realize all other major league starters combined to do that just 20 times – and nine of those were by Hal Newhouser. He also won the All-Star Game and pitched a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium.
The Day Bob Feller Threw the Fastest Pitch Ever!
The date was August 20, 1946. In a promotion staged by Clark Griffith at Griffith Stadium, a Bob Feller fastball was clocked by Army ordinance equipment – equipment used to measure artillery shell velocity – at 98.6 mph, which at the time was the fastest pitch ever thrown. This was in the days before radar guns, so it’s hard to gauge just how accurate this actually was. The speed of the ball was measured as it crossed the plate; later, more sophisticated devices measure the speed as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. Using the primitive equipment, Feller’s pitch was said to average out at 107.6 mph.
Bob Feller’s #19 has been retired by the Indians. He was elected to the Hall-of-Fame in 1962, on the same day as Jackie Robinson.
-Gary Livacari
Information: Edited from ESPN article: How Fast Was Bob Feller’s Fast Ball? and from the Bob Feller Wikipedia page
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