Bob Feller? He's a helluva good guy.
Tex 3, Cle 2, bot 2nd
Feller reaches back in time and fires another 100mph fastball for a strike.
Ive read about Feller. A true American hero.
Bob Feller? He's a helluva good guy.
Tex 3, Cle 2, bot 2nd
Good deal. I don't know how any honorable man can support Kerry. Good to see a good guy like this is supporting Bush.
If you are passing through Iowa on I-80 stop at Feller's hometown of Van Meter --just west of Des Moines. The locals have a very nice museum and a lot of Feller autographed memorabilia for sale. John Wayne's home town, Winterset, is also close by and also the famed covered bridges of Madison County. A former Iowegian.
Wonderful endorsement from Bob Feller... a true American hero.
As a pitcher growing up in the '60s, Bob Feller was the guy I tried to emulate. All I wanted to do was throw a baseball so hard that the batter couldn't see it. (The story goes that on one particular day when Feller was at the top of his game, an umpire called a strike on a batter who turned to the ump and said, "That pitch sounded a little low.")
Anyways, it is certainly good to know that Bob is as intelligent and savvy about the nation's well-being as he was about pitching. May God bless Bob Feller.
Feller's endorsement is worth as much as Roger Clemons'. In other words, not much. And before you cite his war experience, they will cite Kerry's to you. Be consistent, folks. Who cares what Bob Feller thinks?
I was fortunate to visit USS Alabama at Mobile Harbor in the mid-80's. If you want to see a fully-restored battleship, that's the ticket. In one of my photo albums I have a picture of a bunk aboard the ship, with a plaque above it that says "Bob Feller slept here".
He honed his pitching arm while doing farm work.
The statue of Bob Feller at Jacobs Field.
I read that player-manager Leo Durocher watched a teenage Bob Feller warmup before a spring training game. Noticing Feller was not exhibiting a lot of control, Leo promptly took himself out of the lineup for that game.
Copyright 2004 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
www.investors.com
Investor's Business Daily
June 9, 2004 Wednesday
Leaders & Sucess; National Edition; Pg. A03
The Rapid Rise Of Bob Feller; From Farm To Fame:
The fireballing pitcher came through in baseball and WWII
BY JONAH KERI
He cracked the major leagues at age 17. He established himself as the best pitcher in the major leagues by 22. He became a precocious businessman, parlaying his early fame into personal wealth. Bob Feller was on top of the world as he drove from his hometown of Van Meter, Iowa, to Chicago on Dec. 7, 1941, on his way to negotiate his next lucrative contract.
Just then, word came over his car radio -- the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. Feller made it to Chicago, told his Cleveland Indians bosses he was enlisting, and immediately joined the U.S. Navy.
Yet putting some of the peak years of his baseball career on hold to serve his country wasn't enough for Feller. After serving as a Navy physical training drill instructor for a while, Feller wanted to do more. He volunteered for combat duty, aiming for the thick of the action.
That was Feller: never afraid to take on a new challenge. He really did do more before 9 a.m. than most people did all day.
"He could have spent the whole war as a drill instructor, but that wasn't him," said John Sickels, author of the recently released biography "Bob Feller, Ace of the Greatest Generation." "He became gun-crew chief (on the USS Alabama), which was a dangerous job, especially in the Pacific. He's extremely proud of that, to this day. Of all the things in his life, his record in the war is probably the thing he's most proud of."
That's saying a lot, given Feller's list of achievements. An eight-time All-Star and Hall of Famer, Feller six times led the league in wins, seven times in strikeouts. Pitching before the Cy Young Award for best pitcher was introduced, he finished in the top 10 in Most Valuable Player voting six times. Considered a workhorse, he led the league in innings pitched five times, and would sometimes get called to do bullpen duty in key games during a pennant race, just a day or two after pitching a complete game as a starter.
He won 266 games with a winning percentage of .621. He pitched three no-hitters -- trailing only Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax on the all-time list -- and is tied for the all-time record for one-hitters, with 12. He led his team to a World Series title in 1948 and an American League pennant in 1954 while battling fierce rivals in New York, Boston and Detroit during his career.
Feller's impressive career numbers would have looked even brighter if not for the three seasons he missed while in the Navy. He ranks 21st all time in strikeouts despite that missed time and his era, when strikeouts were far less common than they are today.
To fully appreciate Feller's impact, it's best to view him through the sphere of his time. Though today Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio usually get the acclaim as the greatest players of their era, Sickels says Feller was as much of a drawing card for fans and a comparably dominant on-field force at the height of his career.
Farm System
Feller got a leg up on the competition starting at an early age. Despite working long days on the family farm in Iowa, Bob's father, Bill, regularly took time with his son to play catch. Along with a steady diet of farm chores, the games of catch were so frequent, they helped build up Bob's arm strength, an important factor in his career durability.
More than just a playmate, Bill Feller took measured steps as Bob grew up to place him in an environment where he could succeed. Bob wanted to play shortstop at a young age, so Bill let him do so for several years. When it became obvious that Bob's talent was in his pitching arm, however, Bill gently encouraged Bob to shift his focus.
Aware that Bob was shy, Bill opted not to enroll him in a typical youth baseball league in the area. Instead, he built an actual field of dreams on the farm, razing a huge section of crops to build a full diamond, bleachers, the works. Bill hand-picked players and teams for the league, and let Bob mature at a gradual pace rather than risk him getting discouraged in a strange setting.
"His dad wanted to ease him into competition, rather than throwing him into the deep end to sink or swim," Sickels said. "Now Bob is very outgoing, with an aggressive personality. As a kid he wasn't like that. This was part of building his whole emotional confidence, under his dad's supervision, gradually."
After a few years playing on what was literally his home field, Feller began dazzling opponents in semi-pro leagues. As his confidence grew, any fear he might have had vanished. Feller regularly beat players several years his senior. Rather than just win, he aimed to dominate them, routinely striking out 10, 12, even 15 batters or more in a game.
By the time he reached Cleveland and the major leagues in 1936, Feller was big news. He'd often share the front page of his hometown paper with major world news events. After some of his bigger feats, he'd sometimes have the front page to himself. Though the accolades helped boost his confidence, Feller was careful to keep his ego in check. "My mom and dad always told me, "No one is immortal. Don't get full of yourself,' " he said.
His fame quickly spread to nationwide status. In his rookie season, he struck out 76 batters in 62 innings, allowing just one home run. His earned-run average of 3.34 was 51% better than the league average.
Speed Demon
Early on, Feller made his living mostly on his fastball, earning the nickname "Rapid Robert." Though modern radar guns hadn't been invented, a device of that time clocked his fastball at what experts today estimate at 102 miles per hour, which ranks among the fastest pitch speeds ever recorded.
He regularly led the league in strikeouts with his high velocity and aggressive approach. Opponents, even superstars, feared him.
His sustained success was all the more remarkable, given Feller's frenetic off-season schedule. Seeing the popularity of barnstorming tours, Feller set out to do it better. He organized his own tours, attracting top major-league talent to tour the country and play on his team. He scheduled opponents that packed in ballparks nationwide, including frequent tilts with Negro League All-Stars such as Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson.
His business savvy made him one of the wealthiest players of his time. So Feller didn't have to take off-season jobs to make ends meet, like many players of his era did.
Combined with his work ethic, that led Feller to become a physical fitness pioneer. While other players waited until spring training to get in shape, Feller had the time to do scads of push-ups, sit-ups, calisthenics and stretching, following a rigorous regimen. By Opening Day, he was ready to go.
See #22 for an excellent article about Bob Feller published in Investor's Business Daily recently.
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Thank you Mr. Feller for serving our country.
Feller and Koufax were the best pitchers ever.
I got to meet Mickey Mantle the next morning, as he was leaving the hotel. I told him how big a fan I was (growing up in NY) and told him my older sister had a big crush on him. He asked me how old my sister was. When I told him 16 he snapped his finger and said "too bad." I actually got to tell that story to Whitey Ford a few years ago and he said "that was Mickey."
Bob Feller is one of the true greats of baseball and I hope that he gets the attention that he deservers. More than that, he is a great American, both with what he has said this year and, more importantly, with what he did when it really counted in his youth.
The Mariners probably couldn't get a hit off him either, and he's 85.