Bob Feller
Bob Feller was a prominent American baseball pitcher born on November 3, 1918, in Van Meter, Iowa. He demonstrated exceptional talent in baseball from a young age, largely encouraged by his father, who created a ball field on their farm for Bob and his friends. Feller’s remarkable career began when he was signed by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 17. He quickly made a name for himself in the major leagues, notably striking out 17 batters in a single game and pitching twelve one-hit games throughout his career.
Feller's trajectory was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as an antiaircraft gunner and earned several commendations. After the war, he returned to baseball with impressive performances, including a no-hitter against the Yankees in 1946. He was part of the Indians' 1948 World Series-winning team, though he never won a World Series game himself. Feller retired with 266 wins and 2,581 strikeouts, securing his place in baseball history. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 and remained a beloved figure in the sport, making appearances at events well into his later years.
Bob Feller
Baseball Player
- Born: November 3, 1918
- Birthplace: Van Meter, Iowa
- Died: December 15, 2010
- Place of death: Cleveland, Ohio
Sport: Baseball
Early Life
Bob Feller was born on November 3, 1918, in Van Meter, Iowa, a small town west of Des Moines. His father, William, farmed 360 acres of land in central Iowa. His mother had been a schoolteacher before marriage and insisted that Bob and his younger sister, Marguerite, get an education. Bob showed interest and ability in baseball at an early age. His father became his major inspiration and support, spending hours teaching the young boy to throw, catch, and hit. They practiced before school and after chores; in cold and rainy weather, they played catch in the barn. William bought his son baseball gloves, bats, and even a full uniform when he was only ten. When Bob was twelve, his father built him his own ball field on the farm and formed a team that played games every Sunday afternoon during the summer months.
The Road to Excellence
Although Bob wanted to be an infielder like his hero, Rogers Hornsby, by the time he was fifteen, it was obvious that he would become a pitcher. He dominated players his own age in high school and American Legion baseball; Van Meter High School had difficulty finding opponents willing to play against him. By 1935, Bob and his blazing fastball had outgrown high school and American Legion baseball. At that time, Bob was pitching for Farmers Union, a semiprofessional team in Des Moines, with whom he won twenty-five games.
In 1935, Cy Slapnicka, a scout for the Cleveland Indians, saw Bob pitch and illegally signed him to a professional contract for one dollar and a ball autographed by the Cleveland team. At the age of seventeen, Bob spent his summer vacation pitching for the Indians. On July 6, 1938, he pitched in his first professional game, an exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals, and struck out eight batters in just 3 innings. In his first start, Bob beat the St. Louis Browns 4-1 and struck out fifteen batters. By the end of his first season, he had won five games and had tied the major-league strikeout record by fanning seventeen Philadelphia Athletics in one game. After the season, he returned to Van Meter to finish high school. Because of the illegal signing, he could have become a free agent and signed with any team, but he chose to stay with the Indians.
The Emerging Champion
The move from the amateur ranks to the major leagues was not a difficult adjustment for Bob. On April 30, 1938, in his first full season with the Indians, he pitched the first of his twelve one-hit ball games, a career record he shares with Nolan Ryan. In spite of arm problems, he improved steadily, and in 1939, he had a 24-9 record, the major league’s best.
In 1940, Bob opened the season by pitching a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox. That year he won a career high twenty-seven games, but the Indians lost the league title by one game to the Detroit Tigers. In 1941, Bob won twenty-five games, and it appeared that he would rewrite the record books in lifetime wins and strikeouts. December 7, 1941, changed that. Three days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Bob joined the Navy. He spent the next four years as an antiaircraft gunner aboard the U.S.S. Alabama. Bob won five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars in combat in the Pacific.
Continuing the Story
Because of World War II, Bob lost nearly four years of baseball at the prime of his career. In January of 1943, he also lost his father to cancer. In the same year, he married Alice, with whom he was to have three sons. In 1946, Bob proved that the years in the service had not diminished his ability. Two weeks into the season, he pitched a no-hitter against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. He went on to win twenty-six games, strike out a then-record 348 batters, and lead the league in six categories. Still, the Indians finished in a disappointing sixth place. At the end of that season, and for several seasons afterward, Bob organized barnstorming teams to bring baseball to towns where people had little chance to see major-league stars. He was often accompanied by Negro League star Satchel Paige, with whom Bob developed a lifelong friendship, and who later became a teammate on the Indians’ pitching staff.
Things fell into place for the Indians in 1948. Bob again led the league in strikeouts and won nineteen games. Two other Cleveland pitchers, Bob Lemon and Gene Bearden, won twenty games. With good pitching and the addition of outfielder Larry Doby, the American League’s first African American player, the Indians finished in first place. The team finished the season by beating the Boston Braves in the World Series, four games to two. Bob lost both of his series games—one a heartbreaking 1-0 loss in which he gave up only two hits. That proved to be the only World Series in which Bob played. In spite of his records, Bob never won a World Series game.
In 1951, Bob had his last big season, pitching a no-hitter against the Tigers on July 1 and finishing with twenty-two wins. After the 1956 season, Bob retired with 266 lifetime wins and an amazing 2,581 strikeouts. In 1957, the Indians honored him by retiring his uniform number 19. What Bob’s lifetime statistics would have been had he not missed four years for military service is only conjecture. In 1958, Bob served as a scout for the Indians, but soon left Major League Baseball to tend his many business interests.
Summary
In 1962, Bob Feller was elected, along with Jackie Robinson, to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bob’s popularity never diminished among both fans and ballplayers. Even after the age of eighty, he was a regular at old-timers’ games and a popular star for autograph seekers at sports shows. His accomplishments as a baseball player, as well as his unselfish military service during World War II, made him a hero to young and old.
Bibliography
Boynton, Bob. “Remembering Bob Feller.” Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture 15, no. 1 (Fall, 2006): 114-115.
Feller, Bob. Hello Slider! Chantilly, Va.: Mascot Books, 2007.
Feller, Bob, and Burton Rocks. Bob Feller’s Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Contemporary Books, 2001.
Masin, Herman L. “Our Kind of Feller.” Coach and Athletic Director 77, no. 1 (August, 2007): 5-6.
Rielly, Edward J. Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
Sickels, John. Bob Feller: Ace of the Greatest Generation. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2004.