Diamondback Jay
Psalms 23:1
The Heater from Van Meter, Rapid Robert, Bullet Bob. The Greatest Cleveland Indian of All Time
Whatever moniker you wanted to call him, all were appropriate. Bob Feller was without question one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game.
From the start, Feller seemed destined for greatness. His first career start, he struck out 15. From there, it was all uphill-- he led the AL in wins, innings and strikeouts each full season he pitched from 1939-1947.
In 570 career games, Feller threw three no-hitters, including the only Opening Day no-no in MLB history. He had an incredible 12 one-hitters, 46 shutouts, 266 career wins, 279 complete games and an ERA of 3.25.
When you look at these numbers, they seem amazing. Accentuating this is the fact that Feller missed the '42, '43 and '44 seasons to serve in World War II. Keep in mind, in the midst of the peak years of his career, Feller gave it up to go serve. He did so voluntarily. It has been widely speculated that had he stayed and not served in the war, he would have wound up with over 350 wins and over 3,000 strikeouts. As is, his first year back from the war (1946), he won 26, with an ERA of 2.18, which included an incredible 36 complete games, 10 shutouts and 348 strikeouts. This after taking three seasons off.
For the record, Joe DiMaggio called batting against Feller "hell on Earth", while Ted Williams stated Feller was the one pitcher in baseball he dreaded hitting against.
Bob Feller passed away last night at the age of 92. The baseball landscape lost one hell of a good one.
Whatever moniker you wanted to call him, all were appropriate. Bob Feller was without question one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game.
From the start, Feller seemed destined for greatness. His first career start, he struck out 15. From there, it was all uphill-- he led the AL in wins, innings and strikeouts each full season he pitched from 1939-1947.
In 570 career games, Feller threw three no-hitters, including the only Opening Day no-no in MLB history. He had an incredible 12 one-hitters, 46 shutouts, 266 career wins, 279 complete games and an ERA of 3.25.
When you look at these numbers, they seem amazing. Accentuating this is the fact that Feller missed the '42, '43 and '44 seasons to serve in World War II. Keep in mind, in the midst of the peak years of his career, Feller gave it up to go serve. He did so voluntarily. It has been widely speculated that had he stayed and not served in the war, he would have wound up with over 350 wins and over 3,000 strikeouts. As is, his first year back from the war (1946), he won 26, with an ERA of 2.18, which included an incredible 36 complete games, 10 shutouts and 348 strikeouts. This after taking three seasons off.
For the record, Joe DiMaggio called batting against Feller "hell on Earth", while Ted Williams stated Feller was the one pitcher in baseball he dreaded hitting against.
Bob Feller passed away last night at the age of 92. The baseball landscape lost one hell of a good one.
