Fireballer Bob Feller, aka ``Rapid Robert'' Dies at age 92

 

Feller toeing the rubber for the Cleveland Indians

As was sadly announced Wednesday, the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame pitcher, Bob Feller, known affectionately as ``Rapid Robert'' died at a hospice in Northeast Ohio after being treated for leukemia. Feller was 92.

What follows are some milestones and Major League records Feller achieved during his storied 18 seasons with the Cleveland Indians.

• Born: Robert William Feller, Nov. 3, 1918, Van Meter, Iowa

• Nicknamed "Rapid Robert"

• Stood 6 Ft tall weighing 185 lbs.

• By the time Feller was in high school, he was making between $35 and $50 on Sundays playing semi-pro ball in Iowa.

• July 22, 1935: Cyril C. Slapnieka, assistant to the president of the Cleveland American League, club signed him to a professional contract.

• Made Major League debut at age 17, when he joined the Cleveland Indians in mid-season in the summer of 1936. It was during his rookie season that he would tie Dizzy Dean's modern strike-out record, fanning seventeen Philadelphia Athletics in nine innings.  The young Feller finished second in the American League to the great Robert Moses Grove

• Appeared on the cover of Time Magazine before his second season.

• 1938: Led the league in strikeouts with 240

• 1939: Feller had a 24-9 record with 246 strikeouts.

• 1940 was Feller’s  best year: in addition to pitching Major League Baseball’s only Opening Day No-Hitter, on April 16th against the Chicago White Sox, he led the American League in wins (27), ERA (2. 61), complete games (31) and strikeouts (261).

• 1941: Feller was 25-13

• Again led the league in strikeouts from 1946 through 1948, throwing 348, 196, and 194 strikeouts, respectively.

• Feller pitched three no-hit games, the first pitcher in the 20th century to do so, in 1940, 1946, and 1951. Feller also notched 12 one-hitters; and struck out 18 in one game and 348 strikeouts in a season.

• Dec. 7, 1941: Feller was riding in his brand new Buick Century, driving from Van Meter to Chicago to meet with Cleveland Indians’ management to sign his new contract.  Just after crossing the Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa, however, news broke about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Immediately, his blossoming career came to a screeching halt, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941 to serve as a gunner on the USS Alabama; missing three full seasons and most of a fourth during World War II.

• January, 1943: Marries Virginia Winther. They have three sons: Steve, (born in '45, Marty, (born in '47), and Bruce (born in 1950). Their marriage dissolved in 1971.  He married Anne Gilliland, a neighbor in Gates Mills, Ohio in 1974

• 1947: Bob Feller, the only American League 20-game winner in 1947 is paid a base salary of $87,000 and bonuses.

• December 28, 1956: Feller, 38, announces his retirement during a press conference at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. On the same day, Indians General Manager Hank Greenberg announces that Feller’s no. 19 will be retired, becoming the first Indian to achieve such an honor.

• Lifetime Record: 266-162 with a 3.25 ERA, spanning 18 seasons.

• 1962: Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with Jackie Robinson

• Indians all-time leader in shutouts (46), innings pitched (3,827), wins and strikeouts (2,581).

• Feller appeared in 8 All‑Star games, more than any player in the history of the Indians and started the 1941 and 1946 games

• Feller won twenty or more games six times and won a career best 27 games in 1940.

• Sporting News Awards: Voted Major League player of the year in 1940; American League Pitcher  of the year in 1951

• Feller threw 44 shutouts with 2581 lifetime strikeouts

•`` Rapid Robert” led the AL in wins six times and strikeouts seven times

• Set club single-season records for strikeouts (348), innings (371), shutouts (10) and complete games (36) in 1946.

• Won 20 or more games in six seasons.

• Feller was tops in the American League in strikeouts in seven seasons.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]

Source:  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc; Saturday Evening Post, February 20, 1937; ``RAPID ROBERT Can Still Bring It’’. By: Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, 8/8/2005, Vol. 103, Issue 5; Cleveland Indians Media Guide

Comments

[hughglass]

"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the Game."
Grantland Rice
I suspect that the "One Great Scorer" recently greeted Bob Feller with a terse, "Good job, Bob."