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Bob Feller
Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):
Contact Person and/or Name of Organization: Bob Feller Address: P.O. Box 157 Gates Mills OH 44040
Charity Information:Name of charity or charities the donations go to ???
Signing Habits:1) If you sign items for free, what are the maximum number of items you will sign for free? No 2) Do you answer questions sent by fans? N /A 3) Do you prefer when fans send you their own pens/markers? N /A 4) What can fans do to make it
easier for you to sign their items?
N /A Donation Charges:
Who should the check/money order be made out to: Bob Feller Payment can be made by: Cash, Money Orders, Cashier’s Checks
BiographyRobert William Andrew "Bob" Feller (born November 3, 1918 in Van Meter, Iowa), nicknamed the "Heater from Van Meter" and "Rapid Robert", is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and Hall of Famer. He is currently the second oldest living Hall of Famer after Bobby Doerr among players (Lee MacPhail, who is in the Hall as an executive, is now the oldest living Hall of Famer), and is also the senior living Hall of Famer in terms of date of induction (in 1962).
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Pitcher
Born: November 3, 1918 (1918-11-03) (age 89) Van Meter, Iowa Batted: Right Threw: Right MLB debut July 19, 1936 for the Cleveland Indians Final game September 30, 1956 for the Cleveland Indians Career statistics Win-Loss record 266-162 Earned run average 3.25 Strikeouts 2,581 Teams Cleveland Indians (1936-1956)
Career highlights and awards8x All-Star selection (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950) World Series champion (1948) 1951 AL TSN Pitcher of the Year 1940 Triple Crown Cleveland Indians #19 retired
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Elected 1962 Vote 93.8% (first ballot)
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Early lifeFeller was raised in the small town of Van Meter, Iowa, located west of Des Moines, hence his latter nickname "The Van Meter Heater." The son of a hard-working Iowa farmer, Bob did many arduous chores that made him physically fit. He used to joke that shoveling manure and baling hay is what strengthened his arms and gave him the capacity to throw as hard as he did. Many attribute his blazing fastball to this. He refers to his farm days in Iowa very fondly, frequently worked on the farm during the off season, and currently collects tractors similar to the ones he used on the farm. When asked how he learned to throw his devastating curve ball, Bob replied, "One day as a nine year old, I was playing catch with my father and I twisted my wrist a bit. The ball broke and I've been throwing them ever since."
Professional careerFeller played for the Cleveland Indians, his only team, for 18 years, being one of "The Big Four" Indians pitching rotation in the 1950s, along with Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia. He ended his career with 266 victories and 2,581 strikeouts, and led the American League in strikeouts seven times and bases on balls eight times. He pitched three no-hit games and shares the major league record with 12 one-hitters. Feller was the first pitcher to win 20 or more games before the age of 21. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility. When he was 17 years of age, he struck out 17 batters; he and Kerry Wood are the only two players ever to strike out their age (Wood struck out 20 on May 6, 1998).
Feller was taught to pitch by his father, an Iowa farmer, who built a diamond for his son, and installed a generator and electric lights in his barn for night practice. Although Feller's childhood dream was to pitch for the University of Notre Dame, he was signed by scout Cy Slapnicka for $1 and an autographed baseball. Upon being made GM of the Indians, Slapnicka transferred Feller's contract from Fargo-Moorhead to New Orleans to the majors without the pitcher so much as visiting either farm club, in clear violation of baseball rules. After a three-month investigation, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis made it clear that he did not believe what Slapnicka or Cleveland president Alva Bradley said, but awarded Feller to the Indians anyway, partly due to the testimony of Feller and his father, who wanted Bob to play for Cleveland.
On the opening day of the 1940 season, Feller pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox, with the help of a diving play on the final out by second baseman, Ray Mack.
Bob Feller when asked if he threw harder than any other pitcher ever, responded that at the end of his career players who had batted against him and also against Nolan Ryan had said Feller threw harder than Ryan. If that was the case, Feller threw over 100 mph. Although there is footage of Feller being clocked by army ordinance equipment (used to measure artillery shell velocity) and hitting 98.6. However, this took place in the later years of his career, and the machine used, like most of the machines at the time, measured the speed of the ball as it crossed the plate whereas now the speed is measured as it leaves the pitcher's hand.
When Feller retired in 1956, he held the dubious major league record for most walks in a career (1,764), and for most hit batsmen. He still holds the 20th Century record for most walks in a season (208 in 1938).
In 1943, Feller married Virginia Winther (1916-1981), daughter of a Wisconsin industrialist. They had three sons, Steve (b. 1945), Martin (b. 1947), and Bruce (b.1950). He lives with his wife, Anne Feller, in Gates Mills, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
Military serviceOn December 8, 1941 Feller, enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama,[1] and missed four seasons during his service in World War II, being decorated with five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars. One year after his return to Major League action, in 1946, he registered an incredible 348 strikeouts while pitching in 48 games, starting 42 of those games. That year Bob was 26-15 with an era of 2.18 while pitching 36 complete games. He led the American League in strikeouts seven times and had 200 or more strikeouts five times. Bob pitched in 570 games during his career, and pitched in 40 or more games six seasons. Bob also threw three no-hit games including the only opening day no-hitter in baseball history in 1940. He had 46 shutouts during his career with 10 of those in 1946. Many baseball historians have speculated that Feller would have won perhaps 350 games with well over 3,000 strikeouts had he not joined the military. Even still, he was honored as "The greatest pitcher of his time" by the Sporting News.
Feller's opinions and controversyDuring spring training for the 2003 baseball season, Feller called Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Jim Thome, who began his career with the Cleveland Indians, a "journeyman first baseman. He's no gazelle over there. More like a hippopotamus."[2]
Feller's son Stephen designed the Bob Feller Museum, built in 1998 in Van Meter, Iowa. In an interview there in 1998, Feller said he won more games in Chicago than in any other city except Cleveland. But he had one unhappy memory of Chicago. On Mothers Day, 1939, White Sox third baseman Marv Owen lined one of Feller's pitches into the stands near first base, hitting Feller's mother in the face. She spent the next two weeks in a Chicago hospital with cuts and bruises, as well as two black eyes. Upon his mother's discharge from the hospital, an apologetic Owen remarked to Feller, "Gee, Bob, now she looks as purty as you do."[3]
During a 2005 interview with St. Louis sports radio station KFNS, Feller told interviewer Mike Claiborne that Latino players "don't understand the rules of the game" and that modern players are not as talented as those who played in his day. Claiborne then called him a "racist" and cut off his microphone before cutting to commercial: after coming back, he told his audience that Feller was an "old asshole", for which he was reprimanded.
In 2006, when Negro league baseball legend Buck O'Neil failed to get voted into the Hall of Fame, Feller was quoted as saying
“ What the hell do (these committee members) know about baseball? I know more about Aristotelian metaphysics and string theory than they do about baseball." ”[4]
In 2007, in light of the Mitchell Report, documenting baseball players' usage of performance enhancing drugs, Feller chimed in saying that he believed that there ought to be a separate Hall of Fame for "drug losers."[5]
HighlightsWinningest pitcher in Cleveland Indians history (266 victories) Led league in wins six times (1939-41, 1946-47, 1951) Led league in ERA (1940) Led league in strikeouts seven times (1938-41, 1946-48) Led league in bases on balls twelve times Led league in hit batsmen six times Pitched three no-hitters, including the only Opening Day no-hitter. 8-time All-Star (1938-41, 1946-48, 1950) Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1962 In 1999, he ranked Number 36 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
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References
Caesar, Dan. "Media Views: Claiborne's "racist" label sparks controversy", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 Aug 2005. "Feller: Ali 'shouldn't be honored this way'", ESPN, 14 Jul 2004. Pietrusza, David, Matthew Silverman & Michael Gershman, ed. (2000). Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia. Total/Sports Illustrated.
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Source: Wikipedia.org at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Feller
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