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Bob Feller, The Greatest Cleveland Indian, dies at age 92
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I got to talk to Mr. Feller for five minutes once. It was at an event at his museum in Van Meter, Iowa (if you are ever driving through Iowa on I-80, it is only a couple of minutes off the interstate and well worth a stop). I told him how much I enjoyed the museum, especially the corner dedicated to the service of our WWII vets, and thanked him for his service. In my admittedly brief experience he was a gentleman, and Iowa is lessened by his passing.
Last night, a local legend was lost. 
Bob Feller was the greatest Cleveland Indian to ever live. He was an ambassador to our team and city even after he retired. One of his most selfless acts as a man came at the hight of his career. Two days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, he enlisted in WWII. The first Major League player to do so. Eight days after the war ended, he returned to Cleveland to pitch against the Detroit Tigers.
He will probably be best known on the field for throwing baseball's only opening day no-hitter against the White Sox. Another infamous no-hiter came in New York in Yankee Stadium, where he stopped one of the most powerful clubs to be assembled which had future Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and Phil Rizzuto in the lineup.
At the tender age of 92, I saw Bob Feller in person for the last time this past April when Rapid Rob threw out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day. He threw from the top of the mound, off the rubber and insisted the catcher be positioned as normal, behind home plate. Bob Feller threw a strike. I was almost in tears.
Mr. Feller. Thank you for the memories and thank you for everything you've given our city and our country. You will be missed!!
Bob Feller was the greatest Cleveland Indian to ever live. He was an ambassador to our team and city even after he retired. One of his most selfless acts as a man came at the hight of his career. Two days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, he enlisted in WWII. The first Major League player to do so. Eight days after the war ended, he returned to Cleveland to pitch against the Detroit Tigers.
He will probably be best known on the field for throwing baseball's only opening day no-hitter against the White Sox. Another infamous no-hiter came in New York in Yankee Stadium, where he stopped one of the most powerful clubs to be assembled which had future Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey and Phil Rizzuto in the lineup.
At the tender age of 92, I saw Bob Feller in person for the last time this past April when Rapid Rob threw out the ceremonial first pitch on opening day. He threw from the top of the mound, off the rubber and insisted the catcher be positioned as normal, behind home plate. Bob Feller threw a strike. I was almost in tears.
Mr. Feller. Thank you for the memories and thank you for everything you've given our city and our country. You will be missed!!
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While I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi MS I had the chance to visit the USS Alabama in Mobile on a few occasions. This is where Bob Feller gave up some prime baseball years in the service to this great nation. I always wonder what kind of numbers him and other great players would have put up if they had not served during those years. Bob Feller is from a generation of players who whether by choice or by draft seemed to recognize there was something bigger than themselves. That attitude is long gone I am afraid. He will be missed and will always be mentioned when we discuss the greatest pitchers of all time in baseball. Thank you Mr. feller for your service and for the baseball memories.
A statistician once put together an estimate of what Bob Feller’s career numbers would have looked like had he not gone off to war from 1942-45. The estimate was that he would have won 373 games, struck out 3,651 men and thrown five no hitters. The strikeouts and no-hitters would have been records.
RIP...If I remember right this year at the Hall of Fame game (the game at Doubleday where former players play a game) he pitched an inning...or was it just a couple batters?
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