Bob Feller interview

bballman - thanks for posting this.

From what I have read on the history of the game, Bob has to be considered one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Started in the big leagues in 11th grade and struck out 15 in his first game. One year, he was selected to the all-star team and he turned the invitiation down because he felt there were others more deserving. There are several baseball movies like the Natural and Field of Dreams that play on the image of mythic player who comes out of the cornfields of Iowa. Bob's Dad created a field for him on their farm in Van Metter Iowa where Bob maintains the Feller Museum.

He of course is a legend here in the Cleveland area where he has lived most of his life since entering baseball. A wonderful statue of him was erected when Jacobs Field was opened in 1993. An interesting story about the statue is that when Bob first viewed it, he made one request for a change. He asked that they change his grip on the ball from that of a curve ball to that of a fast ball. Any one who knows of Rapid Robert would understand the nature of that request

You're right CD. He was 17 when he started in the Big Leagues. Said he was the youngest pitcher to ever get a MLB win - and also youngest to get a loss. He did have 15 K's in his first game. I could go on and on about what was talked about, you really have to see it. Bob is the oldest living member of the HOF and has a ton of memories.

He referred to the field his dad built him as "The Field of Dreams". Pretty cool stuff. Another thing is when you see the picture of Babe Ruth standing in Yankee Staduim for the last time wearing his number "3", leaning on a bat - that is Bob Feller's bat. Babe died "two months and 3 days later" as Bob says.

A few years back I read his biography. If you ever see it in a bookstore, good reading. Great story.

Not to nitpick, but the 15 k's came in his first start but he had pitched in relief a few times before that. A few weeks later he tied the Major League record of 17 K's all done while he was 17 years old!

Sure, he could throw hard, especially for his day.

But could he pitch???!!!???


After all, I'm constantly reading on here about how MPH is overrated and it's all really about mixing pitches and hitting spots. Here was a guy whose control was so notorious that the field crew in Cleveland occasionally moved home plate to where he liked to throw, the night before his starts.

(Sorry, just felt like stirring the pot a little here at the end of a work day!)

I have a new line for my son. I throw as hard as I did in college. The ball just doesn't arrive as fast.

The issue of control was addressed in the interview. His first year he had something like 248 K's and 204 BB's. For like 4 years in a row, K's went up and BB's went down. In his 4th or 5th year, he had something like 340 K's and 104 BB's. That might not be exact, but it was something like that. Feller said he didn't really mind being a little wild as it struck fear in a lot of batters.

He also talked some about his curve ball and how some guys couldn't hit it. So, he did have more than the fastball. He also gained more control as he got older. Like I said earlier, he talked about how Joe DiMagio could hit him pre WWII, after WWII, Joe was not as successful because he pitched him inside. Seems like he was young and unpolished when he started and became more of a pitcher as he got older. Really need to watch the interview. It was fascinating. Especially if you have an interest in pitching.

I had the pleasure to meet Bob at Goodyear Stadium this year at an Indians spring training game. He must have sat for over two hours signing everything from balls to teeshirts.(And it was a bit hot as usual) Greeting every person and answering question after question, all with a smile. It was an older crowd being in that area of west Phoenix and everyone seemed to have a story to share.
Truly a sports legend!!!

Bob Feller:
YR IP K BB

1936 62 76 47
1937 148.2 150 106
1938 277.2 240 208
1939 296.2 246 142
1940 320.1 261 118
1941 343 260 194
1945 72 59 35
1946 371.1 348 153
1947 299 196 127
1948 280.1 164 116
1949 211 108 84
1950 247 119 103
1951 249.2 111 95
1952 191.2 81 83
1953 175.2 60 60
1954 140 59 39
1955 83 25 31
1956 58 18 23

Seems like Feller's great fastball was gone by age 29 and he had to become more of a pitcher. He was known for having a knee-buckling curve also.

I was at an event a few years ago and was invited to grab some free baseballs for my club team from a huge bucket. I pulled out a few and noticed they were signed. The first one I looked at had a Bob Feller autograph on it. I didn't believe I was being offered a 'free' Bob Feller autographed baseball, but could never confirm or deny I had an original.

Its currently sitting in my office proudly displayed, real or not.

How often are you even offered a forged hall of famer's signed baseball for free?

If you were a conspiracy theorist, you'd look at 371 in '46, 299 in 47, 280 in '48 the decline in '49, the attempted recovery in '50 & '51 and say he was WAY over used which is why he faded fast.

You could also say (conspiracy theorists) that the war actually helped him bridge the gap. The 300+ innings in '40 & '41 were probably overcome by the rest from '42-'45.

Of course I'm a Red Sox fan and truely believe Ted Williams, as an undrafted (to war) hitter playing home games at Tiger Stadium whould have us all wondering why Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron and Barry Bonds were so over rated...

You have to give it up to a pitcher who threw 277+ in 7 years while missing 3 1'2 years in his prime for a WW. He threw more IP's in 9 seasons that ANY pitcher will throw in the next decade (247)...

Look at the amazing innings totals by age 23---62, 148, 277,296, 320 and 343. Its no wonder he started fading somewhat by 30. I believe in his book, he said he popped something in his arm in 1947 when he slipped on a muddy mound and felt the fast ball was never again as overpowering.

I wish we had many more of these old time stars interviews preserved on video so more kids could get a feel for what baseball was like in the old days. I was lucky enough to see Satchel Paige pitch an inning in the 1960's in an exhibition with the old barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns. He was probably pushing 60 at the time. That kind of stuff sadly doesn't exist anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by bballman:
He said he still throws just as hard as he did back in the day, the ball just doesn't get there as fast .

Awesome!

Isn't that the truth.

quote:

Satchel Paige

In 1965 I remember, Squirrel Sievers and Frank Hondo Howard in the locker room chatting about pitchers. Satchel Paige's name was brought up. Sievers played with Paige with the St. Louis Brown's (before Bill Veeck sold the Brown's to Baltimore lawyer Clarence Miles in Winter of '53). Paige was also released by the newly named Orioles before the start of the '54 season.

The story as I recall, talked about several other pitchers throwing the ball harder than Feller. This list included Satchel Paige, Ray Flanigan (with Browns & Cle Indians (briefly with Feller & the International League Orioles), and maybe one of the hardest throwers Rex Barney (Brooklyn Dodgers). (Of course Feller would never say squat about any of this.) I also remember Senators Manager Gil Hodges voicing his opinion with Hondo regarding Barney throwing hard, very hard before WWII and harder after the war.

I also remember "Sport Shirt" Bill Veeck Jr., helping bring Paige back in late Sept of '65. (Who remembers Veeck bringing Minnie Minoso back to DH...twice?). Saige pitched three innings in his last ML appearance in Sept 25, 1965 (nearly sold out crowd) (at age 59 ??? - 66 (a guess since home based birth certificates in Mobile AL says Aaron, were not around, yet)

Ken Hawk Harrelson (who played with Royals and Senators), also mentioned (later on in the late 60's) he thought Satchel was bringin it low 90's in Sept '65

In 2003, I chatted in a hotel Baltimore Sports bar with LaSorda prior to a Mid-Atlantic Scouting Bureau Banquet and said he thought Koufax (LaSorda pitched in '55 when Koufax came up with the Dodgers) threw the ball harder than Big D Drysdale (who came up in '56),
Flanigan, and certainly Feller, but maybe not Barney. LaSorda also mentioned Flanigan's, Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams and Barney's heroics in WWII (and Korean War) were most memorable than Feller's and DiMaggio combined.

At opening day 2005, the Expos having moved to Wash DC, Sievers said he thought many more arms in the last 15-20 years threw very hard in both the big leagues and MiLB.

And yes, Feller, at 91, looked amazing on the Costas interview. (And yes, I have seen his dedicated bunk on the Battleship USS Alabama (BB 60) in Mobile, and I look forward to seeing the Museum in Van Meter Iowa maybe next summer.)

May each RIP...Hodges, Flanigan, Williams, Drysdale, Greenberg, Paige, and Veeck. Where have all the old timers gone, and you are remembered!

quote:

Originally posted by Three Bagger:
Look at the amazing innings totals by age 23---62, 148, 277,296, 320 and 343. Its no wonder he started fading somewhat by 30. I believe in his book, he said he popped something in his arm in 1947 when he slipped on a muddy mound and felt the fast ball was never again as overpowering.

He mentioned that in the interview. What he said is something happened, from how he described it and where he pointed, with his scapula. He said it happened when he slipped on a muddy mound and admitted his fastball was never the same after that. That was the year he declined playing in the all-star game. He said he wanted to let his arm rest and thought it would be best if he didn't play at that time. He suggested another guy (forget his name) and that guy wound up the winning pitcher.

I also read a story once about him having an encounter with a chiropractor in the clubhouse who assured him he could fix his arm. Feller thought the guy was just looking it over when the guy went ahead and did it, with the common chiropractic pop! In the account I read, Feller said he felt the guy really helped him to feel better from where he was up to that point, but he never got it all back.

Midlo Dad, I think that was the fairly well known (at the time) Bonesetter Reese. He's another character in baseball history of the 20's 30's and 40's. Part quack, part chiropractor some players of the time swore by him.

Bear, I remember the time Paige pitched 3 innings in the 60's against the BoSox. It was a stunt but he actually shut them out for I believe 3 innings. Men like Veeck don't exist in baseball anymore. Yes I also remember when he brought back Minnie Minoso as you said. I can't imagine any present owners sitting in the bleachers with no shirt on, drinking beer and with their wooden leg unscrewed using it for an ashtray. That tell you enough about Veeck right there to see how interesting he was. Bear, did you ever hear of or see Steve Dalkowski, the legendary minor leaguer who supposedly threw the fastest fastball ever? The stories about him are legendary and hard to believe.

Three Bagger - I have heard of Dalkowski and yes indeed I have heard he was one of the hardest throwers of all time. Another name I have heard was Ewell Blackwell.

Look, I have never seen any of the principles in this thread personally pitch. I cannot dispute what a couple of guys said in a bar but I know what I have read about the history of the game and what I have seen from newsreal footage. Every thing I know about the subject is that the pre-WWII Feller was one of the hardest throwers of all-time. He must have thrown hard because of all that atest to it. Morever, I have seen footage of Feller throwing against motor cycles that were traveling at 100 mph and his baseball beat them to a spot. There were other machines used as well that Feller notes recorded 107. Maybe these methods were inaccurate but if Feller did not throw hard why were there so many attempts made to measure how hard he was throwing?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Three Bagger:
Bear, did you ever hear of or see Steve Dalkowski, the legendary minor leaguer who supposedly threw the fastest fastball ever? /QUOTE]

Yes, I have heard the stories w/r Steve Dalkowski, and a lefty at that.

I got the opportunity to see several 100+ arms in the last decade incl:
Papelbon (in Clark Griffith League as an amateur, Benitez (in MiLB at College Park, MD),
Neighborgall (at Aberdeen and College Park)
Jeffries (in Fla St League and Southern League)
If able to get close enough to the field, and without being in the dugout, you can hear the baseball! Nationals Head Coach could hear Kerry Wood's 100+ at Wrigley from the dugout! Tom Bradley tells me he could hear Gossage's 100+, and the reason why he nicknamed him Goose!

ClevelandDad, Yea there is no doubt Feller was known even at the time he came up as an especially hard throwing pitcher. Many compared him at that time to Lefty Grove who was acknowledged in most books I've read as the hardest thrower of the late 20's to early 30's. I have a book with the picture of Feller throwing with the motorcycle racing the ball but I think in his old age Feller has as Clemens says "misremembered" as I have never in my 400 baseball book collection or the hundreds of other baseball books I have read seen that he threw 107. Actually one of the pictures says he was throwing 98.6 MPH. Remember there was nothing to really accurately mesure baseball velocity as the proving grounds was for measuring bullets and artillary shells velocity. In the early 70's I watched a game on TV where it was widely announced that they would have a primitive radar gun on Young Nolan Ryan. He threw 100.9 MPH that night and they made a big deal that it was a new record as far as they knew and they even mentioned the 98.6 by Feller in primitive tests. I've even seen a video of Feller throwing against a racing motorcycle.