Happy 90th Birthday Bobby Feller

[philliesfiend55]

Happy 90th Birthday today (November 3) to a great patriot and the most devastating pitcher of the late 30's and 40's, Bob Feller.

On his post-playing career: Feller is always available for signing autographs if you run into him out in public, or to sign at card & autograph shows. He has signed so often, and his autograph has become so common and readily available, that he may have driven the price of his autograph down.

An autographed photograph of him pitching in Spring Training in Tuscon, Arizona, 1952, has hung on my wall for many years.

-philliesfiend55-

[AutographCollector]

From one Navy vet to another: Happy Birthday "Rapid" Robert!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAm5fwb1Psw

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Happy 90th Birthday, Rapid Robert! :dance

[KCGHOST]

I remember seeing Feller in the late 50's in Key West on a barnstorming tour with a bunch of other guys including Stan Musial.

[philliesfiend55]

Feller was in the major leagues in 1936 at the incredible age of 17. The years he lost to military service corresponded to his ages from 23 in 1942 to 26 in 1945 (although he did return at the end of that season for a few games). He lost his peak years to military service and if World War Two hadn't interrupted his career, he might have added 80, 90, 100 more wins - (Who knows?) to his career victory total of 266. He also retired at age 37. If he'd played in today's era, with more scientific conditioning and between pitching outings exercise and throwing routines, he might have extended his career a few more years, even into his 40s.
He's also one of the very few players to spend their entire career as a Cleveland Indian. (Indians' management knew when they had a good thing going.)

-philliesfiend55-

P.S: In person Feller struck me as being very direct, straight-talking, somewhat opinionated, but with a dry, low-key sense of humor, and not at all unfriendly to fans. (He's been at this Fame business for a long, long time).

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Recently, someone posted a great interview Feller gave to Mike Wallace in 1957. Here is that interview again.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/feller_bob.html

[EdTarbusz]

Feller was one of about 13 million Americans who lost time in their lives to miltary service during WWII. He was also fortunate enough to come back with no loss of life and limb. His time in the service was no more or less special than any other veteran of that era.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

From Rob Neyer today. I never thought of it this way. :applaud:


Happy 90th to Bob Feller. He may be a crusty old curmudgeon who occasionally says some slightly nutty things, but we're extraordinarily lucky to still have him. This is a guy who can still relate in great detail what it was like, pitching to Lou Gehrig.

[philliesfiend55]

Feller was one of about 13 million Americans who lost time in their lives to military service during WWII. He was also fortunate enough to come back with no loss of life and limb. His time in the service was no more or less special than any other veteran of that era.Although Feller and other ball players who served in the military in World War Two or other wars were no less selfless than all others who served, the war may have had a greater impact on their careers.
The average person is working roughly a 45 year career, working until age 65 or even longer. Pro athletes have only a limited "window of opportunity" to reach their potential in their sport. 15 years in the majors is considered a long career. So some athletes like Feller, Sam Chapman, Hugh Mulcahy, Dave Philley and others who volunteered immediately after Pearl Harbor and lost four seasons of their career, that was a pretty great loss to their MLB career time and records.
Due to military service, Feller definitely lost the opportunity to be a 300 game winner and a 3,000 strikeout pitcher and perhaps even break Walter Johnson's record for career Strikeouts (3,508) that was in effect at that time. Other players lost the experience of being a major leaguer for a few more years, and with that lost time usually coming during their potential peak years, they would be viewed as better players than their interrupted career statistics indicate presently.

-philliesfiend55-

[EdTarbusz]

I think holding up athletes as people whose time in the service caused them to miss out on their careers and be thought of as special cases does a major disservice to every other veteran whose life was put on hold because of the war. I doubt if many people of Feller's generation were cxrying in their beer because athletes lost time in their careers. I don't agree with Feller on many subjects, but I do on his attitude of his war service. Feller believes that fighting the war was much more important then his career numbers.

[philliesfiend55]

Bob Feller's ability to bounce back after World War Two to become a 20-game winner and take his place again as one of the best pitchers in baseball was due largely to the fact that he was still a rather young 27 when his career resumed in earnest in 1946. A more typical performance after a layoff of several years for military service would be that of Philadelphia Athletics' Outfielder Sam Chapman, who hit .322 (with 25 HR) in 1941.
With the exception of a negligible amount of time back with the A's at the end of the 1945 season (9 games), Chapman missed the next four seasons while in the military, after his brilliant performance in 1941.
In his final six seasons after the war, Chapman managed to hit over .265 just once (.278 in 1949). That's just one example of the countless number of players whose careers suffered and were adversely affected after long stretches of military service. The majority of ballplayers who were returning vets with at least three years in the military were never quite the same performance-wise compared to their MLB performance before the war. Even some players who lost less seasons than that to military service could not "shake the rust" and never performed as well in MLB after the war.

-philliesfiend55-

[EdTarbusz]

Bo Feller was also a player who worked year round to keep himself in shape, and he was able to work out regularly while in the Navy, even when he was aboard the Alabama.

I've always thought that that biggest name player whose career wasn't the same after military service was Joe DiMaggio.