Pitchers and catchers will be reporting for spring training in just over a week, and every team begins the 2016 season with the hope of winning the next MLB World Series. As most 11Ws can tell you, the last time the Cleveland Indians won it all was way back in 1948. When they did, a pitcher named Bob Feller, 'The Heater from Van Meter' or 'Bullet Bob', played a huge roll in the Indians' championship season.
Although Feller had a rough start to the '48 season, suffering a winless month and posting 9-12 record through mid-July, he was a machine down the stretch going 10-3. Feller finished the season 19-15 and led the league with 164 strike outs while logging a 3.56 ERA. Feller lost both starts in the World Series against the Boston Braves (Game One saw one of the worst missed calls in baseball history), but his regular season performance was essential to getting the Tribe into the first-ever, one-game playoff against the Red Sox for the AL Pennant.
Feller's MLB career began when he was only 17 years old, skipping the minor leagues, and didn't end until #19 retired in 1956. Over his 18 years on the mound, Feller posted a 266-162 W-L record (28th all time for wins), a 3.25 ERA, and logged 2581 SOs. He was an 8-time All Star, Triple Crown winner in '40 (wins, SOs, ERA), 6-time AL wins leader, 7-time MLB SO leader, and he pitched three no-hitters. The Indians retired his jersey in '57. In 1962, Bob Feller was elected to the MLB Hall of Fame on his first ballot garnering 93.8% of the votes.
What most people don't know, is that on 9 December 1941, Bob Feller interrupted his professional baseball career to enlist in the United State Navy. He was the first of many pro athletes who joined the service following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although he requested to serve on the USS Iowa (his home state's namesake, a common request at the time), Feller was assigned to the battleship USS Alabama (BB-60). His father died of brain cancer shortly before Feller went to sea, and he left his new bride, Virginia, to keep the home fires burning. Feller served as a gun captain on a 40mm antiaircraft gun, and he was assigned the rank of Chief Petty Officer (no easy feat in the Navy). He served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of Operations while in USS Alabama, escorting convoys and supporting Marine landings during the island hopping campaign. The Alabama also rode out a famous typhoon in the Pacific before participating in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (aka The Marianas Turkey Shoot) where they survived two bomb hits and fought off kamikaze attacks.
Feller gave a fantastic personal account of his service in the Navy to the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings magazine several years ago. It's a good read for anyone who's interested. http://www.military.com/veterans-day/bob-feller.html
Combat is an experience that you never forget. A war teaches you that baseball is only a game, after all -- a minor thing, compared to the sovereignty and security of the United States. I once told a newspaper reporter that the bombing attack we lived through on the Alabama had been the most exciting 13 hours of my life. After that, I said, the pinstriped perils of Yankee Stadium seemed trivial. That's still true today.
Feller returned to the major leagues in 1945 playing 9 games with the Tribe, and he continued to play for Cleveland until his retirement from baseball. Sadly, Bob Feller never got to see his Indians win the Series again after '48: he passed away in 2010. Perhaps 2016 is the year the Tribe makes it happen. Here's to Bullet Bob: Citizen, Sailor, Hall of Famer, and the hope of a new season. Play Ball!