RIP Bob Feller

[mbailey]

Now this is the type of athlete our next generation needs to look up to

Rip Mr Feller 


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/sports/baseball/17reflect.html

[lowZX14]

A great man and one of the greatest pitchers ever.  It's no telling what he had done if he had not joined the Navy right after Pearl Harbor.  I ask people all the time, who was the first MLB player to volunteer to served in WWII.  The answer of course is Bob Feller.

R.I.P Mr. Feller 

[Hajo]

I had the good fortune of having Bob Feller and Mel Harder autograph baseballs for me on the opening of Jacobs Field.  Great man.....not wishy washy....spoke his mind and the truth as he saw it.

He "WAS" the greatest RHP imho.  Todays pitchers are lucky to pitch 200 innings.
Bob pitched over 300 almost every year.

He will be missed.

Deepest sympathies to his family....and all Indians Fans everywhere.

[BoilerDown]

For numerous reasons, not the least of which is that I'm a Tiger's fan from Detroit, Hank Greenberg is my favorite old-time baseball player, and he re-enlisted right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  I didn't know Bob Feller was the first professional athlete to enlist... and they both lost 4 prime hall-of-fame career baseball playing years.  Gotta give a lot of respect to that.

[Masherbrum]

My pop teared when I handed him a personalized ball for Feller.  He was a man's man.

RIP Mr. Feller

[Hajo]

Some little known stats for Mr Feller (whom I was lucky enought to meet)

The first 4 years before Mr Feller enlisted in the Navy (he enlisted the day after the attack on Pearl harbor)...he averaged 24 wins a year.
The first 4 years after Mr Feller came back from the Pacific he averaged 23 wins a year.
He won a total of 266 games in his career.  He pitched 3 no hitters, the only opening day no- hitter and 12 one hitters. Imagine what he could've done, he missed 3 and a half seasons in his prime.
One season Mr Feller pitched 36!...yes 36 complete games. Todays pitchers are lucky if they complete 16. (he also pitched over 300 innings per year)  find one now that pitches 200 or better.
He was signed by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 16 for ONE DOLLAR and an autographed baseball.
At age 17 he pitched his first big league game against the St. Louis Browns and STRUCK OUT 15!
He returned to High School after the season to graduate .......his graduation was broadcast by NBC nationally on radio.

During WWII  Admiral Nimitz, for morale purposes wanted to organize a game of baseball...Army vs. Navy. He asked Bob to pitch. Mr Feller declined saying he belonged aboard ship with his shipmates.
He suggested to Admiral Nimitz that he ask Bob Lemon (a team mate of Bobs who is also in the HOF)...he said Lemon would have no problem beating the Army.
Lemon pitched....the Navy won the game.

Those of us who grew up listening to stories told by our fathers and grandfathers about Feller, Lemon, and Boudreau....knew all about him.

I consider myself very fortunate to have met a true baseball legend, patriot, and hero such as he.

He will be missed by his family and baseball.  There was no one like him.....one of a kind. His straight forward attitude bore no animosity..he told the truth as he saw it.

[Guppy35]

For numerous reasons, not the least of which is that I'm a Tiger's fan from Detroit, Hank Greenberg is my favorite old-time baseball player, and he re-enlisted right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  I didn't know Bob Feller was the first professional athlete to enlist... and they both lost 4 prime hall-of-fame career baseball playing years.  Gotta give a lot of respect to that.

I believe Greenberg was the first to be drafted and to enter the service.  This was prior to Pearl Harbor and was during the 1941 season. 

Scary to think of the numbers that might have been for some of those guys who lost years to the war.  Ted Williams lost years to both WW2 and Korea.

[TOMCAT21]

 

[Masherbrum]

I believe Greenberg was the first to be drafted and to enter the service.  This was prior to Pearl Harbor and was during the 1941 season. 

Scary to think of the numbers that might have been for some of those guys who lost years to the war.  Ted Williams lost years to both WW2 and Korea.

Correct.   He was 1st drafted in 1940 and two days prior to Pearl Harbor he was given an Honorable Discharge.   After Pearl, he was the first one to Enlist in the MLB. 

[SmokinLoon]

I met this gentlemen back in the early 1990's when he was the Grand Marshal of a parade in my hometown of Storm Lake, IA.  Ironically, my great uncle Ralph Brown caught for Bob Feller when he did a promotional tour across the mid-west just prior to WWII.  My father has an autographed ball from Bob, it sits right next to the autographed ball from Babe Ruth.   

[BoilerDown]

Correct.   He was 1st drafted in 1940 and two days prior to Pearl Harbor he was given an Honorable Discharge.   After Pearl, he was the first one to Enlist in the MLB.

Did a little googling because I see a lot of tributes to Bob today (or yesterday, as its after midnight) crediting him as the first, and a lot of other sources that have previously credited Greenberg.  I guess it either depends on how you define it, or the truth is lost to history.  Either way it doesn't really matter.

Here's one of the many sources on the internet with something to say about it: http://books.google.com/books?id=Csx0aHOkFvMC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=who+enlisted+first,+Bob+Feller+or+Hank+Greenberg%3F&source=bl&ots=KNYHafbhTc&sig=njfz5dLnGWC28RY0fjdlIx2g30g&hl=en&ei=zQULTYnFDIaKlwf9kIz1Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFoQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=who%20enlisted%20first%2C%20Bob%20Feller%20or%20Hank%20Greenberg%3F&f=false

[Maverick]

Good man. He understood there are things more important than himself and a game in life. Few athletes and actors today are anywhere near his maturity when he left the game to enllist.
 
RIP and thank you for our today.

[Simaril]

Good man. He understood there are things more important than himself and a game in life. Few athletes and actors today are anywhere near his maturity when he left the game to enllist.
 
RIP and thank you for our today.

Quoted for truth.

Feller occasionally raised eyebrows in the era of PC ("What was your job in the war Mr Feller?" asked one reporter. "To kill Japs" replied Feller...), but was always a class act who believed in personal responsibility, personal honor, and duty to others. Whether or not you'd agree that he was the best power pitcher of all time - you could never imagine him playing the "hey look at me" game that LeBron did on ESPN.

Will miss him - and wish there were more around with character like him.