RIP Bob Feller

[Bikeage77]

Today we lost the oldest living Hall Of Famer. I had the opportunity to meet him 3 times, each time he was very friendly, and took the time to talk to my younger cousins about thier little league positions. They still talk about it now that they are in college.

 

RIP Rapid Robert.

[TooLiveBrew]

Oh no http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif Very sad to see. At 92, seems like it was a long, full life, though. R.I.P.

[JimH5]

He was really an awesome guy. Sure, he was full of bluster and had an opinion on everything, but he had such an interesting and remarkable life.

 

I saw him at an Indians Spring Training game about 6 years ago. He was in his mid 80s, dressed in full uniform, playing catch with a catcher. He was throwing for about half an hour, still throwing hard enough to make the glove pop.

 

He was a MLB star at 17, a WWII hero, and he became a Hall of Famer 48 years ago!

 

Farewell Bob, you were quite a guy.

[PKBadger]

I just read something amazing in his obituary - Feller holds the record for walks in a season, with 208! Can you imagine if a Brewers pitcher did that today? We'd all be brandishing pitchforks outside Miller Park!

 

One of the greatest baseball players and citizens. He'll be missed.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

RIP Bob. I met him at a card show when I lived in Milwaukee. There was a huge line for Billy Jo Robidoux and no one for Feller. I got him to sign some things and then engaged him in a very nice conversation. As pointed out, he was a great guy but full of bluster. It was well intentioned and very entertaining.

 

I remember him saying he threw way faster than Nolan Ryan. He felt the only pitcher who ever threw harder was Walter Johnson. It was interesting to hear his take on the young guys too. Always glad I got to spend a little time with a great one like Bob Feller.

 

RIP Bob

 

And thank you for your service to our country.

[Herm]

When people are talking all time greats and looking at career numbers, it's guys like Feller that get shorted in people's minds. Feller gave up three full seasons in the prime of his career and most of a fourth season serving in the military in WWII -- and when you look at his stats he had dominating 20+ win/low ERA/high K seasons on both ends of that. In his case his career total I think is 266 wins --- but looking at his numbers those missing seasons could easily have added 80+ wins and 900+ strikeouts, which would put him in the 350 win/3500 strikeout range if I remember the #s correctly from the paper this morning.

Gotta stand up for my fellow Iowa farmboy...

Edit -- Ironic that in a post about guys like Feller getting shorted, I did the same -- looked up the numbers and in the 3 yrs before service he averaged 25.3 wins and 256 strikeouts, in the three full seasons after service he averaged 22 wins and 236 strikeouts -- and how about a 348 strikeout season in his first year back... Wow.

[RockCoCougars]

In my view, he was one of the top 5 pitchers ever. As stated above, his career stats don't belie that- mostly because of his service to our country. Another great baseball ambassador lost.

[chuckiehacks]

One of the first autographs I ever got in person. I had to be about 12 and had no real idea just how great of a pitcher he was. As others have said, he took time to talk to me about my own baseball career and seemed genuinely interested.

 

As the media hype gets out of control over the Bryce Harpers of the world, it seems even more amazing that Feller was pitching in the big leagues at age 17. Talk about something we'll never see again!

[dlk9s]

I knew the day had to come, but it really seemed like Bob Feller would live forever. He was that legend that I could always count on seeing on TV at least once a year.

 

I remember when my brother and I were kids, we bought a book of baseball players' addresses. Feller was known to be great at writing back, so my brother sent him an index card to sign. Sure enough, Mr. Feller signed it and lived up to his reputation. I believe I remember seeing a piece on TV way back when about how he and his wife went through his fan mail every day.

[splitterpfj]

Two things on Feller...

 

1. Probably Pete Rose's harshest critic among Hall of Famers - Bob seemed to be genuinely disgusted by Pete's actions.

 

2. Remember when they used to play "Old Timers Games?" One time, Mike Hegan hit a one-hop single through Feller's legs, which Feller never saw, he was standing there waiting for the catcher to throw the ball back to him. That incident led to the end of those games.

[UeckerAddict]

Every opening day I hear somebody talk about Feller throwing the only opening day no hitter. I'm guessing that this year I'll hear everyone say it. R.I.P.

[crewcrazy]

Love watching the old-time videos of everybody trying to measure the velocity of his fastball in the days before radar guns. There's this one, where they measure velocity using a machine they used to test artillery shell speed during the war. It measure his fastball at 98.6 MPH at the plate -- these days they measure velocity further from the plate, so he would've been clocked at well over 100 MPH with a modern gun:

 

 

There's also the famous video where they tested his velocity by "racing" his fastball against a motorcycle through a pair of targets. The fastball won. Unfortunately, I can't find the video.

[Viva La Grinch]

Just got done watching the Bob Costas interview with Feller on the Baseball Network. The interesting stat I discovered was at the age of 17 he struck out the first eight batters he faced in his debut.

[MadScientist]

Abbot and Costello's tribute to Bob Feller