Bob Feller forgot to take his meds tonight

[Johnny Footstool]

Lou: We're playing the Indians today.

Bud: Indians, eh? Feller pitching?

Lou: Of course there's a fella pitching. What do you think they'd use, a girl?

[Always Red]

We need to get those "Myth-Busters" guys from the Discovery Channel on this case!

[mth123]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Lou: We're playing the Indians today.

Bud: Indians, eh? Feller pitching?

Lou: Of course there's a fella pitching. What do you think they'd use, a girl?

A classic.

[Spitball]

Originally Posted by RFS62

But what a cranky old nut job he's become in his old age.

Yes he has become a cranky old nut job. I met him back in the late '80's, and he was very unpleasant to everyone that day.

[RedsBaron]

If major league baseball had constructed a "Mount Rushmore" of its four greatest stars in the 1940s, the faces chisled into stone would have been those of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Bob Feller. They were easily the game's best known and highest regarded players.
Sixty some years later, DiMaggio and Williams remain icons. The Yankee Clipper was celebrated in song by Simon & Garfunkel. He was named as baseball's "greatest living player" in professional baseball's centennial in 1969. His 56 game hitting streak is often cited as one of baseball's most glamorous and least likely to be broken records. DiMaggio married another American icon in Marilyn Monroe. He remains a subject of new biographies.
Ted Williams remains major league baseball's last .400 hitter, another glamorous and celebrated mark. Often still called the greatest hitter who ever lived, he unquestionably was hitting's most vocal and knowledgable apostle. Robert Redford wore number 9 in "The Natural" in homage to Teddy Ballgame. Williams's introduction before the 1998 All-Star game at Fenway Park remains a signature moment. With his military service in two wars and his unflinching personality, Williams has been called the person whom John Wayne wanted to be when he grew up. He too remains a popular literary subject.
Both DiMaggio and Williams were voted onto baseball's All Century Team in 1999.
The luster of the other two superstars of the 1940s has faded. Musial, a largely colorless player even in his prime, is almost forgotten today. He was omitted in fan voting from the All Century Team. When added to the team by the Commissioner, there were protests that someone else (Clemente) was more deserving. The protesters were wrong, and ignorant, but Stan the Man is rarely given his due today.
Then there is Feller. In the 1940s Rapid Robert was setting records for strikeouts and no-hitters. He was the dominant pitcher in the game, and so celebrated that he could be mentioned in the Abbott & Costello skit mentioned earlier and even casual fans knew of him and got the joke. Now, he is somewhat forgotten. Nolan Ryan has broken his records. Ryan was never as good a pitcher as Feller, yet it was Ryan, not Feller, on the All Century Team, and the Commissioner did not add Feller to the team, nor was there an outcry over that omssion.
Old ballplayers have been cranky and have complained that players were better in their day for more than a century. Feller was outspoken when young, so it is not surprsing that he is outspoken and a crank in his old age. I wonder if he is not also unusually bitter about his loss of stature, a forgotten legend whose greatest glories occurred before color TV and ESPN.

[Spitball]

Originally Posted by RedsBaron

Then there is Feller. In the 1940s Rapid Robert was setting records for strikeouts and no-hitters. He was the dominant pitcher in the game, and so celebrated that he could be mentioned in the Abbott & Costello skit mentioned earlier and even casual fans knew of him and got the joke. Now, he is somewhat forgotten. Nolan Ryan has broken his records. Ryan was never as good a pitcher as Feller, yet it was Ryan, not Feller, on the All Century Team, and the Commissioner did not add Feller to the team, nor was there an outcry over that omssion.
Old ballplayers have been cranky and have complained that players were better in their day for more than a century. Feller was outspoken when young, so it is not surprsing that he is outspoken and a crank in his old age. I wonder if he is not also unusually bitter about his loss of stature, a forgotten legend whose greatest glories occurred before color TV and ESPN.

Your total post was really great, RB. You have pointed out some very valid points. As for Fellar, it should also be pointed out that there are not any batters any where near the top of the all-time strikeout list from his era. He was striking out batters when batters tried very hard to avoid strikeouts.

However, he is still a grouch...

[cumberlandreds]

Great post,RedsBaron! It's a shame Feller has become such a crank and that bitterness has taken over. He could be a wonderful link to the past but has chosen to be a bitter old man who thinks the players of today couldn't carry his jockstrap.

[GAC]

Wasn't it Feller who vehemently came out piblically against Rose ever being in the HOF?

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by RedsBaron

Then there is Feller. In the 1940s Rapid Robert was setting records for strikeouts and no-hitters. He was the dominant pitcher in the game, and so celebrated that he could be mentioned in the Abbott & Costello skit mentioned earlier and even casual fans knew of him and got the joke. Now, he is somewhat forgotten. Nolan Ryan has broken his records. Ryan was never as good a pitcher as Feller, yet it was Ryan, not Feller, on the All Century Team, and the Commissioner did not add Feller to the team, nor was there an outcry over that omssion.

Old ballplayers have been cranky and have complained that players were better in their day for more than a century. Feller was outspoken when young, so it is not surprsing that he is outspoken and a crank in his old age. I wonder if he is not also unusually bitter about his loss of stature, a forgotten legend whose greatest glories occurred before color TV and ESPN.

Good stuff, RB.

To me, for one reason or another, Feller does come off as someone who feels like he's been slighted about a loss of stature. What's sort of interesting about Feller and a loss of stature is if WWII never happened, I'd bet Feller would be remembered as an all-time great much more than actually is now. He lost nearly four peak seasons to WWII, and he was winning around 25 games per season during those years in the early to mid 1940s when he was pitching. If Feller actually had his peak years (and I'm assuming he'd have stayed healthy), it's not out of the question that he could have 350 wins instead of his actual total of 266 wins. And if he had around 350 wins, people would be holding him in exceptionally high regard.

But instead, Feller served in WWII, saw more combat than probably any other notable big league player, and lost all that playing time through the peak of his career, and hence, a lower stature among all-time greats in many casual fans' eyes most likely.

[RedsBaron]

Originally Posted by Cyclone792

What's sort of interesting about Feller and a loss of stature is if WWII never happened, I'd bet Feller would be remembered as an all-time great much more than actually is now. He lost nearly four peak seasons to WWII, and he was winning around 25 games per season during those years in the early to mid 1940s when he was pitching. If Feller actually had his peak years (and I'm assuming he'd have stayed healthy), it's not out of the question that he could have 350 wins instead of his actual total of 266 wins. And if he had around 350 wins, people would be holding him in exceptionally high regard.

But instead, Feller served in WWII, saw more combat than probably any other notable big league player, and lost all that playing time through the peak of his career, and hence, a lower stature among all-time greats in many casual fans' eyes most likely.

Feller, like Hank Greenberg, did not wait to be drafted after America's entry into World War II. He enlisted. He's cranky and unlikeable, but his military service deserves respect.
We obviously can never know if Feller would have remained healthy and would have kept racking up 25 win seasons had he been able to play all of the 1942 through 1945 seasons, but Cyclone is absolutely correct: absent his military service, Feller may have topped 350 wins and possibly could still be the all time wins leading since the advent of the "lively ball" era in 1920.