Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Bob Feller. Spending his 18-year career with the Cleveland Indians, it’s fair to say that Feller established himself as one of the most dominant starting pitchers the game has ever seen. When we talk about the all-time greats, you have guys who were either a) Genrationally great or b) one of the best faces of franchise type of player. In the case of Bob Feller, he was both. Before I dive in further, I will remind readers that Bob Feller never won a Cy Young Award due to it not being introduced until 1956, in what would be his final season.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1936-41;45-56):

266-162 W-L 3.25 ERA 3,827 IP 2,581 K 1.316 WHIP 

  • 8x All-Star
  • 1940 Pitching Triple Crown 
  • 1948 World Series Champion

At the very young age of 17, Feller was called up to pitch for the Cleveland Indians in 1936. Along with a devastating fastball and a later developed sinker, curveball, slider, and the occasional knuckleball, Feller became the best pitcher of his generation. Feller would lead the league in Strikeouts seven times, striking out a high of 348 batters in 1946. Six times, Feller was a 20-game winner as well, leading the league in Wins. In 1940, he had arguably his best season, winning the Pitching Triple Crown and leading the league with 27 Wins, a 2.61 ERA, and striking out 261 batters. During his era, Starters pitched more frequently and deeper into games than present-day pitchers. Eleven times, Feller started 30 or more games in a season, five times, making 40 or more starts. Also, Feller logged in 200 or more Innings ten times, three times over 300.

It’s not just all the “Black and Bold Face Type” on the back of his baseball card. Players at the time widely considered him as the best pitcher of his era. Ted Williams said Feller was “the fastest and best pitcher I ever saw during my career.” Stan Musial also said of Feller as “probably the greatest pitcher of our era.” Those two are among the immortal hitters of all time; what they said of Bob Feller speaks volumes. From 1942-44 Fellers, age 23-25 seasons, were interrupted due to WWII. Those three years that Feller missed could’ve arguably been his best years, given the level he was pitching and how young he was. His 1946 season was by far his best year, going 26-15 W-L, 2.18 ERA, 371.1 IP, 348 K, 1.158 WHIP, 10 SHO, 36 CG in 42 Starts and six other appearances. 

So Roger Clemens holds the record for most Cy Young Awards by a pitcher with seven. If MLB gave out the award during his career and Feller didn’t miss time due to WWII, I bet Feller would have seven Cy Youngs to his name. Also, Feller would’ve cruised past the 300 career Wins and 3,000 career Strikeout milestones had he not missed time. At his retirement, his three no-hitters and twelve one-hitters were records, as well as having the third most career strikeouts. Feller is arguably the greatest player in the Indians franchise history, with his #19 being retired by the team. In 1999, he was ranked #36 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Ballplayers in baseball history.

References:

  1. Bob Feller via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Feller#
  2. Bob Feller Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fellebo01.shtml