Indians HOF'er Bob Feller Moved to Hospice

by Rob Castellano on Dec 9, 2010 1:14 PM EST

Sad news as the former Cleveland Indians great Bob Feller was admitted to hospice care today in a Cleveland-area facility. The 92-year old longest tenured living Hall of Famer was transferred from the Cleveland Clinic after a bout with pneumonia. His health has declined precipitously in recent months after he was diagnosed with Leukemia during the summer and was fitted with a pacemaker soon after.

The hard-throwing Feller had an extraordinary 18-season career with the Indians that started when he signed for the cost of $1 and an autographed baseball. After spending 0 days in the minors, his major league career began at the ripe old age of seventeen, when he posted a 3.34 ERA in fourteen games! Feller also threw three no-hitters (including the only one on Opening Day), twelve one-hitters, and set the then modern record for strikeouts in a game with 18 (he also K'd 17 as a 17-year old). He also reportedly threw the second-fastest pitch ever recorded in a game, clocked at 107.6mph. Feller's top season was in 1946 when he posted a 26-15 mark with a 2.18 ERA, 348 strikeouts, 10 shutouts and 36 complete games. Feller notched a career line of 266-162, was an eight-time All-Star and was admitted into the Hall of Fame (first ballot) in that magical year of 1962. Feller was also the first active Major League player to voluntarily enlist in the Navy after the Pearl Harbor Bombings and subsequently missed four seasons during his service as a Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama in WW2.

Now I know he wasn't a Met but Feller was probably one of the 25 greatest pitchers who ever lived and more importantly he's a genuinely good guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him once during a Mets-Indians ST game at the Indians (former) Winter Haven complex in '07 and he couldn't have been any nicer. Instead of the typical "Hi, thanks for coming. [sign autograph] Well, see ya later!" that you usually get from big leaguers, Feller sat and spoke intimately with each fan, some for up to 25-30 minutes apiece! It certainly didn't make the line move any longer but it showed the kind of incredibly genuine and all-around nice guy Feller is.

Fellow SB Nation author John Sickels (MinorLeagueBall.com) and author of Feller biography 'Bob Feller: Ace of the Greatest Generation' said about Feller:

"At his peak, there were certainly few pitchers who could match his ability to dominate a game. When young, he was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of all time...[Off the field] He was a very complex person...He could be very pleasant, gracious, and quite kind...His personality dominated a room, and he was usually brutally honest about what he thought and felt."

My thoughts go out to Bob, his family and all Indians fans.

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Hospices are basically where you go when the doctors say there's nothing more that they can do at the hospital, right?

That’s not good.

Feller seems a real extraordinary guy. Asides for having lived (and been a part of) through so much baseball history, what really struck me is how lucid and everything he still is, being in his 90s, having seen him interviewed on MLB Network, and how much he seemed to actually care about regular, ordinary fans, making autograph signings and things like that all-day events. And, of course, he was a World War II veteran, and who knows what kinds of courageous things he did on the battlefield.

Things aren’t looking good for his health, and it’ll be sad when he leaves us.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Dec 9, 2010 1:19 PM EST reply actions

Yes, BDMF, Hospice is the last stop on the line, so to speak

and, from personal experience when my father died in ‘97, the people who work in hospices are absolute angels. They were there to support my family as much as, if not more than, to keep my father comfortable in his last days. I can’t sing their praises enough.

As I posted on the Applesauce thread, I met Bob Feller in Cooperstown at a HOF induction day in the early 90’s. He took the time to pose for a couple of pictures, then talked baseball with my friend and me for about 10 minutes. He was genuinely excited to talk baseball with us, and actually apologized that he couldn’t talk longer, as he had to get to the stage for the ceremonies. As we watched him walk away, I felt as if I had made friends with a legend.

Godspeed, Robert.

by CTRefJay on Dec 9, 2010 1:33 PM EST reply actions

This is sad news

The first minor league game I ever went to was in Binghamton in the late 90’s and Feller was signing autographs. Two weeks later I was visiting my brother on the west coast and we went to see a minor league game with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes hosting some team, and wouldn’t you know it, Bob Feller was there signing autographs (both times for a price).

by jacksonvillesuns on Dec 9, 2010 1:55 PM EST reply actions

Here's hoping for whatever's best for him

by pkyankeefan on Dec 9, 2010 2:09 PM EST via mobile reply actions

funny he has always had the reputation of being a bitter old coot

but the guy had more stuff than anybody. I still have one of his autographed baseballs and I treasure it.

by murdertron3000 on Dec 9, 2010 2:48 PM EST reply actions

He hated steroids

He was one of the loudest voices against steroids and “cheaters”. He also gave Pete Rose the business. I always respected his opinion, strong as they were.

by DannyMetsGeek on Dec 9, 2010 6:06 PM EST up reply actions

Bidding a fond goodbye to a class act

by Sir Tmac on Dec 9, 2010 3:35 PM EST reply actions

Also worth noting

He was one of the first Americans to volunteer for military service the day after Pearl Harbor, joining the Navy for combat service, a gun captain on the USS Alabama. He earned 5 campaign ribbons and 8 battle stars over four years.

by Boz_Paladin on Dec 9, 2010 4:16 PM EST reply actions

FWIW

There’s a lot of real interesting history involving Feller and Satchel Paige. Feller called Paige the greatest pitcher alive and Paige called Feller the hardest thrower. In 1946, before baseball was integrated, Feller put together a team of Major League All-Stars and recruited Paige to put together a team of Negro League players and they toured all over the country squaring off.

by TedBerg on Dec 9, 2010 5:05 PM EST reply actions

In 2007 when I went to ST

I saw him playing catch with his grandson at the Indians facility during the pregame. Once the game started, he went into the crowd, and spent almost the entire game walking around signing autographs and signing stuff for people. I thought about it, but decided that since I was dressed head to toe in Mets gear it wouldn’t be appropriate.

Here are 2 shots I took then.

Bob

Grandson

by fxcarden on Dec 9, 2010 5:22 PM EST reply actions

sad

I spent a day with Bob Feller once. My father put on a small, local baseball card show when I was in elementary school. This was in the late ‘80s or very ’90s, when my father and I would write to every ballplayer whose mailing address would be published in an annual guide for autograph collectors. My father wrote Bob to ask if he would want to sign autographs at the show, and he agreed. I remember driving to pick him up at the airport, excitedly holding up the little “B. Feller” card as we waited for him, like the world’s youngest limousine driver. I remember him being angry about his flight, and my first impression was that because he was yelling, he wasn’t a nice man. A few minutes later when we walked out to my father’s car, there was a parking ticket tucked behind his windshield wiper. Bob grabbed it before my father could and promised he would pay it.

I spent the day seated next to Bob, watching him sign autographs for hundreds of people, taking pictures, and listening as he told a seemingly endless number of stories about his playing days and the years after his retirement. One very vivid memory I have is that he talked about how he wanted to start his own trading card company, but instead of having ballplayers on cards he wanted to feature heavy equipment and agricultural machinery…like tractors. I thought that was very, very odd.

There’s a polaroid of us together, which he signed and personalized for me. It’s back at my father’s house somewhere. I should ask him to scan it for me.

In any event…that’s my Bob Feller story.

The more you know

by goth brooks on Dec 9, 2010 8:13 PM EST reply actions

Nice

That’s a great story

by Rob Castellano on Dec 9, 2010 10:42 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I'll always be greatful for the internship I had in summer '08

It was on 6th Avenue, and thus I got to watch the all-star parade from the 3rd floor windows (no work was accomplished that day). Bob Feller rode in the hall of fame portion of the parade and was standing up in his car in the heat. I was amazed at how healthy and strong he seemed at age 90.

Godspeed, Bob.

"It’s just everytime we think the bar can’t get lower, they lower it. Now next year we’ll just be happy to hear that rogue shirtless officials aren’t implementing useless detrimental drills in spring training for no apparent reason."

-Gina, 3/1/10

by Greenpoint Ian on Dec 10, 2010 12:10 PM EST reply actions