Posted on 09/02/2010 1:52:44 PM PDT by EveningStar
Over the weekend, it was revealed that Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller has been undergoing treatment for leukemia. At 91, Feller is the third oldest living member of the Hall of Fame (behind Bobby Doerr and Lee McPhail, who are both 92)...
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ping
Feller’s a great guy, got a signed baseball by him 30 years ago. Straight up Midwestern plain.
This former Clevelander watched Feller, Lemon and the rest of those old Indians down at the long gone Municipal Stadium now decorating the bottom of Lake Erie.
91 is a ripe old age, especially for someone who had the career Bob Feller had.
Gettin’ older is not for sissies.
Bob Feller was also known as “Rapid Robert” for his overwhelming fast ball.
He was "Bullet Bob"!
ML/NJ
He’s also the only Navy Chief Petty Officer in any sports Hall of Fame. Unlike other sports heroes of the era, Feller didn’t wait to enlist or be drafted; he volunteered for the Navy on December 8, 1941, and asked for a combat assignment. He was a gun captain on the USS Alabama, missing four major league seasons.
Despite that gap in his baseball career, Rapid Robert still won 266 games. Many historians of the game believe Feller would have won 350 games had his career not been interrupted.
A hero in every sense of the word.
We live about 20 miles or so from his hometown. I saw him at a grocery store and he was gruff old s.o.b. to the clerk. But he was probably having a bad day. Everyone here in central Iowa is praying for his recovery.
As are everyone in Cleveland as well.
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