No, it's not music and won't stay up here long, but Bob Feller, aged 92 was one of my boyhood heroes, as were all the Cleveland Indians back then. I could just about name them all, Lemon, Garcia, Bearden, Paige, Gordon, Boudreau, Doby, Hegan, Mitchell . . . but the greatest of these was Bob Feller, Rapid Robert, Bullet Bob. Feller never threw an inning in the minor leagues, he struck out 15 batters in his first game in the American League in 1936 at age 17. In 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy, serving on the USS Alabama and receiving six battle citations for bravery. Despite spending four years in the service, he recorded 266 wins and 2,581 strikeouts, all with the Cleveland Indians. But those are just statistics, there is so much more to the story of Bob Feller, farm boy from Van Meter, Iowa. Google news link There are too many articles out there to just name a few, if you are interested, the above link will give you ample reading. Here's an excerpt from one, the Cleveland Plain Dealer which put his story above the newspaper's title. "Bob Feller, the greatest Indian of them all, is gone. He died Wednesday night and baseball in Cleveland will never be the same. The birth of the new season didn't mean a thing until Feller walked into the spring-training press room, cracking jokes and passing out a new set of his autographed baseball cards to anyone within arm's reach. It didn't matter if it was Tucson, Ariz., Winter Haven, Fla., or Goodyear, Ariz., the sun couldn't shine and Indians players couldn't start pulling their hamstrings until No.19 reported. He was sharp of mind, a red state unto himself and had an opinion on everything. He moved easily among the rich and famous. He danced with Marilyn Monroe, pitched to Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, mingled with admirals and generals. Everyone knew Rapid Robert, the Heater from Van Meter."
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