The Main Event
- September 13, 1936 – A 17-year-old Bob Feller struck out 17 Philadelphia Athletics in a 5-2 Cleveland win, tying Dizzy Dean‘s major-league record and setting a new American League mark.
On September 13, 1936, a 17-year-old right-hander for the Cleveland Indians walked to the mound at League Park and struck out 17 members of the Philadelphia Athletics, setting a new American League record and tying Dizzy Dean’s major league mark. The pitcher, Bob Feller, was barely out of high school. What made the night remarkable was not just the number on the scoreboard but that it was already the latest entry in a run of achievements that had begun less than two months earlier, when Feller threw his first professional pitch.
A Farm Boy From Van Meter, Iowa
Robert William Andrew Feller was born on November 3, 1918, in the tiny town of Van Meter, Iowa, the son of a farmer, William Feller, and a schoolteacher and nurse, Lena Forrett Feller. His father groomed him for the mound almost from birth, rolling a ball to him before he could walk and playing catch with him daily from age four. By nine, Bob could throw a ball more than 270 feet. His father strung arc lights in the barn so the two could throw on winter evenings, and in 1931 built a full ballpark on the family farm, called Oak View Park, where local teams played in front of paying crowds of up to 1,000. Feller struck out 35 batters in his first 18 innings on the mound at 15 and reportedly threw five no-hitters for Van Meter High School the following year.
Cleveland Indians scout Cy Slapnicka, himself an Iowan, got a tip from a Des Moines umpire about the hard-throwing teenager and drove out to see him pitch. He liked what he saw, and on July 21, 1935, he signed the 16-year-old Feller to a contract for a bonus of one dollar and an autographed Indians baseball. Because Feller was a minor, his father had to cosign. The deal happened quietly and before most other clubs had a real look at him. That changed a few weeks later, when Feller’s semipro team traveled to Dayton, Ohio, for a national amateur tournament. Pitching before at least eight scouts, he lost 1-0 but struck out 18 batters while allowing just two hits, and offers with sizable bonuses poured in from other organizations. By then it did not matter. Feller was already Cleveland property, having quietly signed for next to nothing while the rest of the league was still trying to find him.
The lopsided nature of that signing did not go unnoticed. E. Lee Keyser, owner of the Des Moines Demons, the minor league club with the strongest geographic claim to Feller, filed a complaint with Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis alleging irregularities in how Cleveland had acquired him, and Landis opened an investigation that carried the threat of declaring Feller a free agent. Both Feller and his father told Landis they wanted to stay with the Indians, and in December 1936 the commissioner let the arrangement stand. Cleveland had, in effect, signed a future Hall of Famer for a dollar and a baseball, at a time when his open market value was later estimated at close to $100,000.
From Cardinals Exhibition to Big League Debut
Feller’s professional debut came on July 6, 1936, in an exhibition against the St. Louis Cardinals. He struck out Leo Durocher twice after the veteran shortstop tried to rattle him, prompting Durocher to tell the umpire he felt like “a clay pigeon in a shooting gallery.” Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean posed for a photo with the teenager afterward. Feller made his first official major league appearance on July 19 against Washington, then got his first career start on August 23 against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15, one shy of Rube Waddell‘s American League record. He never pitched a single inning in the minor leagues.
Three weeks later came the game against the Athletics. Feller won 5-2 on just two hits, though he also walked nine batters and allowed seven stolen bases. His fastball was untouchable that afternoon, and his 17 strikeouts broke Waddell’s American League record and matched Dean’s major league mark. He finished his rookie season with a 5-3 record and a team-best 3.34 earned run average in only 62 innings, all before he had graduated high school.
Feller kept setting standards well before he was old enough to vote. In 1938, at 19, he struck out 18 Detroit Tigers to set a new major league strikeout record on the same day Hank Greenberg was chasing Babe Ruth‘s home run mark, stealing the headline from Greenberg’s pursuit. In 1939 he led the league with 24 wins and became the youngest pitcher ever to win 20 games in a season. On Opening Day in 1940 he threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox, still the only Opening Day no-hitter in major league history.
War Service Interrupted His Prime
Two days after Pearl Harbor, Feller enlisted in the Navy, giving up nearly four full seasons at the peak of his career. He served as a gunner aboard the battleship USS Alabama in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, saw combat in some of the war’s major naval campaigns, and earned eight battle stars before his discharge in August 1945.
Rapid Robert as a Person and Teammate
Nicknamed “Rapid Robert,” Feller was known as a relentlessly hard worker with a farm boy’s practicality and a showman’s instinct for the business side of the game. He barnstormed nearly every offseason, often pitching against Satchel Paige and Negro League all-star teams in front of huge crowds, and he negotiated his own contracts aggressively, at one point signing for a salary reported to exceed Babe Ruth’s. After retiring, he became the first president of the Major League Baseball Players Association, helped establish its pension plan, and spent decades promoting youth baseball through Little League clinics across the country.
A Hall of Fame Legacy
Feller finished his 18-year career with 266 wins, three no-hitters, and 12 one-hitters, despite the years lost to war. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 in his first year of eligibility. Cleveland honored him with a statue outside Jacobs Field, and a museum bears his name back home in Van Meter, Iowa, the small town where a father’s daily game of catch turned into one of the most electric young arms the game has ever seen.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for September 13
- September 13, 1925 – Dazzy Vance of the Dodgers threw a no-hitter as Brooklyn won the first game of a doubleheader 10-1; the Phils’ lone run was unearned, scoring on a two-base outfield error, a passed ball, and a sac fly.
- September 13, 1948 – The Phillies claimed catcher Hal Wagner on waivers from Detroit.
- September 13, 1958 – Signed minor-league free agent Lee Elia.
- September 13, 1974 – The Phils took 17 innings and nearly 5 hours to lose to St. Louis 7-3, using 27 players (a National League record); the two teams’ combined 51 players set a new major-league record.
- September 13, 1980 – Traded a player to be named later (Kevin Saucier) to Texas for Sparky Lyle.
- September 13, 1985 – Traded Rich Surhoff to Texas for Dave Stewart.
- September 13, 1990 – Traded Dennis Cook to Los Angeles for Darrin Fletcher.
- September 13, 2017 – Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton threw out three Phillies on the bases — at 2nd, 3rd, and home, the last erasing a potential game-winning run via replay challenge — before Nick Williams‘ RBI double in the 15th sealed a Phillies win.
Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for September 13
- Sam Crane (born 1894) – Harrisburg-born shortstop who broke into the majors with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1914, playing parts of three seasons (1914-16) in Philadelphia before finishing his career with Washington, Cincinnati, and Brooklyn.
- Dink O’Brien (born 1894) – Outfielder who appeared in 15 games for the Phillies in 1923, batting .333 in his only major-league season.
- Art Stokes (born 1896) – Right-handed pitcher whose entire big-league career consisted of 12 relief appearances for the 1925 Philadelphia Athletics.
- Eddie Rommel (born 1897) – Knuckleballing right-hander who spent his whole 13-year career (1920-1932) with the Philadelphia Athletics, winning 171 games; he later became a longtime American League umpire.
- Rabbit Warstler (born 1903) – Light-hitting shortstop who manned the position for the Athletics from 1934-1936 after starting his career in Boston, later playing for the Braves and Cubs.
- Rick Wise (born 1945) – Right-hander who pitched for the Phillies from 1964-1971, best known for throwing a no-hitter while also hitting two home runs in the same game (1971); he was later traded to St. Louis in the deal that brought Steve Carlton to Philadelphia.
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