The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Feller’s opening day no-no one of a kind
“I knew I had a chance for a no-hitter. But I tried to put it out of my mind by reminding myself you never have a no-hitter until the last man is out.” Bob Feller in 1940
The pomp and circumstance that goes with opening day for Major League Baseball has been occurring every year since 1900, and only once in all that time did a pitcher welcome the new season by throwing a no-hitter.
The feat was accomplished by the greatest pitcher in Cleveland baseball history and arguably the greatest player in the history of the franchise — Bob Feller.
Feller threw three no-hitters in his Hall of Fame career. The other two were also memorable, but neither matched the drama of what Feller accomplished on April 16, 1940.
Only 14,000 fans turned out for opening day at Comiskey Park in Chicago that chilly afternoon. The chance to watch Feller, already a two-time All-Star at age 21, might have been enough to lure true baseball fans to watch the Indians and White Sox play despite the cold weather, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
Feller was 17 years old when he made his debut with the Indians in 1936. He led the American League in victories in 1939 when he finished 24-9.
“This ought to be his greatest season,” Indians manager Ossie Vitt told reporters covering spring training in 1940, according to a story Craig Muder wrote for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Feller was shaky to start the game. With one out and one on in the bottom of the second, Indians’ center fielder Roy Weatherly dropped a fly ball hit by Taft Wright for an error. Feller struck out the next batter but then walked the next two to load the bases. Feller recalled the predicament in an interview posted at MLB.com.
“The first couple of innings, I was pretty wild,” Feller recalled. “In the second inning, I loaded the bases. Someone in the bullpen was warming up and the manager was getting
ready to walk out to the mound. But I managed to strike out the last hitter (Bob Kennedy) on a full count.”
The Indians scored the only run of the game in the fourth inning when catcher Rollie Hemsley tripled to drive in Jeff Heath. Relying almost exclusively on his fastball, Feller retired 15 straight Chicago batters between the fourth and eighth innings.
“I knew I had a chance for a no-hitter,” Feller said. “But I tried to put it out of my mind by reminding myself you never have a no-hitter until the last man is out.”
Feller already had three
one-hitters to his credit. The 1940 gem was his first no-no.
The White Sox put up a mild threat in the ninth inning when Luke Appling won a battle by drawing a walk on 10 pitches with two outs. Taffy Wright batted next for the White Sox. He hit a grounder between second and first, but Indians second baseman Ray Mack dove to his left to snag the ball and then threw out Wright to end the game.
“I think I’ve thrown faster several times,” Feller said following the game. “Of course, the wind behind me helped make me faster. But I couldn’t seem to throw a curve very well.”
The weather affected Feller’s ability to throw the curve. He walked five and struck out eight. He carried the team when the Indians struggled at the plate. They cobbled together six hits.
“He was never a better pitcher (than in the no-hitter),” Hemsley, Cleveland’s regular catcher in both 1939 and 1940, said in the Hall of Fame story. “He’s got everything.”
This next part from the Society for American Baseball Research is an example of why baseball was America’s pastime before televised football games took over.
The Indians returned to Cleveland by train on April 17 to Terminal Station, where they were greeted by Cleveland mayor Harold Burton, a band in uniform, Indians’ great Tris Speaker and 7,000 fans.
On April 19, the day the Indians were to play their second game (they beat the Tigers, 4-0, before 25,529 fans at Cleveland Stadium), a story ran in a Cleveland area newspaper describing how an 8-year-old boy named Paul Hauschultz had been hospitalized for about a month suffering from spinal meningitis.
Young Paul was a big Indians fan. According to the article, his health improved listening to the radio broadcast of Feller’s no-hitter. Feller surprised Paul by visiting him in the hospital. Feller presented him with a baseball signed by the entire Indians team and another one signed by Feller exclusively. Feller wrote in his 1990 memoir that the youngster was able to go home that day, according to the SABR story.
Vitt proved to be prophetic when he predicted 1940 would be Feller’s greatest season. Feller led the majors in victories (27), innings pitched (320 ), strikeouts (261) and complete games (31).
He led the American League with a 2.61 ERA. The 27 victories were a career high.