Show of sports sport records pro prove feller Is A L Hurling Champ by ROBERT Helen Tic leased aed by western newspaper union THOUGH HOUGH american league records cords do not give young bob feller top ranking among pitchers in that circuit choso same records prove the cleveland fire baller la Is the best hurler in baseball today V ever ver important statistics show that feller won the iho most games in the league 24 that ho he had the most strikeouts eouts that ho he pitched the mos most t innings and that ho he made tho the first 10 in ill tho the classification of earned runs and winning percentage with an earned run average of and a won and lost average of granted that ho he naso throw threw tho the most wild pitches and walked the most batters manager oscar vitt of the iho indians a bit perturbed when a pitchers strikeout strike out wal otal exceeds his total of bases on balls by the wide margin of to it Is easy to see that ho he has mastered tho the art of hurling while comparisons may bo be odious it Is interesting to noto that alter after four years of professional baseball dob bob to is lending leading walter g ao t 4 BOB FELLER johnson in strikeouts eouts johnson who disappointed moro more batsmen batsman than any other pitcher who ever lived tanned fanned batters in his 21 year career an average of a year ar feller has totaled strike outs cuts a phenomenal average of new handicaps ir in his first four seasons in the american league johnson fanned hitters though he appeared in many more games than tho the cleveland lad remember too that in johnsons day the pitcher was favored by all the breaks feller Is working wider under opposite conditions and under many more inore handicaps th than in the pitcher of 30 years ago the big train never struck out more than 14 men in nine inning game feller has beaten that one game strikeout strike out record three times ile he started by striking out 15 men came back a short time later and fanned 17 then established a new modern record by fanning 18 men on the closing day of the 1938 season feller breaking his arm by attempting to set a now new record and chances are a hundred to one that lie he will never reach johnsons mark pitching lias has been made more diM difficult cult and not even feller is good for 21 years of action in the big leagues another difference between johnson and feller Is tho the fact that johnson relied almost entirely on his burning speed ile he never developed it good curve bob throws one of I 1 the best curves in baseball and by b y us using ing it along with a change of puce he can win ball games without setting ting new strikeout strike out records an and can ease the he punishment to his arm great records christy mathewson has the second best lifetime strikeout strike out record ile he fanned 2339 2399 hitters in 17 years there have been other pitchers who have established remarkable records for themselves in 1904 rube waddell fanned men but ho he last almost 5 years ago one DIat matthew thew kilroy of the baltimore club struck out a total of men however the distance from the pitchers box to the plate in those days was 50 feet its 60 now and that extra difference makes a whale of a diffor encel since lie he broke into big league baseball only one american league club has had the edge on bob in victories naturally this is new york which has won seven out of thirteen from the iowa boy roller feller has been exceptionally wild against the yankees passing 89 99 of them while striking out lie he allowed the champions 80 runs rum 15 of them being in one game in 1938 in that contest he allowed 15 hits and walked nine obviously that was an all off day for him his worst since entering the league only once have 10 runs or more been scored against feller that was on august 20 26 1938 the same game in which the yankees gathered 15 hits and nine passes the yankees scored eight runs in a game came against bob last season |