I can remember quite clearly the day I became a life-long baseball fan at age 12. It was the Summer of 1950. My older brother was listening to the Red Sox - Cleveland game on the radio. I had no interest whatsoever in baseball, but I was sort of listening as I played around the house. The Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs and, although it was not his usual role, the Indians brought in Bob Feller in relief. As uninterested in baseball as I was, even I had heard of Bob Feller and I appreciated the drama of the situation. So I stopped what I was doing and listened closely. Feller then proceeded to strike out the first three batters he faced. That performance so impressed me that I started following baseball very closely and have done so ever since. Over the years I have mentioned this episode to several friends and they have all said that I am imagining the whole thing, that it never happened. I know it is a long shot, but are there any Cleveland fans or Bob Feller fans out there who can verify my story and give me the date on which it happened?
From here
» August 28, 1950: At Fenway the Red Sox come back from 10–0 and 12–1 deficits to beat the Indians 15–14. Bob Feller is the loser, this time in his only relief appearance of the season, coming in for starter Bob Lemon, the AL’s winningest pitcher. Dom DiMaggio’s two triples and a single pace the offense. It is the second day in a row the Tribe has blown a big lead, losing a seven run yesterday.
Since it was his only relief appearance of the season, chances are it didn’t happen the way you recall, at least not that year. It is possible it did happen and he blew up in subsequent innings, but not likely.
Retrosheet’s box scores don’t go back that far, so there’s no way to be entirely sure. However, I think there’s a chance you may be remembering the second half of a July 29, 1949 doubleheader at Fenway, where Feller got the win in relief of the starter Bearden. Without a box score or a newspaper story, though, I can’t verify it.
Ron - Your memory is golden.
Feller indeed came on in that game on August 28, 1950, in the sixth inning and struck out the side. He also got through the seventh. But in the eighth, giving up a single a double and a triple, and allowing the score to become tied, he was removed.
I’m always available to look up newspaper articles from the time period.
Boston just had a hell of a team at that point.
Thank you, thank you. Now I can be more specific when I bore youngsters with my recollections of how it was in the old days.
The 1950 Red Sox scored 1027 runs.