December Pick Ups

[Scott Garner]

HOF Rapid Robert Feller had an amazing 18 year career that was interrupted for 3 years because of WWII.
Whether it was cracking the Indians pitching rotation as a high school teenager, 3 no-hitters, 12 1-hitters, multiple years leading the AL in wins, strikeouts, etc., there seemingly wasn't anything that Bob Feller couldn't do on a baseball diamond.

IMHO, 1946 was Feller's most dominant year in baseball. 26 wins (led league), 348 K's (led the ML and in 1946 was the most K's since HOF Rube Waddell's 349 K's in 1904, a no-hitter vs. the dominant Joe D. led Yankees and a stellar 3.07 ERA. I always have found that Feller having his most dominant season following a 3-year ML layoff due to serving in the Navy during WWII was especially impressive.

Ironically, 1946 would be the only year that Feller would ever crack the 300 strikeout mark in his great career. On September 8th, in the 2nd game of a double header, Feller got his 300th K. The milestone strikeout victim was none other than baseball and later soap opera star Johnny Berardino of the St. Louis Browns.

Several years ago I finally managed to find a ticket to Feller's 300th K game.
A few years before Mr. Feller passed away I had him sign the back of this ticket and add the inscription "300th K, 1946".

I recently found a neatly scored program/scorebook to Feller's 300th K game, which also was his 23rd victory in his 1946 campaign. This scorebook is especially cool because no play-by-play detail exists to this game (as per retrosheet.org).

Anyway, here you go: