Bob Feller Career

[G1911]

I have him around 25. He's got the flashy highlights, but I think no-hitters are not a good metric for a career, and K's are balanced by walks, of which he gave up an absolute ton. 122 ERA+ over 3,800 innings is very good, and closer to his real value.

[Tomi]

My only 2 Feller cards but thrilled to have them with this eye appeal.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

I have him around 25. He's got the flashy highlights, but I think no-hitters are not a good metric for a career, and K's are balanced by walks, of which he gave up an absolute ton. 122 ERA+ over 3,800 innings is very good, and closer to his real value.

Interesting cross between a lot of resemblance to Nolan Ryan, and a career trajectory sort of like Pujols.

[Jason19th]

I always thought he was a bit overrated with a lot of walks and high era and whip. When you look at his leaderboard stats however you see his was really good. I never realized how high eras in the AL were in the early 50’s - he was top 5 with eras around 3.5

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Jason19th

I always thought he was a bit overrated with a lot of walks and high era and whip. When you look at his leaderboard stats however you see his was really good. I never realized how high eras in the AL were in the early 50’s - he was top 5 with eras around 3.5

That's because back then batters weren't concerned with exit velocities and launch angles, and striking out much more often while trying to hit home runs all the time. They wanted to get the ball in play and get on base. Also, back then pitchers tried to complete every game they started. Nowadays managers start getting antsy thinking about opposing hitters seeing their starting pitcher for the third time in a game, and call in the bullpen. Different time and different game.

Quite frankly, I'm not so sure many of today's star pitchers would have fared well at all back in those days. If their arms didn't fall off first, how much would they have to scale back in the early innings of games to hopefully have enough left to complete them? Meanwhile, think of telling a Walter Johnson or Bob Feller to not worry about pacing themselves, we only need about 5-6 innings out of you, and then you can rest for 5 days before having to pitch again.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by BobC

Think of telling a Walter Johnson or Bob Feller to not worry about pacing themselves, we only need about 5-6 innings out of you, and then you can rest for 5 days before having to pitch again.

The mind boggles. And in Walter's case during his incredible prime years, you'll never have to come in for relief in between starts, we have ten guys in the bullpen for that. He might never have lost a game!

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Interesting cross between a lot of resemblance to Nolan Ryan, and a career trajectory sort of like Pujols.

Similar type pitchers. Ryan's ERA is terrible for somebody in talks about the greats, but 5,300 innings is a lot to be 12% over the league over. A pitchers primary job is to not give up runs, not to get flashy K's. If you get a good highlight reel and walk runs in, it doesn't help your team anymore.

Feller was really only bad in 2 seasons, 1952 (after which he regained form and was an aid to his club) and his final season like most players. Pujols was a detriment to his team for like 7 years. Feller is great until he's 29, then he's good until he's done at 37. Pretty normal trajectory, but he gets a higher rating because he started and was good at such an unusually young age.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

Similar type pitchers. Ryan's ERA is terrible for somebody in talks about the greats, but 5,300 innings is a lot to be 12% over the league over. A pitchers primary job is to not give up runs, not to get flashy K's. If you get a good highlight reel and walk runs in, it doesn't help your team anymore.

Feller was really only bad in 2 seasons, 1952 (after which he regained form and was an aid to his club) and his final season like most players. Pujols was a detriment to his team for like 7 years. Feller is great until he's 29, then he's good until he's done at 37. Pretty normal trajectory, but he gets a higher rating because he started and was good at such an unusually young age.

I would have though most pitchers in the top 20-30 or so of all time were great quite a few years longer than age 29? Seems early to go from great to good/OK.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I would have though most pitchers in the top 20-30 or so of all time were great quite a few years longer than age 29? Seems early to go from great to good/OK.

28-32 is when males typically start to leave physical peak. Tons of pitchers fall in this age range, it's pretty normal. It's abnormal for the exceptional, for the top 20, because they are exceptional. Feller makes it into that category because he was great starting at a far younger age than normal, and so ends up similarly.

[G1911]

My favorite Feller is also the '53:

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I would have though most pitchers in the top 20-30 or so of all time were great quite a few years longer than age 29? Seems early to go from great to good/OK.

How many of those great pitchers started pitching full-time in the majors at the age of 17? Hmmmm, 17 to 29 is 13 seasons. I bet a lot of pitchers would be thrilled to be that good for that long. Look at Koufax, he was only great for less than half that time, yet many people consider him up there with the best of all time.

Bob Feller is tied for 46th all-time in career WAR for pitchers with Amos Rusie. Give him the years he missed, and he starts getting close to the top 10.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by BobC

How many of those great pitchers started pitching full-time in the majors at the age of 17? Hmmmm, 17 to 29 is 13 seasons. I bet a lot of pitchers would be thrilled to be that good for that long. Look at Koufax, he was only great for less than half that time, yet many people consider him up there with the best of all time.

Bob Feller is tied for 46th all-time in career WAR for pitchers with Amos Rusie. Give him the years he missed, and he starts getting close to the top 10.

He is 34th in WAR7 so a significant step up from WAR ranking. I thought it would be even better given his incredible start, but maybe he isn't getting credit for his best 7 season stretch because the war intervened after only 6. Certainly an interesting career from several viewpoints.