Bob Feller

Bob Feller was so much a standout in his prime that it is impossible to compare him with pitchers of later years. Only Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan could match his blazing fastball, and I'm hard-pressed to remember anyone who could match his curveball. —Earl WeaverPerhaps the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball history, Bob Feller was one of the game's greatest strikeout kings. He exploded onto the major league scene in 1936 as a fireballing 17-year-old right-hander. The young legend from Van Meter, Iowa, was signed before he graduated from high school by the Cleveland Indians, the team for which he pitched for the next 20 years. He never played in the minor leagues and was the youngest pitcher ever to start, complete, and win a major league game.Feller led the American League in strikeouts 7 times while pitching 3 no-hitters and 12 one-hitters. Feller racked up 266 wins—the most ever by a Cleveland pitcher—and undoubtedly would have won even more if he had not spent 44 months in the Navy during World War II. He led the American League in wins for three straight years before he enlisted in the military, and after his discharge he again led the league in victories in his first two full seasons of pitching. Rapid Robert Feller was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility.