Читать книгу Bad Boys, Bad Times. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Prewar Years, 1937–1941 онлайн

18 страница из 96

Manager Steve O’Neill complimented his young pitcher for displaying the knowledge and skills of a true veteran. O’Neill remarked that Feller had remembered everything he was taught last season while handling batters as if he had been in the Majors for several years. The Cleveland skipper believed Feller’s curveball had become a key weapon in addition to his blistering fastball. O’Neill made no predictions but indicated big things were expected in 1937.

National columnists weighed in on Feller’s impact for the coming season. Will Connolly, writing for a San Francisco newspaper, thought the Cleveland pitcher would be beneficial for the game. He wrote, “Interest in baseball will improve in direct ratio to interest in pitching feats and that’s why I say Robert William Andrew Feller is a greater asset to the major leagues than our own Joseph Paul DiMaggio. It is a fact that Feller of Van Meter, Iowa and the Cleveland Indians, is doing more to accelerate interest in baseball than any rookie who has broken in during the past twenty years.”