The doctor reassured Feller he could start throwing whenever he felt ready. By today’s standards he would have rested for weeks; however, the Indians’ fortunes were reaching a critical point. The front office, worried about dwindling gate receipts, wanted Feller starting as soon as possible. A day later he resumed throwing, this time curveballs and all. Two days went by and the arm had miraculously responded. Feller announced to the papers he had the green light to pitch full-time.
The euphoria over Feller’s return was only momentary, as bad news came from Boston. On June 20 Johnny Allen complained of severe stomach pains. A local doctor examined him and determined his appendix was moments away from bursting. Allen was taken to Palmer Memorial Hospital, holding ice bags on his tender stomach. A hospital surgeon performed the surgery, and Allen came through without any complications, yet he would likely be on the shelf for a month if not more. The starting rotation would not be at full strength until August.
Steve O’Neill chose to start Feller on July 4 at Municipal Stadium. Alva Bradley had committed to play a series of games at the new facility, the most since he had taken the team back to League Park after the 1933 season. Bradley had incurred the wrath of the city of Cleveland by exercising an out clause in his lease. He claimed the ball club had lost money playing at the 80,000-seat stadium and thus elected to move out of downtown and relocate to ancient but comfortable League Park. Now, four years later, Bradley had a notion that a playing a select number of games at the lakefront might attract some bigger crowds.
The Yankees were always a terrific draw, and holiday games usually brought exceptional numbers. In addition, Cleveland was bringing back the highly popular Great Lakes Exposition for a second summer. This large venue had state-of-the-art attractions, restaurants, and exhibits and happened to be located next to Municipal Stadium, along the edge of Lake Erie. Alva Bradley expected a large group of out-of-town visitors to stop by the Expo, then take in a ball game.
The return of Bob Feller drew a total of 35,000 eager fans to the stadium—an excellent crowd, yet nowhere close to a record. Jo-Jo White led off for the Tigers by drawing a walk. Feller then ignited the crowd by striking out Bill Rogell, Charlie Gehringer, and the always dangerous Hank Greenberg. During the flurry of strikes, White stole second and third, but could not advance any further. The Indians scored in the bottom half of the inning when Roy Hughes singled, went to third on Earl Averill’s base hit, then scored on Hal Trosky’s sacrifice fly.
Feller cruised along until the top of the fourth. He had been throwing mostly fastballs with a few curves mixed in to keep the Tigers off balance. Greenberg led off the top of the inning with a walk. Goose Goslin hit a grounder to Lyn Lary, who kicked the ball around for an error. Rudy York then laid down a perfect bunt, just inside the third-base line. Feller picked up the ball and heard catcher Frankie Pytlak yell, “First base!” At the same time, Detroit third-base coach Del Baker yelled even louder, “Third, third!” Feller turned and threw a strike to third base. Unfortunately, no Indian stood near the bag, and the ball rolled all the way into the left-field corner. By the time Moose Solters recovered the baseball, Greenberg had scored while Gehringer reached third and York second.
Probably somewhat rattled, Feller grooved a fastball to right fielder Pete Fox, who lined a base hit for two more runs. The Indians now trailed 3–1. At this point the young pitcher bore down, retiring the side without any further destruction. Manager O’Neill, despite hearing a chorus of boos, told Feller he was finished for the day. It had been only four innings, still Feller showed the form of the kid who had dazzled the American League at the end of the 1936 season. He had allowed only one hit while striking out four. The three runs were unearned, though Feller himself was responsible for the throwing error that allowed Greenberg to score. Considering he had not started a game in over two months, the results were more than positive. Nevertheless, Cleveland lost 3–2.
After the game O’Neill told reporters, “I thought the kid had done enough work for a beginning and I didn’t want him to press too hard to make up for what happened in that fourth inning.” Feller announced his arm had come through just fine. He now believed he could take his regular turn in the rotation. Good news all around.
The next day Cleveland traveled to St. Louis for a doubleheader. As usual, the lowly Browns were completely out of the running, already twenty games below the break-even mark. Either buoyed by Feller’s return or frustrated by their own .500 record, the Indians pummeled St. Louis, 14–4 in the first game and even worse in the nightcap, 15–4. Slugger Hal Trosky was the hero of game one, detonating three home runs along with seven RBIs. The lineup produced a total of seventeen hits, manhandling former teammate Oral Hildebrand for eleven tallies before he left the game. After a brief rest, the Indians recorded twenty-one hits in game two, including home runs by Moose Solters and Roy Weatherly. Even though they were far behind the Yankees in the pennant chase, Cleveland had a potent crew of hitters who could explode at any time. Averill, Trosky, Bruce Campbell, Lyn Lary, and Solters were capable of destroying American League pitchers, yet they were prone to episodes of poor play, exasperating the front office.
On July 18 the high-flying Yankees were in Cleveland for a Sunday game at Municipal Stadium. Once again, Alva Bradley proved he was a shrewd operator, betting the matchup of Bob Feller versus Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig would draw a monstrous crowd. When the game began, there were 59,884 raring-to-go fans eager to see what a healthy Feller could do.
The 1937 season had thus far yielded a 10 percent increase in attendance over the previous year. Few people were willing to say the Great Depression had already peaked, but Major League owners were starting to note a positive trend. Bradley had the best of both worlds, scheduling his potential big dates at the mammoth Cleveland Municipal Stadium while drawing fair-to-middling numbers weekdays at League Park.
The New York Yankees were quite a drawing card at home or on the road. At any city they visited, an exceptional number of people would come out to watch the best team in either league. Cleveland fans had been packing League Park to see the Yankees for years. Babe Ruth had launched colossal home runs over the high right-field wall, and later Lou Gehrig joined Ruth in an awesome show of power not seen before. Ruth was gone, but Gehrig was still around, and Joe DiMaggio had created new interest in the Yankees with his superior all-around play. At age twenty-two, Joe D. had already begun to demonstrate his claim to be the next Yankee superstar.
On this day, eighteen-year-old Bob Feller took the mound to challenge the pennant-bound club from New York. Despite his young age, he already had impressive credentials in his brief career, including shattering the American League single-game strikeout record. The Cleveland sportswriters went all out in their game stories. Ed McAuley stated, “The dimple-chinned Bob Feller from the furrows of a farm in Iowa against the swarthy Joe DiMaggio from the humble home of a fisherman on the coast of San Francisco. Make or break hero or goat, the two outstanding youngsters of modern times.”
The atmosphere at the stadium was reminiscent of an opening day. A U.S. Army squadron went through a number of drills, followed by a Scottish fife-and-drum corps marching smartly about the field. A group of fans from Buffalo presented gifts to two former minor-league Bisons, Yankee manager Joe McCarthy and Cleveland’s Frankie Pytlak. A similar group arrived from Pittsburgh to honor their favorite son, Moose Solters. The Fellers made the long-distance trek from Iowa, their first opportunity of the year to see Bob on the mound. With all the pregame ceremonies, the game started nearly twenty minutes late.
Feller and Yankee starter Red Ruffing were impressive from the onset. Neither team scored until the visitor half of the third inning, when shortstop Frank Crosetti led off with a walk and moved to second on an infield ground out. Up to the plate came “Joltin’” Joe DiMaggio. Crosetti edged off second base, and on the pitch raced for third. DiMaggio sent a scorching ground ball at third baseman Sammy Hale. “Bad News” knocked the ball down, but before he could pick it up Crosetti came sliding hard into the third-base bag. His foot kicked the ball into foul territory, out of Hale’s reach and far enough for Crosetti to scramble to his feet and score the game’s first run.
The Indians tied the game in the seventh inning on singles by Trosky, Hale, and Pytlak. In the ninth the score remained 1–1. Feller had thrown well over a hundred pitches, yet still had plenty of steam on