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Bob Feller, left, had a phenomenal pitching record in his youth, but the Yankees' Joba Chamberlain, right, is already setting his own records. |
This Yankee phenom may eclipse Feller's early pace
of TheColumnists.com
He was only 16 years
old when his parents signed a professional baseball contract
with the Cleveland Indians for him at their farm home in Van
Meter, Iowa.
He won five games for the Indians in 1936 at the age of 17, returned
to school for his high school graduation, then won nine games
at the age of 18 and 17 games at the age of 19 with a league-leading
240 strikeouts.
Bob Feller--soon nicknamed Rapid Robert for those 100 mph fastballs
he threw before accurate speed guns--won 24, 27 and 25 games
for the Indians before he turned 23.
Feller missed almost four full seasons as he served on combat
ships in the Navy during World War II.
Feller returned to the Indians full time in 1946 with an opening
day no-hitter against the Yankees and went on to record 266 wins
in 18 seasons before retiring after the 1954 season.
Feller has always been the standard of early excellence in baseball.
His position is threatened now by a Native American pitcher on
the New York Yankees by the name of Joba Chamberlain.
Chamberlain, 22, is achieving his success with the Yankees at
a far more advanced age than Feller did but he may clearly be
the second coming of Youth Must be Served experience.
Sixty years ago Ralph Branca won 21 games as a 21-year-old pitcher
for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 season made famous by the
arrival in the big leagues of one Jackie Robinson.
One unfortunate pitch and a serious back injury cut short his
career as a young phenom.
In 1984 the New York Mets were led by a 19-year-old pitcher named
Dwight Gooden. Doc won 17 games that year and won 24 games and
the prestigious Cy Young award in 1985 at the age of 20. He also
got into heavy drug use that year and blew his Hall of Fame chances
despite a latter no-hitter with the Yankees.
Now the Yankees brought up a 21-year-old burly right hander from
Lincoln, Nebraska last August who has electrified all of baseball
with his overwhelming pitching, dramatic life tale and exceptional
poise.
Chamberlain is a Native American born on a reservation and raised
by a single father. His mother left his father, Harlan, with
two boys, the youngest of whom was a boy then named Justin Chamberlain.
He was three years old. His name was later changed to Joba to
accentuate his heritage.
The father was paralyzed by polio at the age of nine and somehow
managed to support the family, raise the kids and even work with
his athletic son from his wheelchair.
He threw baseballs to him with his good right arm and watched
the youngster grow and develop through high school and into his
college days at the University of Nebraska.
The Yankees had good luck with another Native American pitcher
named Allie Reynolds, nicknamed SuperChief, for his pitching
exploits with the Yankees over eight seasons from 1947 to 1954.
He was one of 11 Yankees to play on all five straight World Series
winners under Casey Stengel from 1949 through 1953.
The Yankees selected Chamberlain 41st on the 2006 draft list.
He finished school, joined a winter league team in Hawaii and
came to spring training in 2007 as an unheralded minor leaguer.
Feller never spent a day in the minor leagues and was a star
immediately.
Chamberlain had to pitch his way through three or four teams
in the organization before the Yankees called him up.
He was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues but his explosive
fastball, biting slider, hard curve and trick changeup pitch
will cause the Yankees a problem. They have to decide whether
or not to keep him in the bullpen as he has performed this year
or use him as a starter in 2008.
In his first 21 innings in the big leagues he had 31 strikeouts,
two wins, one save and an ERA of 0.42, less than half a run per
game. Even Feller never had an ERA better than 2.18 over 371
innings in 1946.
Chamberlain was so protected by the Yankees for his inexperience
and possibly tender arm leading into the 2007 playoffs that manager
Joe Torre had to operate under Joba Rules. These were requirements
about usage and innings pitched for the youngster. They began
being broken at the end of the season and may be completely set
aside in the October playoffs leading to a possible November
seventh game World Series finale.
The amazing performance by this dynamic personality has made
Chamberlain one of the most popular players in Yankee history
after less than two months with the team. A 19-year-old outfielder
named Mickey Mantle caused this much furor with his appearances
in 1951 next to Joe DiMaggio.
As the Yankees seek their 40th pennant and 27th World Series
title in their penultimate season at Yankee Stadium, Chamberlain
may emerge as the most important figure in that chase.
Feller didn’t get into a World Series with the Indians until
1948, a dozen years after he first joined the team. He never
won a Series game.
Take this to the bank. Chamberlain will get into Series games
a lot of years earlier than that. Once the country sees this
kid pitch in October, Bob Feller will become the second greatest
pitching youngster.
©2007 by Maury Allen. The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001
by Jim Hummel. The photos are courtesy of Wikipedia. This column
first posted Oct. 2, 2007.
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