Excerpt from ODD MOMENTS IN SPORTS
by Joel Cohen
illustrated by Tom Payne
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No Way to Treat a Mom!
It seemed like the ideal way to spend Mother's Day.
On May 14, 1939, in Comiskey Park, Chicago, Bob "Rapid Robert" Feller was pitching for the visiting Cleveland Indians against the White Sox. Seated in the stands above the first-base dugout were Bob's mother, father and sister.
In the third inning, Chicago third baseman Marv Owen, a right-handed batter, got around late on a fast ball and fouled it sharply into the stands. Defying all odds, the ball struck none other than Mrs. Feller, just above the right eye. The blow shattered her glasses, leaving her with a deep cut that required six stitches.
What a way to spend Mother's Day!
The game was stopped for ten minutes as Bob and others rushed to her side. Once assured his mother would be okay, Bob resumed pitching, and with Ben Chapman batting in seven runs with two homers and a triple, Feller and the Indians won the game, 9-4.
Her experience didn't sour Mrs. Feller on the ballpark. On opening day of the next season, April 16, 1940, she sat in the very same seat at Comiskey Park, to watch her son pitch again against the White Sox.
Would lightning strike again?
As matters turned out, this time the lightning was from Bob's arm, and the "strikes" were those he threw past opposing batters. Mrs. Feller's courage in tempting fate was rewarded, as her son recorded the only Opening Day no-hitter in modern major league history, 1-0, and really made his mother's day.
From Odd Sports Stories #2: Odd Moments in Sports. Copyright © 2000 by Joel Cohen.
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