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| Worth finding and reading! |
Fellow Iowan Bob Feller made headlines last week when he was moved from hospital to hospice care. Soon, the story snowballed into Feller’s reported obituary. Not so fast, news vultures!
I included a phone number.
He called me. Collect.
“This is Feller!” he boomed. He quizzed me about my letter, sounding wary.
I told him that if I’d be bothering him, he didn’t need to schedule any time for me at the hobby show.
“If it was a bother, I wouldn’t have called you!” In his conversation, it was all fastballs.
When his obit made print prematurely, I wondered what the straightforward Feller would have said about reporters trying to do him in.
I e-mailed John Sickels, author of a fantastic 2004 biography of Feller. What does he think the HOFer would have said over the misguided media?
“LOL…oh, that’s a good question. He’d probably say something like “I’m not going down without a fight, the Japanese didn’t get me and this won’t either.
Bob Feller endures!
I met Feller at a baseball dinner last year. I told him that I’d like to interview him about the Satchel Paige vs Bob Feller all-stars. He gladly gave me his number but then when I called, he said he wouldn’t talk to me unless he spoke to my publisher first. When I told him I was still pitching my book, he was pretty quick in saying he didn’t want to speak, which was a 180 from our meeting a few days before. I still have the index card with his number. I’m sure a HOF’er that he’s guarded about who he deals with. I just hope he has a few good days left for his family.