Feller's Return from the Navy

FELLER RETURNS FROM THE WAR
CLEVELAND, Friday Aug. 24, 1945 -- After 44 months in the Navy, Bob Feller returned to baseball tonight, striking out 12 Tigers and pitching the Indians to a 4-2 victory on a four-hitter.
A crowd of 46,477 showed up in Municipal Stadium to welcome back baseball most famous pitcher. So many fans called about tickets that Indian telephone operator Ada Ireland reported her switchboard broke down. Among those at the game were Ohio governor Frank Lausche and former Indians Cy Young and Tris Speaker.
The Detroit Tigers helped heighten the drama by starting Prince Hal Newhouser on the mound. During Feller's absence, Newhouser was by far baseball's best pitcher.
Pat Seerey gave Feller a first-inning lead, homering with Mickey Rocco aboard. It was Seerey's 13th home run.
The Tigers got three hits in the third to tie. But in the home third, Rocco led off with a double and came around on two outs. In the fifth, the Indians' Jeff Heath doubled to left, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on former Tiger Don Ross' single. Newhouser fanned Felix Mackiewicz to end the rally.
Feller struck out the first batter he faced, Jimmy Outlaw. Before the night ended, he struck out every Tiger except Paul Richards. He got Hank Greenberg, Rudy York and Outlaw twice.
Only three Tigers reached base the last three innings. Newhouser and Bob Maier walked, and Greenberg was safe on Al Cihocki's error.
"I was a little wild in spots," Feller said.
His catcher, Frank Hayes, was much more enthusiastic.
"I never expected Bob to have that kind of stuff in his first game," he said. "His control was very good and his fast one was too much for them. He's got as good a curve as I've ever seen, and a good slider."
In the visitors' clubhouse, Greenberg, York and Outlaw confirmed that Feller hadn't lost any of his stuff while away to war.
Before the game, Feller was presented a Jeep for his farm in Iowa. Cleveland fans bought it, and Speaker made the presentation.

TIGERS AB R H O A E
Jimmy Outlaw, 3b 4 1 0 1 1 0
Red Borom, 1b 4 0 1 1 2 0
Doc Cramer, cf 4 0 2 2 0 0
Hank Greenberg, lf 4 0 0 2 0 0
Roy Cullenbine, rf 3 0 0 0 0 0
Rudy York, 1b 4 0 0 9 1 0
Skeeter Webb, ss 3 0 0 1 4 0
*Chuck Hostetler, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0
Paul Richards, c 2 1 1 7 1 0
+Eddie Mayo, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hal Newhouser, p 2 0 0 1 4 0
&Bob Maier, ph 0 0 0 0 0 0
-----------------
32 2 4 24 13 0

* Hostetler batted for Webb in 9th.
+ Mayo batted for Richards in 9th.
& Maier batted for Newhouser in 9th.

INDIANS AB R H O A E
Al Cihocki, ss 4 0 0 1 1 1
Mickey Rocco, 1b 4 2 2 4 1 0
Pat Seerey, rf 4 1 1 1 0 0
Jeff Heath, lf 3 1 1 3 0 0
Dutch Meyer, 2b 3 0 0 1 1 0
Don Ross, 3b 4 0 2 1 1 0
Felix Mackiewicz, cf 3 0 0 3 0 0
Frankie Hayes, c 4 0 1 13 0 0
Bob Feller, p 2 0 0 0 0 0
-----------------
31 4 7 27 4 1

Tigers 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2
Indians 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 x - 4

RBI: Borom, Cramer, Seerey 2, Meyer, Ross. 2B: Ross, Richards, Rocco, Heath. 3B: Cramer. HR: Seerey. LOB: Tigers 8, Indians 7.

IP H R SO BB WP
Newhouser (L) 8 7 4 6 4 1
Feller (W) 9 4 2 12 5 0
Struck out: Mackiewicz 2, Feller, Cihocki, Hayes [but it’s unclear if Newhouser struck out 5 or 6.] Umpires: Ed Rommel, Art Passarella and Bill McGowan. Time of game: 2:17.