Johnny Pesky says Bob Feller was the best pitcher of his era

Thursday was a busy one for Swampscott’s Johnny Pesky. He is 91, and perhaps one of the few remaining players from an era of Major League baseball that produced not only great players, but some genuine American icons as well.One of those icons died Wednesday. Cleveland Indians great Bob Feller, the flame-throwing righthander who who 266 games in a career that was interrupted in his prime with service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, died of leukemia at the age of 93.”I just got off the phone from someone from Cleveland,” said, Pesky. “We spent about a half hour talking about him.”Feller, a Hall of Famer, was one of many ballplayers from the era who put their careers on hold to go into the service. Two others were Jim Hegan and Pesky, both of whom lived in Swampscott during their playing days, and who became good friends throughout their lives, even though they played for different Major League teams ? and even though Hegan’s Cleveland Indians beat the Red Sox out for the American League pennant in a one-game playoff in 1948.They had much in common because their wives went to school together as children, and they socialized often during the off-season, as they both lived in Swampscott during their playing days.They both also got a bird’s-eye view Feller – nicknamed “Rapid Robert” because of his blazing fastball.Hegan, who died in 1984, grew up in Lynn, went to Lynn English, and caught for the Indians for most of his Major League career.Pesky makes no bones about where Bob Feller stands in his eyes.”He’s the best pitcher I ever saw,” said Pesky Thursday, “and we had some great ones in my era ? it was a different game then.”I had so much trouble hitting him,” said Pesky, whose lifetime batting average for the Red Sox and several other teams was .307, and who had three 200-plus-hit seasons. “The only guy who could really hit him well was Ted (Williams), and – of course – Ted was the best hitter there ever was.”He also feels that had Feller played from 1942-45, when he was a chief petty officer in the Navy, he’d have easily won 300 games.”He never missed a turn,” Pesky said, “and every time we played them, we got him. We didn’t have much luck off him. Cleveland in those years had some great ballclubs, and some great pitchers too.”Not only did Feller throw hards, but he had a knee-buckling curve as well. And he wasn’t afraid to come inside on hitters either, as the 60 batters he hit over his career will attest.”He threw about a hundred miles an hour, I’d swear,” Pesky said. “He wasn’t very big, but, boy, could he throw hard. And then, when he threw you a curveball, he’d send you back to the dugout.”Hegan’s was an all-scholastic as a catcher at English, and was also a catcher and captain for Post 291, East Lynn’s American Legion team. He led 291 to a national championship in 1937.”(Hegan) had a great arm,” said George Cole, a neighbor of Hegan’s in the Highlands growing up. “His throw to second was all downhill. He was a big help to Feller during his career, and he should be in the Hall of Fame too.”During World War II, Hegan and Feller – as well as Pesky – put their careers on hold to join the service. Feller and Hegan went into the Navy, and both became CPOs. In 1946, they all returned. Pesky had 208 hits and the Red Sox breezed to the American League pennant. Feller, after a brief return at the end of 1945, won 26 games for the Indians in 1946 and, two years later, won 19 as the Indians defeated the Red Sox in a one-game playoff for the American League championship and then beat the Boston Braves in the World Series.Hegan played semipro ball for the Lynn Frasers before being picked up by the Indians, signing a “small bonus,” said Cole. During his career, Hegan caught all three of Feller’s no-hitters, and also caught one more – by Don Black. Only Yogi Berra, Roy Schalk and Jason Varitek have caught as many as four.”Jimmy, of course, was a great catcher and a great friend,” Pesky said. “And Feller ? he was the real deal. He was