Bob Feller

I just noticed that today marks the 70th anniversary of Bob Feller's first major-league start. He pitched a complete game, allowing one run, and striking out 15 (back when the AL record was 16 and the major-league record was 17 (held by Dizzy Dean)). Certainly an impressive start. Even more impressive, he was only 17 years old. He was signed by the Indians during his junior year of high school for $1 and a team-autographed baseball (doesn't quite compare to today's signing bonuses). Getting him to the big-leagues was a bit more expensive for the Indians, though, because they violated some rules in bringing him up, assigning him to minor-league teams he never played for, and were fined $7500. At the end of his rookie season, he went back to high school for his senior year. It was an amazing start to an amazing career. He was 266-162 with 2581 strikeouts, missing over 3 1/2 years in the prime of his career due to World War II (he could have had about 350 wins otherwise).