Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller sits in The Chocolate Derby in downtown Vicksburg telling tales of his days in professional baseball as Jim Karel, right, looks on Wednesday. Feller was traveling on the American Queen to New Orleans when he stopped in Vicksburg for the afternoon.(Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[1/29/04]It’s not every day one will run into a National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher in downtown Vicksburg.

Donning a hooded sweatshirt and a Cleveland Indians baseball cap, Bob Feller, 85, visited shops and a few admirers in downtown Vicksburg on Wednesday. Feller was in town on a stop by the American Queen riverboat, on which he travels through the area every couple of years, he said.

Stopping in for a cup of coffee at The Chocolate Derby, he shared some stories of his life.

Feller pitched 18 seasons for the Cleveland Indians from 1936-41 and 1945-56. He led the Indians to their last World Series title in 1948 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962.

In between, he missed four of his prime years of baseball. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and was a gun captain on the U.S.S. Alabama, earning eight Battle Stars.

“But I’ll never forget Vicksburg,” Feller said.

He’s had his ties to the River City for a long time, dating back to the beginning of his baseball career.

During his first season with Cleveland, Feller stayed in a house with a Civil War veteran who had fought for the Union in the Battle of Vicksburg.

“He sat in a rocking chair all night long, and I’d talk to him on the porch of his house when I was 17,” Feller said.

In his second year, Feller traveled across the South with the Indians for spring training when he first came to Vicksburg in 1937. He remembers vividly the game in which he pitched.

“They had this big sellout, and they put up a temporary press box for the New York writers about 10 of them right behind the screen,” Feller said.

His first throw off the mound gave those writers something to remember as well.

“I slipped and I threw the ball right over the catcher’s head, and it hit the screen,” he said with a laugh. “When it hit the screen right by all these sports writers, they saw it coming and they all fell over backwards and their typewriters fell right on top of them.

“Everybody thought it was so funny. It wasn’t funny to me. I was just a green kid, that was serious.”

That was a tiny blunder in an illustrious Hall of Fame career. In his first major league game, Feller’s famous fastball struck out 15 batters. Later that season, the 17-year-old matched his age with 17 strikeouts in a game.

In his second full year back from the war, he set a major league record with 348 strikeouts in a season.

For his career, Feller amassed 266 wins, 2,581 strikeouts and three no-hitters.

In 1995, he helped start the Bob Feller Museum in his hometown of Van Meter, Iowa. He also does public relations speaking for the American Queen, telling of his life in baseball and the war.

Long removed from his days on the diamond, Feller now spends most of his time helping to promote the game he loves.

“Baseball is a game of rules, not of men,” he said. “Three strikes, you’re out. Four balls, you walk. And if a ball beats you to first base, you sit in the dugout until the inning’s over.”