October 2, 1938: Hank Greenberg vs. Bob Feller

Bob Feller (left) and Hank Greenberg

October 2, 1938: Cleveland Indians fireballer Bob Feller, just 20 years old, strikes out 18 Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, setting a new major league record for strikeouts in a game, surpassing the 17 notched in games by himself and Dizzy Dean. But the Tigers win, 4-1. Twice, Hank Greenberg is a strikeout victim of Feller's.

It was the 1st game of a doubleheader, on the last day of the regular season. The Tigers won the 2nd game as well, 10-8. Greenberg went 3-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, but did not hit a home run. He thus finished the season with 58 home runs, the 3rd time someone has come close to Babe Ruth's record of 60 set in 1927. (Jimmie Foxx, who hit 50 this year, had hit 58 in 1932. Hack Wilson had hit 56 in 1930.)

Some people have argued that, due to Greenberg being Jewish, he was frequently walked (intentionally or "not"), so that he wouldn't break the Babe's record. Hank would go to his grave maintaining his belief that pitchers had pitched to him fairly.

I've seen film from this game, and I believe him: Feller, then wearing Number 14 rather than the 19 for which he would later become better associated, was certainly challenging the original Hammerin' Hank, throwing hard, choosing to, as they would say in Jim Bouton's Ball Four, smoke him inside.

Despite the significance of the 1st game, its status as part of a doubleheader, and its being played on a Sunday, only 26,818 fans came to the 86,000-seat Municipal Stadium.

The next day, in the wake of the Munich Agreement, Nazi Germany moved troops into the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. In 1941, Greenberg would go on to become the 1st player of All-Star caliber to enlist in World War II. Feller would enlist the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Each would miss nearly 4 prime seasons, but beating the Nazis was more important than such milestones as hitting 60 home runs in a season or 500 in a career -- or, in Feller's case, 300 wins or 3,000 strikeouts.

In a manner of speaking, they would later become teammates: Following the 1947 season, Greenberg retired as a player, and Bill Veeck, by then the owner of the Indians, hired him as the team's farm system director. Together, Veeck, Greenberg and Feller were 1948 World Champions. When Veeck sold the team after the 1949 season, Greenberg was promoted to general manager, holding the post until 1957, the year after Feller retired as a player.

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October 2, 1938 was a Sunday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Lou Gehrig went 1-for-4. Joe DiMaggio hit a home run. Lefty Gomez pitched just 3 innings, and was removed despite shutting the Sox out. He wasn't hurt: Just 4 days later, he started and won Game 2 of the World Series.

* The New York Giants beat the Boston Bees, 3-2 at the Polo Grounds. (The Braves were known as the Bees from 1936 to 1940.) Mel Ott went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 and 7-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Washington Senators won the opener, 5-2. The Philadelphia Athletics won the nightcap, 4-2.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The St. Louis Brown won the 1st game, 4-3. The Chicago White Sox were leading the 2nd game, 3-0, when it was called due to darkness after 6 innings. Comiskey Park got lights the next season.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 7-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. It didn't matter: The Cubs had won the National League Pennant.

It was also an NFL gameday. These games were played:

* The football version of the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cardinals, 13-0 at Ebbets Field.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-6 at Municipal Stadium (later renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium) in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Rams beat the Detroit Lions, 21-17 at Shaw Stadium in Cleveland.

* The next day, on an afternoon but an apparent precursor to "Monday Night Football," the New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-10 at the Polo Grounds. The football Pirates renamed themselves the Steelers in 1940.

* And the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins were not scheduled.