Book excerpt: Bob Feller’s journey from an Iowa farm to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, began in 1936. That’s when the 17-year-old pitcher took the mound for the Cleveland Indians and struck out a scrappy shortstop—and future Hall of Famer—named Leo Durocher. The blistering speed of Feller’s fastball would soon earn him the nickname “Rapid Robert,” as well as the respect of the top players in the game. For 18 years, Feller would remain among the game’s finest pitchers, facing down such fearsome hitters as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and Hank Greenberg, and amassing the remarkable record of 266 victories and 2,581 strikeouts. In all, Feller led the American League in strikeouts a remarkable seven times, including fanning 348 batters in 1946 and sharing the Major League record of 12 one-hitters. Even more impressive, he achieved these distinguished records despite missing almost four full seasons at his prime while serving in the US Navy during World War II. In this classic baseball memoir, Bob Feller recounts his remarkable career, revealing the man behind the legend, and offering a perspective on the game that is both insightful and candid. Never one to hold his tongue, Feller presents a “warts-and-all” discussion of the all-time greatest players and personalities and explains how television changed everything, and why free agency may be both the best and worst thing to happen to baseball. A must-read for any fan, Now Pitching, Bob Feller is the entertaining and enlightening story of one of baseball’s all-time greats. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.