Cleveland great Mel Harder dead

[VNV Nation]

Wimpy won 223 games and Joe DiMaggio often said he was the toughest pitcher he ever faced.

Mel Harder, who won 223 games during a 20-year career with the Cleveland Indians and pitched against such greats as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, died Sunday. He was 93.

Harder died at his home in Chardon, about 25 miles east of Cleveland, at 3:30 a.m., according to his grandson, Dan Itschner.

Harder, who held DiMaggio hitless the day before the New York Yankees' star started his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, was in failing health the past few years, and was hospitalized a year ago with pneumonia.

Harder appeared in four All-Star games from 1934-37 and didn't allow an earned run in 13 innings -- a record that still stands. The right-hander won one game and saved two others.

"Mel Harder was a great pitcher," the late Ted Williams told The Associated Press in a 2000 interview. "He had a great curveball, great control. And the thing about Mel was that every one of his pitches did a little something. He was so tough."

http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/20...0/1448572.html

[Max Power]

Bummer - 'tho 93 is pretty good.

Some more on him: http://www.netshrine.com/vbulletin2/...s=&threadid=79

[KCBOOMER]

Sad news. One of the great trivia bits is that Mel Harder threw the first regular season pitch in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium and through out the ceremonial first pitch at the first game in Clevelands Jacobs Field.

[Rob_in_KC]

I remember him as one of Joe Gordon's coaches on the 1969 Royals.

[NCFella19]

I don't want to begin an off-topic rant concerning the HOF, but there was a contingent in Cleveland (and around the country?) to try to get Mel inducted in Cooperstown before he passed away as he was getting up in years.

Sadly that campaign is now over. Any possilbe honor will have to be completed posthumously.

R.I.P. Mel.

[NCFella19]

Some more Harder tidbits:

Harder was the only major leaguer to complete two separate 20-year careers -- 20 as a pitcher and 22 as a coach. He coached for the Indians, Mets, Cubs, Reds and Royals before retiring in 1969.

``If Mel Harder couldn't teach you a curveball, then no one could,'' said Herb Score, the 1955 AL Rookie of the Year.

Harder's No. 18 was retired by the Indians in 1990.

``Mel Harder and the Cleveland Indians are synonymous,'' Indians spokesman Bob DiBiasio said. ``Such a gracious gentleman who was always there for us when we came knocking on his door. It's a sad day. We will miss Mel.''

DiMaggio, a .325 career hitter, batted just .180 against Harder.

....

Only Feller had more wins with the Indians and only Hall of Famers Walter Johnson (Washington) and Ted Lyons (White Sox) pitched longer with one team.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news/ap/...it-harder.html

I've worked for the local little league for years, helping run a series of fundraisers to help raise money to improve and build new baseball fields throughout Geauga county. On multiple occasions, as a matter of fact every year, Harder donated his time, effort, and any possible resource he could get to make Geauga County a better place for little league.

He even taught me a way to throw a ball to reduce strain on my arm.

He was a wonderful man, a generous man, and one who did everything he could to make people love baseball. We will all miss him.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Originally posted by NCFella19
I don't want to begin an off-topic rant concerning the HOF, but there was a contingent in Cleveland (and around the country?) to try to get Mel inducted in Cooperstown before he passed away as he was getting up in years.

Sadly that campaign is now over. Any possilbe honor will have to be completed posthumously.

R.I.P. Mel.

Of course, my prayers go out to his family, first and foremost.

I wonder if the contingent in Cleveland trying to get Harder in the HOF was the same contingent that made up the P.T.P.K.K.I.C. (Party to put Ken Keltner in Cooperstown). They were contemporaries; Keltner finishing his career only three (3) years after Harder.

Harder has a Bunningesque W/L record and has two (2) HOFers as comps. This is balanced by the fact that the two HOF comps are Fordham Flash specials (Waite Hoyt and Jesse Haines, both gifts to immortality courtesy of Frankie Frisch and his cronies.)

I obviously could not endorse his selection for the HOF; he was not a great pitcher, in the HOF sense, by any measure one would come up with. He was a pretty good pitcher, however, and a guy who shouldn't be forgotten. If he were a Yankee, he would be remembered more vividly, as Allie Reynolds and Vic Raschi are. Harder was probably better than both of those guys, but would need HOF induction to be better remembered. At least that is my subjective opinion.

It is also sad that another living link to pre-WWII baseball has died. Thirty years ago I remember Freddy Parent being written about in the sporting news, praising Yaz and Lajoie. He died soon afterward, and now all the guys who played at the turn of the century are dead. It won't be long before everyone who played with Cobb and Ruth will be gone.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Terry Pluto had a nice write-up of Mel in todays B-J.

One tidbit: most Tribe fans know that Lefty Grove won the first ballgame in Muni Stadium in 1932; won it 1-0. Most fans don't remember that Harder was the bad luck loser that day and that he wasn't scheduled to pitch but made an emergeny start.

Harder retired from active duty in '47, the year before the Tribe won it all, but he was as much a part of that championship team (and the '54 AL pennant winner) as anyone on the staff.

Pluto compares Harder to Charlie Nagy, except that Harder was better for much longer.

If there's a Hall of Fame for really great guys who had long baseball careers and made the sport better for everyone, Mel's gotta be in the first class.

[pwdennis]

Most of my knowledge of Harder is from reading his contemporaries' comments about him, usually in context of an autobiography. Every comment I read about him was favorable, either as a pitcher, or as a person. He seems to have been involved in no real contraversies as a player.

Harder had two 20 win seasons and a bunch of seasons as a somewhat above-average pitcher. He also had a number of seasons as a somewhat below-average pitcher. His last season in the majors was 1947, which many regard as the real start of the modern era. I would regard him as the equivalent of a modern day pitcher who posts 175 wins in 20 years

[Ytown Tribe fan]

CpU: You were a lucky guy indeed to get to meet and work with Mel Harder.

In Pluto's column, Mel states that one of his greatest thrills was having the Chardon Little League field named after him -- it must have been great having a Tribe legend living right in town and being active in the Little League!

I called my dad in Texas to tell him the sad news and he recalled "Chief" very fondly. Dad's been a Tribe fan since they opened old Muni in '32 (when dad was 8 years old). He lived in Pirates country as a youth and didn't get to see a Tribe game until years later, but he became a diehard Tribe fan for life because of three men: Jack Graney, Lou Boudreau and Mel Harder.