Harry Feldman

Harry Feldman
(Hard Luck Harry)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut September 10, 1941
• Final Game April 25, 1946
• Born November 10, 1919 in New York, NY USA
• Died March 16, 1962 in Fort Smith, AR USA

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Biographical Information

Harry Feldman pitched two no-hitters in high school. He took off from his job at a shirt factory and went to try out for the New York Giants - after three days of not getting a glance, Harry went to manager Bill Terry and asked for an opportunity. The team was impressed enough to sign Feldman to pitch for their Blytheville Giants in 1938; he dominated the Northeast Arkansas League with a 13-1 record and 2.02 ERA, the best ERA and winning percentage in the loop. He was promoted to the Fort Smith Giants of the Western Association and went 7-7 with a 3.98 ERA his first season there. In 1939 he improved to 25-9, one win behind the league lead. While at Fort Smith, he met his future wife and converted from Judaism to Christianity at some point after his marriage in 1941.

In 1940 Harry was 5-13 with a 3.64 ERA for the Jersey City Giants; the Giants were not a bad team and one teammate had an identical ERA but went 9-4, indicating that Feldman possibly got poor run support. With Jersey City once more in 1941 Harry went 14-16 with a 3.42 ERA as the most-used pitcher o nthe team. In his two seasons in town, 18 of those 29 losses were by a single run. He was nicknamed "Hard Luck Harry" as a result.

Feldman was called up to the NY Giants at the age of 21 as a September addition. Doing an okay job in three appearances, he went 7-1 with a 106 ERA+ (3.16 ERA). He was turned down by the Army due to lung problems. Early in 1944 Harry decided to retire due to his wife's poor health and his mother's death. He returned and became a mainstay of the New York rotation for the next couple seasons. In 1945 he was 12-13 with a 120 ERA+ and 3.27 ERA and was looking like one of the Giants' aces.

After three games in 1946 in which he allowed 8 runs in 4 innings, Feldman signed with the Veracruz Blues along with teammate and friend Ace Adams. The Blues, despite a staff composed primarily of major-leaguers, could not compete with the teams loaded up with Cuban and Negro League talent and finished either 7th or 8th. Feldman was 5-15 with a mediocre 3.79 ERA.

The players who had jumped to the Mexican League had trouble getting back into Organized Baseball. In 1949 Harry was 2-4 with a 7.24 ERA in the Provincial League. He pitched his last two seasons with the San Francisco Seals, going 6-9 with a 4.31 ERA in 1949 and 11-16 with a 4.38 ERA in 1950. He retired after that season at age 30.

After retiring, Feldman opened a record store in Fort Smith. He had a seizure while going fishing in 1962. He had a heart attack shortly thereafter and died at age 42.

Sources: The Big Book of Jewish Baseball by Peter Horvitz and Joachim Horvitz, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros and The International League: Year-by-Year Statistics by Marshall Wright