Harry Feldman

Feldman was born and grew up in the Bronx, and was Jewish, the son of a Romanian Jewish father and a Polish Jewish mother.[1][2][3][4] Feldman attended Clark Junior High School in the Bronx.

Feldman was a 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m), 175 lb (79 kg) right-hander.

Feldman pitched for the Blytheville Giants of the Northeast Arkansas League in 1938. He had a 13–1 record and 2.02 ERA, both the best in the league that year. He was moved to the Fort Smith Giants of the Western Association, where he was 7–7 with a 3.98 ERA in 1938. In 1939 his record was 25–9.[5] With the Jersey City Giants in 1940, Feldman was 5–13 with a 3.64 ERA. In 1941 he went 14–16 with a 3.42 ERA.[5]

Feldman did the bulk of his pitching for the Giants during the World War II years (1942–45).[1]

Feldman won his first major league game in his second start, a 4–0 shutout over the Boston Braves in the second game of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds (September 21, 1941).

The Army declined to enlist Feldman due to evidence of his having had TB as a child.[5]

In 1944 Feldman was 9th in the NL with 40 games pitched.[1] In 1945 Feldman was 6th in the NL in games started (30) and shutouts (3), and 9th in innings (217.7) and batters faced (933).[1] He was 12–13, with a 3.27 ERA.[1]

His career totals include a 35–35 record, 143 games pitched, 78 starts, 22 complete games, 6 shutouts, 28 games finished, and 3 saves.[1] In 666 innings pitched Feldman struck out 254, walked 300, and had an earned run average of 3.80.[1]

In 1946 Feldman joined what became a total of 27 major league players, including Max Lanier, Mickey Owens, Vern Stephens and George Hausmann, in jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican League. Feldman signed with the Veracruz Blues.[5] The following year he played in Havana, Cuba. In 1949 he pitched for a while in the Provincial League for Sherbrooke, Quebec, and then moved to San Francisco where 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 at the end of that season.[5]

Feldman was 8th lifetime in ERA of all Jewish major league pitchers through 2010, behind among others Sandy Koufax and Ken Holtzman.[6]

Feldman was very active in the local semi-pro league.

On March 16, 1962, at age 42, Feldman died of a massive heart attack while tending his boat at Lake Tenkiller in nearby Oklahoma. He is buried at Rose Lawn Cemetery, Fort Smith, Arkansas.[1]

• List of select Jewish baseball players

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Baseball Library
• Harry Feldman at Find a Grave