n the summer of 1980, Mark Stewart, a writer who as of today has published more than 200 books, spent a weekend with Bob Feller and his wife.
“One of the conversations that stuck with me was Bob talking about how valuable Mel Harder was to the 1954 Indians,” said Stewart. That team won 111 games and featured Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia, Early Wynn, and Feller.
Harder, said Stewart, “brought something very different to the position of pitching coach. He managed the entire staff; whoever was on the mound, there was probably a good reason why that particular pitcher had the ball.”
“Prior to Harder, that position was often filled by an old catcher who did a lot of other things on the club, so the term “pitching coach” might very well have been used to describe Harder first. Harder had the ability to notice small things and present the idea of making minute adjustments in a way that pitchers would be receptive to. He also understood how to handle fading veterans like Feller and Hal Newhouser, front-line guys like Wynn and Lemon and Garcia, and late-inning people like Mossi and Ray Narleski, who were not yet battle-tested—all at the same time. Consider that when Harder broke into the big leagues, major-league coaching staffs were full of guys who thought the best answer to a sore arm was getting your back molars pulled out by a dentist!” added Stewart.
