Van Meter which is 10 minutes west of Des Moines and one mile south of I-80 borders the Raccoon River. Van Meter is Bob Feller's home town where this baseball Hall of Fame legend would play a game of catch with his father between the red barn built in 1886 and the farm house he still calls home.

In an article written by Hoffman, the journalist writes about the seventeen year old "Rapid Robert" and how his 100-mile-per-hour fast ball struck out 15 batters to give the Cleveland Indians a victory over the St. Louis Browns and then Feller went on to pitch 17 strike outs against the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936, no other pitcher besides Dizzy Dean had been such a formidable force.

Bob Feller's memories including many of his precious sports memorabilia are now on display for the public to view in Van Meter. One noted item that Dennis reports is the Babe Ruth bat that Babe leaned on when he said good-bye to his beloved fans at Yankee Stadium in 1948.

It shouldn't come as any surprise when I stopped at the local Casey's before my speech the first thing I noticed on the glass entryway door was a bold sign: "No wearing of any [baseball] cleats allowed."

It was a cloudy overcast morning and the air was breezy and cold and spitting a few snowflakes. The parking lot was jammed pack because the secondary and primary school are interconnected. When I finally figured out which door to enter, my host, Shannon Miller, greeted me. Shannon has fiery red hair and I just assumed she was Irish or Scottish. She was very excited to see me and because Van Meter is a baseball town she said the kids had been fired up for days.

During my speech, I was offered the privilege of being the first to use the brand new cordless microphone in the old gym. I was particularly impressed with the athletic prowess of these students and had to wonder if there was something in the water that gave them their extra athletic boost. Even the seventh and eighth grade students were excited to play a game of shadow baseball and we were having so much fun that I extended the skit trying to throw them off guard as to what my next move would be. I had met quite a wholesome group of students who were polite and courteous and certainly appreciative of my offering. In fact when I asked for questions only the ladies offered up a few to delay going back to class. However, when I told the boys that whoever raised their hand first with a question for me would receive a free X Games hat you should have seen the boys' hands fly up in the air.

It was quite a treat to talk to these students. When Feller was asked if he could relive his most memorable moment what would it be? He said, "Playing a game of catch with his dad."

I had to wonder if Feller's response was where "Field of Dreams" had gotten its idea for one of its most famous scenes. I had to wonder how many of these young, gifted students might be fortunate enough to have their own museum or memorabilia on display at Bob Feller's museum.

One thing for sure though, Van Meter, Iowa is a place you can call home.