Folks, you know…. The last thing I’d ever imagine myself doing is writing an article on the Cleveland Indians. No offense to the team that is so rich in baseball heritage, or the fine city it’s in. I’ve just never considered myself to be a Cleveland fan. And well, perhaps there are some good reasons. First, I started watching baseball when I was 6, around 1973. Even though I was a young kid, I was already an avid baseball card collector, and I knew statistics and surely knew who the league leaders were. Not too many players with Indians caps were on those “League Leaders” baseball cards. The team’s “stars” were the under-performing young outfielder Charlie Spikes and a couple of old starting pitchers, who also happened to be brothers from North Carolina, one of them whose name was Gaylord. Second of all, the team just wasn’t very good. In the next 20 years they finished 6th or 7th thirteen times, and 4th or 5th seven other times. In fact, during that time they actually only had one winning season.
Even as a little kid, I was always fixated on learning as much as I could about baseball, and so naturally I like to do research on teams, and their history. I learned of a few misfortunes that sort of turned me off to the Indians, some accidental, some not, but all very unfortunate. For example, I learned that the only Major Leaguer to have lost his life on the field was a shortstop named Ray Chapman who was hit square in the head by submariner Carl Mays. Then recall the most famous catch in baseball history, and as we all know there was a Mays involved in that play too. A long fly ball in the World Series by Cleveland slugger Vic Wertz run down by the Say Hey Kid Willie Mays. Ouch.
The Indians were also known for the lopsided trades, but of course, not in their favor. Rocky Colavito was famously, and curiously traded after two consecutive 40 home run seasons for outfielder Harvey Kuenn, who spent only one season for Cleveland before being traded away. The trading imbalance continued to plague the Indians, who actually received the aforementioned Charlie Spikes in a deal with the Yankees for Graig Nettles, who went onto 5 All-Star games and two top-10 finishes in the AL MVP race as a Yankee. Yankees also received first base slugger Chris Chambliss and swingman Dick “Dirt” Tidrow from the Indians, two very important pieces of the late 70’s World Championship teams.
Not to be outdone, the Red Sox also made a big trade with the Indians, receiving Dennis Eckersley who went onto win 20 games for the Sawx the next season, for Rick Wise, who went on to LOSE 19 games for the Indians. In that same trade Cleveland also received Bo Diaz, who had a decent career, but is also remembered for being killed on the roof of his own house in Caracas when his satellite dish fell on top of him. But as most of us know, that wasn’t the only tragedy to befall a Cleveland player. Twenty years ago this March, Cleveland relievers Steve Olin and Tim Crews lost their lives during a spring training boating accident.
So it’s easy to see why a non-Ohioan would find it hard to become a fan. Thing is, it’s really a shame because Cleveland does have some incredibly noble distinctions. They were the first American League team to integrate, with the Hall of Famer Larry Doby joining the team in 1947. They were also the first to have an African-American manager, when Frank Robinson took the post in 1975.
And every once in a while, Cleveland would add a player that would spark up intrigue. Similar to the Tigers Mark Fidrych in 1976, Cleveland’s “Super” Joe Charboneau was all the rage in 1980. He was the epitome of the blue collar guy, opening beer bottles with his eye-sockets, fixing a broken nose with a pair of pliers, but the guy could also hit, and hit he did. In his only full-season, his rookie year of 1980, Charboneau led the Indians with 23 home runs, more than twice the next highest teammate (future Indians manager Mike Hargrove who had 11). He was one of 3 players to hit a homer in the 3rd Left Field deck at Yankee Stadium, Jimmy Foxx and Frank Howard being the other two. I can remember watching Charboneau run the bases after that home run, almost losing his place as he kept staring at where the ball landed. But he wasn’t just a slugger, as he finished the year with a .289 average. Unfortunately Charboneau hurt his back sliding in a mud-soaked infield the following spring-training and he was never the same.
I often wonder how different baseball history would be had George Steinbrenner been successful at purchasing the Indians in the early 1970s. But the Indians did end up in the hands of the Jacobs family in the late 80’s, and management did two brilliant things. First, they designed and built Jacobs field. An aesthetically perfect stadium, lined with Kentucky bluegrass on the field, and amazing vantage points for Indian fans. Second, they hired John Hart as General Manager, who help build a team that would finish first 5 years in a row, and get to two World Series, coming within two outs of winning it all in 1997 (Hint, don’t ever mention the name Jose Mesa in a Cleveland bar).
John Hart was just the right guy at the right time. I first perked up my awareness of Hart’s magic when he traded for and then gave a second-year outfielder named Kenny Lofton a 4 year $6.5 million dollar contract. Contracts like that, giving a young player a long-term deal, weren’t the norm back then, but they’ve started to be commonplace now. Prior to signing the contract, Lofton was most notably a stud college basketball, helping to bring his Arizona Wildcats to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament. Among other moves Hart made were:
a) Trading Joe Carter for young catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr. and infielder Carlos Baerga
b) Drafting New York high school phenom Manny Ramirez with the 13th pick in the 1991 draft
c) Signing Brook Jacoby, an Atlanta Braves cast-off who starred at 3B for the Indians
d) Signed Bartolo Colon as an amateur free-agent
e) Trading two players and cash for a light-hitting infielder named Omar Vizquel, who went on to win the next 8 Gold Gloves at shortstop
The Indians in the mid-90’s were nothing short of a wrecking machine. Good drafting and scouting brought sluggers Jim Thome and Albert Belle to the team, and in the strike-shortened 1995 season they won 100 games out of 144 contests (would equate to roughly 113 wins in a standard 162 game season). The teams offense peaked in 1999 when it became just the 7th team in Major League history to score 1,000 runs, as Kenny Lofton and free-agent addition Roberto Alomar confounded pitchers at the top of the order, while Richie Sexson, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez finished them off.
But all those runs and all those victories never ended up with a title. Hargrove was gone, Charlie Manuel came in. Manuel left, Eric Wedge came in. Indians made two trips to the playoffs since that ‘99 season, but mostly have been bouncing between second and fourth place finishes. They had good talent, but never the resources to keep them. C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee, two aces of the Indians staff, and back-to-back Cy Young winners in 2007 and 2008 were traded, and in looking back nothing of substance other than outfielder Michael Brantley was received. Ironically, one of the most lopsided trades in history was completed between the Expos and Indians back in 2002, with the Indians trading Bartolo Colon for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens. Lee went onto become a Cy Young winner, Sizemore was a 5-tool star until injuries stalled his career at the age of 25, and Brandon Phillips has become one of the best second basemen in baseball, albeit for the Reds after the Indians gave up on him too too early.
For the better part of a decade, the Indians have been, well, just another hum-drum team. In fact, they’ve finished 4th in three of the last four seasons. They’ve been almost like a homely middle child watching their older and younger sisters go off and get married, in the form of the Red Sox and White Sox who won their titles after painfully long droughts. Sure there are other teams that have never won a World Series, such as the Astros, Rangers, Padres, Nationals, Mariners, and my beloved Brewers. But the Indians have a much longer and richer baseball history, and they are in the second longest active title drought in baseball (Cubs are up to an amazing 104 years without a World Series win, and are 67 years away from their last pennant).
But maybe things are about to change. Often titles don’t start with a huge free agent signing. I’m quite sure the Angels and Orioles can attest to that. But rather it’s more of a sensation, sort of watching something come together slowly but steadily. Then suddenly everything just falls into place. The White Sox championship in 2005 was like that. In the nine years leading up to their title, they finished in 2nd place 7 times, and in 1st and 3rd place once each. Sounds like a pretty good run, except in all those years combined the White Sox were only 748-708, just a few wins above .500 each year on average. Thus it was probably more of a weak division than the White Sox being really good. But in 2005 the White Sox WERE really good “as a team”. No pitcher was outstanding, but Buehrle, Contreras, Garland and Freddy Garcia were all pretty good. No one on the team scored 100 runs, and only Paul Konerko knocked in 100, as a matter of fact it was exactly 100. But they won as they were pretty good up and down the lineup, and they played well together.
I look at the Indians this year, and I get that same sense. They were actually pretty decent through mid-July last year, finding themselves in 2nd place, but just a few games above .500 at 45-42 (sound familiar??) Then of course the bottom fell out and they went 23-52 the rest of the way to finish at 68-94. Manager Manny Acta was ceremoniously fired with 6 games left in the season and Bench Coach, and former star player Sandy Alomar, Jr. was named interim manager.
But going in 2013, the Indians fans, and oh they are loyal, were given some new toys. First, they got a new manager with some bloodlines in Cleveland. Terry Francona only played one season for the Indians in 1988, surely not their hey-day, but Terry’s father Tito was a all-star player for Cleveland in the 1960’s, finishing 5th in the MVP race one year. (Interestingly Larry Doby was traded by the Indians for Tito in ’59).
But as a new manager is rarely enough, the Indians G.M. Chris Antonetti used that Georgetown education to bring in a few more pieces. First, he made a relatively daring, but strategic move in trading star outfielder Shin-Soo Choo in a 3-team deal, bringing back highly-touted prospect pitcher Trevor Bauer, who had quickly worn out his welcome in Arizona, as well as Drew Stubbs from Cincy. While Stubbs has a wild-swinging speed/power mix approach at the plate, his presence gives the Indians another solid Centerfielder to roam their outfield along with Michael Brantley. The Indians also brought in Mark Reynolds, yet another big strikeout/power guy, but who at 29 was possibly entering the prime of his career.
Then the Indians did something no one could have expected. They opened their wallets. Big time. While on the surface it may have seemed like a curious signing, Nick Swisher was added to the team by signing a 5-year $70 million dollar contract. While we can all remember seeing Swisher with his huge smile and Yankee pinstripes, you must remember that he is from Ohio. Was born there, and went to college there, starring for “THE” Ohio State University.
Again the Indians did something else that no one expected. They re-opened their wallet, this time signing Michael Bourn to a 5-year $60 million dollar contract. Thus, giving the Indians their 3rd legitimate Centerfielder to play outfield for them. Antonetti isn’t as well known as some of the other General Managers in baseball, and he’s certainly less well-known than his boss and predecessor Mark Shapiro. But he’s making his mark, and he is showing that his 15-year apprenticeship under GM’s like Neil Huntington and Shapiro have served him and the team well.
Making the Indians 2013 a bit sweeter is the fact that their top two starters Justin Masterson and Zack McCallister came from the Red Sox (in the Victor Martinez deal) and the Yankees (for Austin Kearns). Perhaps a little payback is always fun. But the Indians are far from elite. Their infield is average, and the back end of their rotation has been weak. Their bullpen has been their saving grace as Cody Allen, Joe Smith, Bryan Shaw, Vinny Pestano and closer Chris Perez have been outstanding, with a collective ERA of around 1.50. They have a very underrated catcher in Carlos Santana who the Indians got from the Dodgers for Casey Blake in 2008, and who is currently second in MLB with a 1.060 OPS.
As of today, May 12, 2013, the Indians are atop the American League Central at 20-15, tied with Detroit. They are 0-5 versus the Yankees and Red Sox, but 20-10 versus everyone else, so there’s still work to do. I started paying closer attention to the Indians due to a friendship with a very vocal but enjoyable Indians fan that I found on twitter named @sportsyelling . She, yes SHE, is a rabid Indians fan, and you could spend an entire afternoon watching her tweets, rather than watching the game, and you will have a better idea as to what’s happening on the field!! We at the Cornfield surely urge you to follow her!! As for me, I am going to keep following the Indians, as I do believe it’s time we all do.
And a special note to you Indians fans. You may not have won since 1948, but as Dave Wooderson said in ‘Dazed and Confused’, “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.” GO TRIBE!!
Sincerely,
The Colonel
SundayColonel@aol.com
Join Earl and the Colonel as they talk about baseball and all things baseball-related. We're mostly on Sunday nights at 9PM EST, but sometimes we prefer to do a post-Happy Hour show on Friday nights because normally we're idiots. But after a few cocktails we're geniuses. Until we listen to the show the next day. Sigh.
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