Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Cleveland Indians History
174
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Cleveland Indians History
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781600780479 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 03/28/2008 |
| Series: | Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Series |
| Pages: | 174 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.02(w) x 8.76(h) x 0.77(d) |
About the Author
Mary Schmitt Boyer is a general assignment sports reporter for the Plain Dealer. An award-winning sportswriter who has specialized in covering basketball and the Olympics, she has served as president of the Association for Women in Sports Media and received the organization’s Pioneer Award. She has written or coauthored six sports books. She lives in Avon Lake, Ohio. Terry Pluto is a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer. He is an award-winning writer who has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers, and is a nine-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award. He is an inductee to the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame and the author of over 20 books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito and Loose Balls. He lives in Akron, Ohio.
Read an Excerpt
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Cleveland Indians
Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Cleveland Indians History
By Mary Schmitt Boyer
Triumph Books
Copyright © 2008 Mary Schmitt BoyerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60078-047-9
CHAPTER 1
THE GOOD
THE NEWEST STAR
Cleveland fans were on to Grady Sizemore long before the national media caught up.
Well, female Cleveland fans, at least.
Before Sizemore made the All-Star team and the cover of Sports Illustrated, his fan club, Grady's Ladies, showed their devotion by wearing pink T-shirts, and "Mrs. Sizemore" T-shirts were one of the most popular items in the team's gift shops.
Shortly after the Cleveland Browns drafted former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn in the spring of 2007, Cleveland's Plain Dealer ran a funny story in its irreverent pdQ section about which of the two "hunkiest dreamboats" was a better catch. Sizemore won, partly because he is already an established star and partly because he's a tad older and, theoretically, closer to wanting to settle down.
The article referred to Sizemore as a "stud muffin" and Quinn as "beefcake." And just in case you're wondering, the story was written by a man. A man who is a huge sports fan, but still ...
Like many sports stars, Sizemore took full advantage when opportunity knocked at his door. He was slated for Triple A Buffalo in the 2005 season, but when Juan Gonzalez got hurt during spring training, Sizemore was called up. He had a breakout season with a .289 average in 158 games, 37 doubles, 11 triples, 22 home runs, and 22 stolen bases.
Then in the disappointing season of 2006, which started with so much promise and ended with a 78–84 record, Sizemore's selection to the All-Star team was one of the first-half highlights, and he put together one of the best seasons in the club's history. He led the Major League in runs scored with 134, and extra-base hits with 92 (the third highest total in team history and the highest total for the team's leadoff hitter), and led the AL in doubles with 53. He was second in the league with 349 total bases. He became the first Indian to hit double figures in doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases in two seasons, and he was only the second major leaguer to post more than 50 doubles, 10 triples, 20 homers, and 20 steals in the same season.
He was a model of consistency, playing in every game and setting a team record for fewest double plays grounded into — two. His 419 total chances were the most in the majors and his 655 at-bats were the fifth highest in team history. He also was named the Indians' Man of the Year by the Cleveland baseball writers.
While pointing out all that in the team's press guide, even the Indians admitted, "Okay, we're gushing now."
The funny thing was, when Sizemore came to the Indians on June 27, 2002, as part of the trade that sent pitchers Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew — along with cash to Montreal — he wasn't the focal point. Instead, the media made more of promising minor league infielder Brandon Phillips or left-hander Cliff Lee.
General manager Mark Shapiro certainly knew what he was getting, though.
"Each guy in the trade was an important piece, and the trade would not have been completed by us without all three included," said Shapiro, who also got veteran first baseman Lee Stevens in the deal. "In fact, we were trying to get a fourth player added until Colon strained a muscle just before we completed the trade. More was made of Phillips and Lee because they were performing better and at higher levels (AAA and AA, respectively). Grady was having a mediocre season in A ball, but we loved his upside. He was the lone projection guy in the deal, but we felt he had a high upside. In all honesty, we felt Phillips was the surest thing in the deal. Looks like we were right on him but not on our time frame, unfortunately. He was the highest regarded prospect in the industry at the time of the trade, but Grady was no secret and was an important part of the deal."
After several seasons shuttling between Cleveland and its Triple A affiliate in Buffalo, in 2006 Phillips was traded to Cincinnati, where he became the Reds' starting second baseman. Five days earlier, the Indians signed Sizemore to a $31.45 million, seven-year contract extension, including a club option that could keep him with the team through 2012.
If he continues to play as he has been, he'll be a steal at that price. He was selected to his second All-Star Game in 2007, about six weeks after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline, "Why Sizemore Matters."
In the article, writer Tom Verducci quotes assorted baseball executives raving about Sizemore, including Shapiro.
"To watch him play day in and day out is a rare treat," Shapiro told the magazine. "All of us, from the front office to the players to the bat boys, are fortunate to see him every day. He is without a doubt one of the greatest players of our generation."
Shapiro likened Sizemore to New York Yankees star Derek Jeter because of his popularity, his approach, and his athleticism. (And like Jeter, Sizemore is biracial. His father is African American; his mother is white.)
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who picked Sizemore as a 2006 All- Star reserve, called the Indians center fielder "the best player in our league" and "Superman." Toronto manager John Gibbons said, "He's the kind of player every manager wants. He can do it all, but what's so great is he plays the game the right way and he gives your team energy every day. He's a dirtbag. He'll do whatever he can to beat you."
Like stealing home in a 9–3 victory at Toronto on August 26, 2005, with two strikes on Travis Hafner.
"I didn't know what he was doing," Hafner told reporters after the game. "I thought maybe he had to run to the bathroom or something. If I had swung and hit Grady in the face, I would have had every woman in America mad at me."
Sizemore doesn't seem overly impressed with the effect he seems to have on members of the female persuasion.
"You can never complain about being liked by the fans," Sizemore told the Akron Beacon Journal. "It's kind of funny to see little girls with the [pink Mrs. Sizemore] T-shirts, but it's more for the fans."
Then again, he doesn't seem overly impressed with himself in general. If there is such a thing as a reluctant superstar, Sizemore is it.
"I was at the All-Star Game with him last year [2006]," Toronto third baseman Troy Glaus told Sports Illustrated, "and I'm telling you, he did not say one word the entire time. Not one word. And it's not because he's a bad guy. He's just that quiet."
Sizemore really was thrilled to make his first All-Star team.
"It's exciting," he told reporters. "I never really thought about it. I've just been focusing on the season. Everyone should want to play well enough to make the All-Star team, but I didn't expect this. It wasn't one of my goals, something I wrote down in a book."
But a few days before he was named to the 2007 squad as a reserve, Sizemore said he wouldn't be disappointed if he didn't make it again.
"I think it's great if you make it," he said. "If you don't, it's no big deal either. I haven't even thought about it, to be honest with you. I don't focus on that. There's so much going on day to day in the baseball season, it's the last thing on my mind. That's all great. That's all fun. But that's not what I think about. That's not what I enjoyed the most about being an All-Star. Being part of the game and playing with those guys. All that other stuff is stuff I'm not really accustomed to."
He's referring to all the hype and hoopla that surround the game, including mass media sessions, parades over red carpets, and exaggerated introductions. The things he seemed happiest about were that he was voted onto the team by his peers — and that he would be joined by teammates Victor Martinez and C.C. Sabathia.
"It will be nice to have somebody to talk to and share the experience with," said Sizemore, who turned down a chance to compete in the home- run derby the day before the All-Star Game. "I didn't know too many of those guys last year."
Sizemore grew up in a close family outside Seattle, in the northern suburb of Mill Creek in Snohomish County. Snohomish County also happened to be the home of Indians Hall of Fame center fielder Earl Averill, a native of Everett. In fact, according to Sports Illustrated, when The Herald recently compiled a list of the county's top 50 athletes, Averill was number one and Sizemore was number 16.
Sizemore's father, Grady Sizemore II, was an insurance adjuster who played baseball at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. His mother, Donna, was a bookkeeper. They have another son, Corey, two years younger than Grady. The boys were always playing one sport or another, and Grady usually won. He was a three-sport star at Cascade High School, but he worked on his studies, too, and never got the sort of big head so many prep stars do.
"I don't ever recall seeing Grady walk down the middle of the hallway and expecting the seas to part," former Cascade baseball coach Bob Smithson told the Akron Beacon Journal.
He was good enough in football that former University of Washington coach Rick Neuheisel offered him a scholarship to play quarterback for the Huskies. But when the Montreal Expos gave him a $2 million signing bonus, college — and football — took a back seat.
"I'm sure he'd be in the NFL right now if he weren't playing baseball," Shapiro told Sports Illustrated. "He's that kind of elite athlete. The game needs more like him."
THE INDIANS' FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP
It never looked as if 1920 was going to be the Indians' year.
Instead, it appeared it would be best remembered for the tragic death of shortstop Ray Chapman, who was hit in the head by a pitch from Carl Mays of the Yankees on August 16 in New York and died the next day — the only major league player ever fatally wounded during a game.
But the Indians regrouped, first using reserve infielder Harry Lunte and then calling up Joe Sewell from the minor leagues when Lunte hurt his leg, and continued to push toward the postseason. They had finished second to Boston and Chicago, respectively, in 1918 and 1919, and player-manager Tris Speaker had them one game ahead of Chicago in the last week of the 1920 regular season when seven players on the defending champion White Sox were suspended for conspiring to fix the 1919 World Series. Cleveland won three of its last five games and finished two games ahead of Chicago, setting up a best-of-nine World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sewell, who was not on the roster September 1, won an appeal to be able to play.
Game 1, Tuesday, October 5. Cleveland 3, at Brooklyn 1 — Catcher Steve O'Neill had two doubles and two runs batted in to back the five-hit pitching of Stan Coveleski on a cold and windy day before a chilled crowd of 23,573 in Ebbets Field. Coveleski walked just one and held the Dodgers scoreless through six innings.
"Coveleski pitched excellent ball today," Speaker told reporters after the game. "With the wind blowing as hard as it was, he worked under a handicap but he delivered in the pinches, and that is what counts. He was never nervous. It was just a ballgame with him. He pitched a typical Coveleski game.
"The result of the game goes to show that I was not boasting when I contended that Cleveland would display just as good pitching as Brooklyn. They would have us believe that Brooklyn has the real pitching market cornered. It is my belief that the pitching in the American League is every bit as good as that in the National, and our batting average of .302 [for the regular season] was deservedly earned."
Game 2, Wednesday, October 6. At Brooklyn 3, Cleveland 0 — Burleigh Grimes held the Indians scoreless and didn't allow a runner past second base until the eighth inning as the Dodgers evened up the series before a crowd of 22,559.
"I give Grimes the credit," Speaker told reporters after the game. "He is a good pitcher. He has a great spitball."
Game 3, Thursday, October 7. At Brooklyn 2, Cleveland 1 — The Dodgers jumped on Ray Caldwell for two runs in the first inning, and left-hander Sherry Smith limited Cleveland to three hits. The Indians scored their only run when Speaker raced home from second after his double rolled through the legs of left fielder Zach Wheat in the fourth inning.
"The clubs are very evenly matched, but I think we have the edge on Cleveland in respect to pitchers," Brooklyn manager Wilbert "Uncle Robbie" Robinson told reporters after the game. "The thing needed in a World Series is nerve, and our boys certainly have plenty of it."
Game 4, Saturday, October 9. At Cleveland 5, Brooklyn 1 — This time it was the Indians' turn to jump out to a quick lead. Brooklyn righthander Leon Cadore found himself trailing, 2–0, in the first inning, and another five-hitter by Coveleski helped the Indians knot the series and provided a successful outcome in the first World Series game to be played in Cleveland.
Game 5, Sunday, October 10. At Cleveland 8, Brooklyn 1 — It was quite a day for the Indians and their fans. Bill Wambsganss made the only unassisted triple play in World Series history, pitcher Jim Bagby became the first pitcher to hit a home run in the World Series, and Elmer Smith became the first player to hit a grand slam in the World Series as the Indians, behind Smith's first-inning blast off Grimes, routed the Dodgers.
The Dodgers had runners on first and second in the fifth inning when pitcher Clarence Mitchell, who relieved Grimes, lined a shot toward center field. Wambsganss caught it, stepped on second to double up Pete Kilduff, and then tagged out Otto Miller as he approached second base.
"It was one of the most remarkable games I ever took part in," Speaker told reporters after the game. "I am especially proud of Bill Wambsganss. I am happy for his sake. I trust what he did yesterday will silence the criticism of him forever. Bill is a great player. Any team in the country would be glad to have him."
Game 6, Monday, October 11. At Cleveland 1, Brooklyn 0 — Walter "Duster" Mails pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and threw a three-hitter as the Indians moved within a game of their first World Series championship. Cleveland scored its only run on a two-out single by Speaker in the sixth inning and a double by George Burns.
Game 7, Tuesday, October 12. At Cleveland 3, Brooklyn 0 — Coveleski tied a major league record by recording his third victory in one World Series, and the Indians shut out the Dodgers for the second straight game to win their first baseball championship before a deliriously happy crowd of 27,525 at League Park. The Indians got the only run they needed in the fourth inning, on a throwing error by Grimes, who was working on only two days' rest. They tacked on single runs in the fifth and seventh. At the end of the game, fans swarmed onto the field to celebrate.
"From the start, I never had any doubt of our being able to win the championship of the world," Speaker told reporters after the game. "The American League campaign was what gave us the trouble, but the fact that we had to fight it right out to the finish helped us against Brooklyn. We were playing at top speed when the regular season ended and kept going the same gait until we had won the world's title.
"All the boys have felt the same way. They know they are a good ball club and have known it right along. When we lost two in a row in Brooklyn, none of us was discouraged for we knew we had a better ballclub than Brooklyn and would win if all the breaks were not against us."
Robinson told reporters after the game, "Cleveland has a wonderful ballclub, and Tris Speaker and his men certainly deserve the splendid support they have received from the city. It was a well-fought and honestly played Series. We did our best, but we couldn't hit Cleveland pitching."
CHAMPIONS AGAIN
It was all about Boston for the Indians in 1948.
When Cleveland lost to Detroit, 7–1, and Boston beat New York, 10–5, on the last day of the season, the Indians and the Red Sox finished atop the American League with iddentical 96–58 records, forcing the first AL championship playoff game.
The next day, October 4, Ken Keltner hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning and rookie left-hander Gene Bearden pitched a five-hitter on one day's rest to lift the Indians to an 8–3 victory that clinched the AL pennant. Lou Boudreau went -for-4 with two home runs to help the Indians advance to the World Series for the first time since 1920. Their opponent? The Boston Braves.
Game 1, Wednesday, October 6. At Boston 1, Cleveland 0 — Bob Feller actually outpitched Johnny Sain, allowing just two hits to Sain's four, but a controversial umpire's call in the eighth inning allowed pinch runner Phil Masi to score the game's only run.
"It was a tough one for Feller to lose and a great game for Sain to win, but that's always the way," Boston manager Billy Southworth told reporters after the game.
Feller walked catcher Bill Salkeld to lead off the inning. Masi ran for him and went to second on a sacrifice. Eddie Stanky was intentionally walked to set up the double play. Feller threw to Boudreau to try and pick off Masi, but umpire Bill Stewart called Masi safe, although photos seemed to indicate Masi was out. Feller got Sain to fly out, but Tommy Holmes singled to drive in Masi.
"I'm sure that Masi was out," Boudreau told reporters after the game. "Stewart is a National League umpire, and he is not acquainted with our pickoff play. I don't think he was in a good position to see the tag. I know I got him."
According to author Russell Schneider in the third edition of The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia, years later Masi told Feller that Boudreau had, in fact, tagged him out. Masi also told Feller that Stewart had admitted to him in private that he'd made a mistake.
Game 2, Thursday, October 7. Cleveland 4, at Boston 1 — Player-manager Lou Boudreau and center fielder Larry Doby each had a double and an RBI, and Bob Lemon sprinkled eight hits over nine innings as the Indians rebounded with a 4–1 victory to tie the Series. Ironically, Lemon's throw to Boudreau picked off Earl Torgeson on the same pickoff play in the first inning.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Cleveland Indians by Mary Schmitt Boyer. Copyright © 2008 Mary Schmitt Boyer. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword,Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
The Good,
The Bad,
The Ugly,
In the Clutch,
Numbers Don't Lie (Or Do They?),
It's Not Over 'Til It's Over,
Race Relations,
Take This Job and Shove It,
Soldier Boys,
Pain and Suffering,
Answers,
Notes,