A Cleveland Miracle
Posted: April 8th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball, Cleveland | 27 Comments »
How about this banner day: FOUR posts. Absurd.
But I have to get this out there. I have written at great length here about what it has been like for me growing up a Cleveland sports fan. There was my childhood — 1967 to 1980 — when every single team I rooted for sucked with the notable exception of the Miracle at Richfield Cleveland Cavaliers. As I have written before, all you need to know about my sports fan childhood is that we called it a “miracle” when the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship in 1976 …
Oh, wait, the Cavaliers didn’t win that championship.
So, no, to correct … we called it a “miracle” when the Cavaliers reached the NBA Finals …
Oh, no actually, they didn’t reach the NBA Finals either.
So, yeah, we called it “The Miracle At Richfield,” when the Cleveland Cavaliers reached the EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS.
Notable miracles:
– Parting of the Red Sea.
– Feeding 5,000 (not counting women and children) with five loaves of bread and two fish.
– A spider spinning “Some Pig” in her spiderweb.
– The 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team beating the Soviets.
– Claudette Rogers.
– The continued career of Carrot Top.
What, next to those, is a Cleveland Cavaliers team almost reaching the NBA Finals (and, to be blunt, not really getting all that close)? But that’s how desperate we were for something, anything, to call our own success. The Cleveland Indians were bad enough in those years to inspire the movie Major League*, and the Browns were not even good enough yet to break any hearts. And the Cuyahoga River caught fire. And Lake Erie was more polluted than the Cuyahoga River. And the city went bankrupt. And so on.
*And I am hoping to have a blog post featuring writer/director David Ward … we’ll see about that.
That was my first life as a Cleveland sports fan. The second life was, in many ways, even more painful. That was my teenage and college years, dealing with pathetically close calls, with Brian Sipe’s interception in the end zone (“I love you Brian!”), with a 98-yard drive, with an Ernest Byner fumble, with the 1987 “Believe it!” Sports Illustrated cover, with David Robinson making a lean-in shot to beat Cleveland State, with Michael Jordan shooting over Craig Ehlo, on and on and on.
Now, there’s a third life. The Indians reached the World Series twice and the Browns left Cleveland and the new Browns came in and LeBron became a member of the Cavaliers, and now Cleveland seems to be someplace in between. Of course, no Cleveland team has won a championship since ‘64, but now Cleveland doesn’t feel either pathetic or utterly cursed. No, the sports scene is sort of this strange purgatory … it does not seem impossible for a Cleveland team to win a championship, but it also doesn’t seem especially likely. We’re in a truce … and nobody knows when fighting will break out again.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, yes, it is with great pride that this South Euclid native can offer this gift to my hometown: We are on the bring of a real Cleveland miracle. My Cleveland Indians baseball team is up 3 games to 1 against Bill James’ Boston Red Sox in the Seamheads Historical Baseball World Series.
So, it is with great pride that I can offer this bit of good news for my hometown … we are on the brink of a Cleveland Miracle. My Cleveland Indians baseball team is one game away from beating Bill James’ Boston Red Sox and winning the Seamheads Historical Baseball World Series.
Now, at this point you may say: Are you writing AGAIN about your little fantasy baseball league? And I would respond: Yes I am. This is because I have never won a fantasy sports league of any kind, ever. I am absolutely terrible at these things. The only reason I’m in position to give Cleveland a moment of glory now is because I made the executive decision to not do ANYTHING all season long. I’m always at my best when I do nothing.
Quickly: The Seamheads League involved a bunch of people around the country choosing the best players ever from one franchise. So, my guy Vackie got the Chicago White Sox, and Curt Schilling managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Roy Firestone got the Baltimore Orioles, and J.C. Bradbury got the Braves in all its cities, and Jonah Keri got the Montreal Expos and delightful Cards writer Derrick Goold got the Arizona Diamondbacks/Colorado Rockies and so on and so on.
I did spend a little time picking the Indians roster. I asked you brilliant readers for some thoughts, and I went to my all-things-Cleveland hero Scott Raab for his suggestions, and I put together what I thought was a pretty good team. And then — I sort of forgot about it. I would check in every so often, and for a while the Indians were bad, and then they played a bit better, but I didn’t really think about it until the last month of the year when I had to make certain that Duane Kuiper got at least one at-bat.
Then, the playoffs began, and the Indians won the first round, and then they were locked up against the Keri’s gutsy Montreal Expos. Then I made my second executive decision: I made sure that Bob Feller NEVER pitched again for my team. I have enormous respect for Feller, of course. But he was getting raked game after game. So I yanked him. This decision led me to pitch Stan Coveleski, who won the clincher 12-2.
And now the Indians face Bill’s Boston Red Sox, who thoroughly dominated during the season. They went 103-51, by far the best record in the league. They started Cy Young in Game 1, Pedro Martinez in Game 2 and Lefty Grove in Game 3. That’s a pretty good threesome.
And that’s where the Cleveland miracle comes in. Game 1, Earl Averill whacked three hits, including a three-run homer in the eighth, and the Indians won 6-2.
In Game 2, Jim Thome hit a two-run homer off of Kyle Farnsworth, er, Pedro Martinez, and Gaylord Perry had the spitter going, and Doug Jones closed the door in the ninth inning, and the Indians won again 5-2.
Tribe lost a 6-5 heartbreaker in 10 innings in Game 3 … Carlton Fisk’s double scored Billy Goodman all the way from first base in the 10th. You could feel that Cleveland thing beginning to happen.
But no … Game 4, a sensational 10-inning performance by Addie Joss (10 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned, 1 walk, 1 strikeout) was made good by Nap Lajoie’s single in the 10th, scoring Roberto Alomar and giving the Indians a 3-2 victory.
And now, the Indians are one victory away from the Virtual Dream. But I do have to tell you, I don’t have any champagne chilling, and I’m not thinking about the tickertape parade along Warrensville, no, not yet. Because I know, in my heart, that this is still Cleveland, and a virtual Joel Skinner could be out there, ready to hold up a virtual Lou Boudreau at third base. My virtual Joe Jackson might have been talking with some computer generated gamblers. The virtual MannyBManny might demand a trade. No, it’s not in the bank, not by a longshot.
But we’re close. So close. Rock n’ Roll! Hello Cleveland! Hello Cleveland!
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How’d Kuiper do in his at-bat? I’m guessing a long home run to center.
Alas Ground out to pitcher.
Warrensville *Avenue*? Don’t you mean Warrensville Center Road?
I have to dispute “The Cleveland Indians were bad enough in those years to inspire the movie Major League, and the Browns were not even good enough yet to break any hearts.”
By the time Major League was being written, we’d already suffered through Red Right 88 (which you later mentioned) — unless you meant the “inspiration” of the 1899 Spiders and Frank Robison’s accursed scheming, but that was juust a bit outside your ‘67-to-’80 timeframe as well.
Also: An entire post about your fantasy league with nary a link? (Not even to your book?) Guess I’ll have to look through the archives ;-P
I’m rooting for you, Joe (as are the Expos players whose souls your team crushed). That Red Sox rotation is absolutely obscene.
When Lebron brings you guys a title this summer it’ll be good times.
Joe, even the Sox fans are pulling for you, but do yourself a favor and don’t invite Beckett’s ex to sing the anthem, okay?
Good luck, Joe, but I have to say, I’m absolutely shocked that you wrote this before the deed was done. Oh hell, what am I talking about, it’s not like the Indians could ever, ever blow a 3-1 lead in a championship series to the Red Sox, right? I just can’t imagine such a thing happening in real life. Oh, no.
Good lord, man, you’re doomded, as Bruce Pearson would say.
I’m rooting for you, but this post is just crazy!
Just the idea of writing about this and informing us of an impending Cleveland Miracle all but guarantees that the hated Red Sox are gonna come back and win the Series.
Shame on you, Joe. Shame on you.
But good luck anyway!
Spinal Tap should sing the anthem. Assuming they can find the field.
Ah. I see that you won game 5 and the Series. DESPITE this blog post. Congratulations! To all Cleveland Indians ever! Well, except the vast majority who didn’t make the roster. But still.
Pulling Bob Feller was a good move. I mean, in the history of the franchise, how many players have had statues out in front of the stadium? Rapid Robert. One.
Wouldn’t the parade go down Carnegie? Turn on Ontario, go past the Jake and then through public square, maybe down Superior?
Why would the parade be on the east side?
Congratulations on your victory, Joe. Remember your post a little while ago about rooting for the story instead of rooting for your team? Well, the story here, clearly, was for the Virtual Indians to win, but apparently I’m such a Red Sox homer that I was hoping even the digital version would come back and crush Cleveland’s hopes and dreams. I guess I’m just a heartless bastard.
Bill James didn’t start Curt Schilling in a playoff game? Doesn’t he know about intangibles and heart and guts? Fire the manager!
Congrats on the championship! Also, I thought this was originally going to be about the Cavaliers having the best record in the NBA- there might be another championship in Cleveland’s future very soon Joe.
Is there a place to see the box scores and play-by-play? Retrosheet?
“Bill James didn’t start Curt Schilling in a playoff game?”
Schilling was the owner of another team (Pirates?) in the league, so he probably couldn’t due to quantum physics or some such.
Oh wow! I’m somewhat amazed that the Indians didn’t go on to blow the next three games like they did in 2007, and benching Bob Feller before the finals isn’t exactly the same as doing nothing all season long, but congratulations!
I don’t know about the play by play, but the box scores are on seamheads.com (look in the historical league section)
“In Game 2, Jim Thome hit a two-run homer off of Kyle Farnsworth, er, Pedro Martinez”
Nope. Never happened. I’m sorry Joe, but I can’t believe that sentence can ever been constructed in the English language. And this from a devout fantasy addict. I mean, c’mon. That alone is reason enough to seriously question my faith in anything a computer could simulate.
In terms of post season stats shouldn’t he have pitched Babe Ruth?
Didn’t the Cav’s reach the finals in 2007? Hopefully they win this year. (Well, I’d hate for LA to win. )
I am, of course, delighted that the Indians won game 5 by a score of 5-3, thus taking the World Series from Boston 4-1, even more handily than they did back in 1948.
One quibble with the league, though. Tris Speaker was allowed to play for both teams, despite his 1519 games and 6628 PA as an Indian and his mere 1065 g and 4551 PA in Boston. As long as the Tribe win, I guess it doesn’t really matter, but. . . .
A grave injustice has been brought to my attention, and I must make the facts known to my fellow Blog Commentors.
The B-R page of Duane Kuiper, boyhood hero of our Joe, has been sponsored by…
…wait for it…
Some Giants fan named Merkin who posts on Giantsboard.com
This is total BS. I’m not quite sure how to fix this problem, but Joe MUST become the B-R sponsor for Duane Kuiper. There is no ifs, ands or buts about this.
Thing is, I don’t know how to go about this. I feel like there needs to be some sort of petition started, or some such thing. I am open to suggestions. But this must not stand, man.
Getting people to write “Circle Me Bert!” on a midwestern sports collumnist’s free blog is one thing, but being able to getting said collumnist the sponsor spot on Duane Kuiper’s B-R page?? Now that’s something to put on your tombstone.
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Joe, I see that in the final game you put Al Rosen at first base for the ninth inning and left Thome at third. I think you were risking a wild throw and a broken finger there. But all’s well that ends very well.
David in Toledo:
Lots of players played for multiple teams. If you check the stats leaders you will see Robbie Alomar was in the top 5 in games played for the league 3 times!!! (Blue Jays, Indians and Padres, I think).
And somehow, the Boston Lefty Grove and the Boston Cy Young were a lot better than the A’s Lefty Grove and the Cardinals Cy Young.
In August, there was a sweet pitching duel between Lefty Grove and Lefty Grove (the BoSox Grove won 1-0)