forever WAHOO

The best part of baseball is the connection to generations, and that certainly helped me get closer to my dad.  When you can talk about the game of which relatives share different names and faces wearing the common uniform, it bridges the gap of time.  I love the history of the sport, and seeing my dad enjoy it throughout his life until he passed in May 2020, I can't help but feel good despite the business's many flaws.

My dad was born near Cleveland in the 1920s, so he's seen a lot.  He attended games at League Park just East of downtown Cleveland, and began a love for the game.  The Indians won the World Series in 1948 when he was serving overseas in the Navy, so he missed out on the celebration in town.  Later, after getting an assignment in DC, he attended Senators games, but his allegiance was still with the Erie Warriors.

Fast forward to the early 1980s, my dad wanted to go back home, so we took a road trip up to Cleveland.  We managed to get tickets to old Municipal Stadium with a few hundred, maybe a thousand or two, fans.  The capacity was about 70,000, so it was amazing how much you could hear during such a poorly attended game.  Didn't matter, it was awesome.

As a real young kid, I was elated to get typical gear like a hat, glove (just in case) and a couple Chief Wahoo items.  Needless to say, the experience was amazing and I was hooked on baseball and the Cleveland Indians.

I watched games and followed stats and standings, starting with cards I got back in '82.  We made a couple more trips in the '80s and did not get back up to Cleveland until 1998, after the amazing run by "that lineup" Tribe fans will never forget.

Being from Orlando, what really got me close to the team was Grapefruit League Spring Training.  Unfortunately, however, it took Hurricane Andrew and the devastation to Homestead, FL, which was to become the new home after the Indians were to leave their Cactus League home, Hi Corbett Field.  With the Boston Red Sox having just vacated Winter Haven, FL, and the Indians in need of a new reservation, Winter Haven worked and the Tribe moved in.

The Indians ended up staying 16 years, and many days in March were spent about 60 miles from home.  Hours watching practice and chasing players for autographs.  It was my break and distraction and almost felt like it became an obsession... who will I meet and how many autographs can I get in a day?  It was made much easier because of the venue.  

Chain of Lakes Park opened in 1966, so this was not a modern stadium in any sense.  What it did provide, however, is a connection to the game to which few current parks even come close.  Players had to walk between clubhouses and practice fields and via a number of publicly accessed areas.  After attending a few games I picked up on the routine and spots to hang out on game days and non-game days, although I rarely ever made the drive on non-game days.

I became a Season Ticket Holder in the early 2000s and occupied a left field bleacher seat, Section NN Row 1 Seat 1, right on the corner of the seating.  That allowed me a quick exit when visiting players headed to the clubhouse behind third base.  That helped me get autographs of all the other teams and balance out the quantities collected of my Ohio favorites.

When the team left in 2008, it felt bitter.  I know I made myself feel that way, but if you really love a team and the experience surrounding it and invest it with time and money, you have to take it personally.  I felt like I was losing a family member or a house, since so much time was spent there as part of the annual ritual.  On top of losing the Tribe, I lost my mom in 2008 and about three months after last pitch. She was an ardent Tribe fan, sometimes more so than my dad.  Yeah, 2008 was a tough year.

As the Tribe continued spring practices in Arizona, about 2200 miles away from what I knew, I kept in the loop via the At Bat app and WTAM 1100.  That's one thing over the years and the internet access back in the early 90s, if there was a way to listen to a game, I'd find it. 

There were disappointing years from the time they left until the incredible run in 2016 when it looked like they might be able to, as Jake Taylor said in Major League, "win the whole *** thing!"   That World Series against the Cubs was one of the most exciting couple of weeks I experienced as a fan.  I knew a lot more about the game than I had back in the Series of 1995 and 1997.  

Since the loss of the Series to the Cubs, the Tribe has sputtered and not been able to piece together a team that could revisit the success of 2016.  Couple that with the team ownership giving up Chief Wahoo to cement being awarded the All-Star game in 2019, and now the looming transition of the 100+ year moniker Indians, it's a whole new world.  It's again the change in life that occurs over the years and generations.  As I watch my fellow fans struggle with what we know of a source of comfort, enjoyment and consistency, I think of James Earl Jones and part of his famous line in "Field of Dreams:"

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again.

I have been lucky to love a tough-luck team for 40+ years, and I'll continue to do so, and I hope to go into more detail about parts of the Tribe experience in the coming months and years here.

Thanks for reading, and Go Tribe!

CC