Hearing Jon Heyman write about us as the worst fans in baseball makes me a little sick to my stomach. I really hope fans start turning out sooner rather than later. It bums me out just seeing the attendance each night, let alone hearing a wanker like Jon Heyman addressing it.
I am a Red Sox fan but I had a die-hard Indians fan on my podcast. He talks about 1997 game 7, Josh Beckett's National Anthem singing girlfriend, his love of Kipnis and Choo, and Ubaldo Jimenez's dipping velocity. Really worth a listen.
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Paul Lukas of UniWatch turns his keen eye to a 1958 Cleveland Indians uniform prototype that never made it to the field.
"The surprising Indians ran to the top of the American League with a defense that ranked second in the AL in Defensive Efficiency as recently as May 23, but a 4-14 slump in their ensuing 18 games was joined by a drastic decline in their defensive performance. Cleveland currently ranks 23rd in Defensive Efficiency, 11th in the American League."
"When people talk about awful trades, the conversation always turns to A.J. Pierzynski for Francisco Liriano/Joe Nathan, or Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore/Cliff Lee/Brandon Phillips. But Cabrera was acquired from the Mariners for the last 43 games of Eduardo Perez’s career. When the Mariners gave Cabrera up, they were 41-40 -- only two games out of first place, but hardly a juggernaut. Perez came over to DH, but the Mariners felt like he needed a platoon partner. So they did what most of us would have done, which was give up Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard. Once Mariners fans take enough prescription drugs, they can convince themselves that the Indians really are the 2011 Mariners, and then they don’t mind so much"
Craig Calcaterra tries his hand at this memory game. No Tony Pena or Tony Fernandez for the Tribe, though until you get to the comments.
More at Mistake by the Jake. More designs coming soon!
"We were watching in Tacoma," says his former teammate in the Mariners' organization, Eddie Menchaca, now a manager at Class A Clinton. "The clubhouse erupted, everyone started chanting 'Choo! Choo! Choo!'" A man appeared in the Tacoma clubhouse to see what the commotion was about. It was then Mariners G.M. Bill Bavasi, visiting from Seattle. It was quickly becoming apparent that he had just gifted the Indians their next star.