Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 15 – Sandy Alomar

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Countdown to Opening Day – 15 days

Some baseball players have a special connection with a city because of their outstanding talent. Some players have a special connection because of their outstanding personalities.

Former Indians catcher Sandy Alomar had both. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 25 – Jim Thome

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Countdown to Opening Day – 25 days

When Indians legend Jim Thome was first called up to the Major Leagues, he, the Indians, and their fans all had no idea what a ride we were all about to be put on. In fact, even Thome worried about whether or not he would be able to stick around at first. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 29 – Andre Thornton

Join Did The Tribe Win Last Night as we did through the archives back to 2014 for our countdown to Opening Day!

Countdown to Opening Day – 29

Sometimes you can take a ballplayer out of Cleveland, but you can’t take the Cleveland out of the ballplayer. For former Tribe slugger Andre Thornton, it turns out that he’s still got a whole lot of Cleveland left in him and he has no intention of changing that. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 38 – Eric Plunk

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Countdown to Opening Day – 38 days

There were 38 Cleveland Indians players to wear #38 as their jersey numbers prior to the 2016 season, so if the Tribe’s front office wanted to just be ironic, they could have chosen to never pass out the number again and retire it up in the mezzanine level at Progressive Field.

If they were going to retire #38 – not that they should – the man who deserves it the most is probably former reliever Eric Plunk. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 45 – Paul Assenmacher

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Countdown to Opening Day – 45 days

Of the 23 former Cleveland Indians to don the #45 on their back, no player wore it longer – or better – than former southpaw reliever Paul Assenmacher. Read More

Cleveland’s All-Time Opening Day Starting Lineup

Opening Day is like no other day of the year for baseball fans.

The stadium is sold out. Warm weather is on the way. There’s optimism. Everybody is tied for first place. A win can catapult a fan base’s spirit and a loss can crush early dreams.

No other day is full of overreactions quite like Opening Day.

So which Cleveland players have vaulted hopes on the season’s first day the best? I thought it might be interesting to find out and construct a lineup.

In order to be fair, I decided that the player must be in the top three number of games played in Openers started at their position and must have at least five games in under his belt, too. This eliminates any player who went 3-3 in their lone Opening Day contest as well as any pinch hitter who maybe went 1-1 with a home run in their lone Opener. Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 2: Catching Up With Einar Diaz

As Did The Tribe Win Last Night helps fans count down the days until the Indians retake the field in an official Major League game, we look back at some of the players who wore the Cleveland jersey with pride.

Countdown to Opening Day – 2 days

When former Indians catcher Einar Diaz was traded away from the team on December 6, 2002, the Tribe pulled off a heist and received one of the greatest sluggers in team history. Travis Hafner, who came along from Texas with pitcher Aaron Myette in exchange for Diaz and pitcher Ryan Drese, eventually became the Indians’ all-time leader with 187 home runs as a designated hitter and is eighth all-time on the franchise’s home run list with 199. It’s clear that the Indians received the obvious upper-hand in the trade, but Diaz was seen at the time to be a solid, everyday starting catcher due to his previous experience with the Tribe.

Over the course of seven seasons with the Indians, Diaz – who wore #2 throughout his time in Cleveland – played in 456 games while batting .259 with 15 home runs and 139 RBI. Not exactly a prototypical catcher, Diaz also swiped 16 bases during his time with the Indians, including eleven during his first year as a regular in 1999. Prior to that, Diaz had played very sparingly for the Major League club as a September call-up from 1996-98.

“Those were the years that we won a lot of games,” Diaz remembered. “We had some good teams until 2002. Those were good years, man. We had fun over there.” Read More

Countdown to Indians’ Opening Day – 4: Catching Up With David Bell

As Did The Tribe Win Last Night helps fans count down the days until the Indians retake the field in an official Major League game, we look back at some of the players who wore the Cleveland jersey with pride.

Countdown to Opening Day – 4 days

Former infielder David Bell may have only worn the Indians #4 jersey for two games, but the first one, at least, was a very memorable one.

A top prospect in the Tribe system through the early 90’s, the middle infielder was the son of former Tribe All-Star and bench coach Buddy Bell. When he made his Major League debut in May of 1995, his dad was in the dugout as manager Mike Hargrove’s right-hand-man.

“Being in the dugout that day was the best and the worst thing because I was nervous as hell,” the elder Bell said. “It being at the Big League level made it that much worse.” Read More

Record Crowd Sees Tribe Pull Within One Win of World Championship; Indians 2, Braves 1

October 9, 1948

When Larry Doby lifted the World Series’ first home run and starting pitcher Steve Gromek was carving up the Boston Braves lineup, Cleveland Mayor Thomas Burke said to Boston Mayor James Curley, “Your honor, I can just about taste those baked beans.”

This is according to The Plain Dealer, who reported a bet that had occurred between the mayors of the two cities. The mayor of Tribe-town would receive 100 pots of baked beans while the Beantown mayor would get a wooden Indian if their respective cities won the World Series.

Gromek and Doby put Burke one victory away from a truckload of beans when they defeated the Braves 2-1 in Game Four. Read More

Heroes of 1920 on Hand to See Tribe Take Game Three

October 9, 1948

It was the first World Series game that triple play man Bill Wambsganss had seen since his Cleveland Indians defeated the Brooklyn Robins in Game Seven in 1920. The grand slam man, Elmer Smith, had seen a few since, however.

“This is the first series I’ve seen since our 1920 victory,” Wamby shared. “Elmer, of course, played in two other series’ with the New York Yankees.” Read More

Bearden Masterful, Tribe Takes Series Lead; Indians 2, Braves 0

October 8, 1948

Cleveland Indians rookie pitcher Gene Bearden is making quite a name for himself, as he pitched the Tribe’s third straight outstanding game in defeating the Boston Braves, 2-0, and giving the Indians a 2-1 advantage in the World Series in the process.

Bearden used the pinpoint control of his knuckleball to work through the Boston batters, allowing just five hits and no walks in his complete game shutout. The Braves, like the Indians, got excellent pitching as well, but did not get the defensive support from the position players. The Tribe got their first run gift wrapped for them in the third inning, then had to work for one in the fourth.

The starter for Boston, rookie right-hander Vern Bickford, pitched well but was on a short leash from Braves manager Billy Southworth. Bickford worked only three and one-third innings, allowing just the one earned and one unearned run before being pulled in favor of the Boston bullpen. Relievers Bill Voiselle and Red Barrett did an excellent job of shutting the Indians down and keeping the Braves in the ballgame. It was not to be for Boston, however, as Bearden and the Tribe made the two early runs stand up. Read More

The World Series is Back in Cleveland – Series Tied 1-1

October 8, 1948

Large crowds. Cold, rainy weather. Ticket scalpers making profits. An electric atmosphere.

Welcome back Tribe…this time, it’s for all the marbles.

Today, for the first time since October 12, 1920, the city of Cleveland will host a World Series game. The Tribe will take on the National League’s Boston Braves on baseball’s biggest stage with the series tied at one game apiece. Read More