Orel Hershiser
Eighteen Crazy Nights—Looking back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians
March 18, 2013 | Mike Brandyberry
Each week during the 2012-13 offseason DTTWLN will take a look back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians season—specifically the 18 thrilling games of the postseason as the Indians made an improbable run to game seven of the World Series.
PART TWENTY: WORLD SERIES GAME 5—BEHIND THE EIGHT BALL
By Steve Eby
Through four games, the 1997 World Series could not have been more opposite than the American League Championship Series that the Indians had just completed.
During the ALCS, the Indians managed to squeak by with four wins over the heavily favored Orioles despite having only 18 runs cross the plate in six games. They pitched well in the clutch, limiting any damage that Baltimore could have done all series as well as playing solid defense. The two teams combined for a hefty but not unreasonable 10 errors over the six ballgames.
The Fall Classic, however, was a different story. The Tribe had scored a mind blowing 31 runs and had given up 25. Both pitching staffs imploded when they got to the cold air of Cleveland and the defenses had played sloppy and poorly. The Marlins and Indians had combined for an astonishing nine errors through the first four games. Read More
Eighteen Crazy Nights—Looking back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians
January 21, 2013 | Mike Brandyberry
Each week during the 2012-13 offseason DTTWLN will take a look back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians season—specifically the 18 thrilling games of the postseason as the Indians made an improbable run to game seven of the World Series.
PART TWELVE: ALCS GAME 3—SQUEEZING OUT A VICTORY
By Steve Eby
In playoff baseball there are great games, amazing games, legendary games…and then there’s Game Three of the 1997 American League Championship Series.
Unbelievable is really the only word that sums up the game that was played at Jacobs Field on October 11, 1997. It was arguably the most bizarre game in Cleveland Indians history and it was the scene for perhaps the most unimaginable finish in baseball history.
Heading into the game, the series between the Indians and the Baltimore Orioles was tied at one game apiece. The first two contests were played in Baltimore, where the heavily favored Orioles took Game One in dominating fashion and the Tribe used an eighth inning homerun by Marquis Grissom to steal Game Two. The series now shifted back to Cleveland, where the Tribe had played inconsistently all season long. Read More
Eighteen Crazy Nights—Looking back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians
December 24, 2012 | Mike Brandyberry
Each week during the 2012-13 offseason DTTWLN will take a look back at the 1997 Cleveland Indians season—specifically the 18 thrilling games of the postseason as the Indians made an improbable run to game seven of the World Series.
PART EIGHT: ALDS GAME 4—SANDY SAVES THE SEASON
By Steve Eby
On October 4, 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the New York Mets for Game One of the National League Championship Series. Starting for LA was their eventual Cy Young Award winning ace, Orel Hershiser and opposing him was the Mets former Cy Young winner Dwight “Doctor K” Gooden.
Both pitchers were masterful, as Gooden allowed just two earned runs in seven innings of work and Hershiser also gave up two in just over eight. Both pitchers earned a no-decision in the contest, but it was Gooden’s Mets who squeaked out a come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Dodger bullpen. Hershiser and the Dodgers got the last laugh, however, as Los Angeles won the pennant and eventually the championship as Hershiser was named MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series.
Fast forward nine years and one day to October 5, 1997 and Gooden and Hershiser found themselves matching up against each other again. Hershiser was starting for the underdog Cleveland Indians, who were trailing two games to one in the best of five American League Division Series, and Gooden took the mound for the defending World Champion Yankees who were trying to advance to the ALCS for the second year in a row. Read More
The Greatest Summer Ever: Orel Hershiser
July 28, 2012 | Steve EbyEach week through the 26 weeks of the 2012 regular season, DTTWLN will profile and break down the roster of arguably the most exciting sports team that Cleveland has ever seen; the 1995 Cleveland Indians. The ’95 Tribe won 100 games in a strike-shortened 144 game schedule, won their first Central Division title and made the playoffs and World Series for the first time since 1954. Six players made the American League All-Star team, eight players batted .300 or better, and the pitching staff had the lowest ERA in the American League. The players have been ranked from the most important to the Tribe’s success to the 26th. This week breaks down #10 Orel Hershiser.
Orel Hershiser will forever be remembered in baseball lore as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers and his trademark will be his magical 1988 season. In ’88, Hershiser tossed a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings, won the National League Cy Young Award and a Gold Glove, led the league in wins and won the NLCS and World Series MVP Awards as his Dodgers beat the heavily favored Oakland A’s in the Fall Classic. Baseball lore is correct for remembering “The Bulldog” as a Dodger and for throwing one of the best pitching seasons in history.
In Cleveland, however, fans have their own memories of Hershiser. Orel officially signed on with the Indians as a free agent on April 8, 1995, but in the minds of Cleveland fans, Hershiser became an Indian for life later that year on October 26.
