I have friends who have been disgusted about the losing patterns of all Cleveland teams.  It has been a long time since the Browns or Indians have had a championship.  Give credit where credit is due, Cleveland fans may be the greatest in sports.  You have to give props to people who spend their money to come and root for teams that have not won the way Cleveland fans do.  If you look at other cities, such as Philadelphia, fans would have given up moons ago if they had to suffer the way the poor Cleveland fans have.  In a city that boos Santa Claus, as Philly fans have,  twenty years is an eternity to wait for something good to happen.

Another sad situation of the loyalty factor is that when we Indians fans travel outside of Ohio and happen to have an Indians hat on, we are constantly on the defensive of all verbal ribbings.  “Do you wear that simply as a sunblock?”, was asked of me in Myrtle Beach, SC, last summer by a Yankees fan.    The nerve of that guy.  That team pays more than the 2009 stimulus bill and can’t win anything, but those fans are always right in their own eyes.

My advice to fellow Indians fans would be hang in there.  Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro are approaching the talent level the Indians enjoyed in the mid-1990′s.  The Indians will be in contention, and God willing, can catch a few breaks to win it all.  The key will be to stay injury free and playing smart fundamental baseball.

Spring Training:  The Tribe got clobbered in the late Innings by the Arizona Diamondbacks, 15-9.  Cleveland drops to 0-2 in the very young exhibition season.  To me, at least for the first couple of weeks, the final score of an exhibition game should be registered after the fifth inning.  Beyond the fifth inning, prospects, has-beens, and wanna- be’s are basically playing a pickup game.

Hello Tribe fans! I am the new blogging host of Deep Left Field and my name is

I was really debating on what to do for a nice first post. Why not be a little nostalgic and take a trip down memory lane. I want to share with you all I have learned about Municipal Stadium, the home of the Indians from 1931-1993. The bluegrass surface also served as home for the Cleveland Browns. The stadium cost $3 million to build in 1931. It was renovated in 1967 for $5 million, and again in 1974 for $3.6 million. The seating capacity for baseball was 74, 483. Originally, Cleveland voters approved building the stadium by a margin of 2-1 in November of 1928. However, a series of lawsuits and negative media attention revealed issues which soured the majority of supporters. By the time Municipal Stadium was formally opened on July 1, 1931, it was generally regarded as a mistake. This is where the “Mistake by The Lake” tag originated.

The very first Indians game played at the old stadium was on July 31, 1932. The first night game happened on June 27, 1939. The last home game was on October 3, 1993.  Here are some memorable moments from Municipal Stadium:

• Hosted MLB All-Star game in 1935, 1954, 1963, and 1981.
• Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak ended here on July 17, 1941.
• On September 23, 1949, Bill Veeck buried the 1948 pennant in center field before a game, the day before the Indians were mathematically eliminated.  ( Can you say goat?)
• On June 4, 1974 the Indians were forced to forfeit a game when drunk and unruly fans took over the field and would not leave.
• No player ever hit a ball into the center field bleachers at Municipal Stadium.

On a personal level, I recall going to Municipal Stadium several times as a young baseball fan, especially in my late teens toward the end of Municipal Stadium.  It was great to buy a $4.00 bleacher seat and be two rows behind the first base dugout by the fourth inning every time we went.  I graduated high school with 30 other people.  We had a good football team in 1984, co-champions of our conference.  In the fifth week, the weather was particularly bad — rainy, cold and miserable.  We drew about 1500 because we were playing an undefeated team.  I will never forget opening my paper the next day to see that my high school football team drew more people than a Cleveland Indians home game did — true story! (more…)