Important Days in Cleveland History

Today is an off-day, so I'm catching up on other work and tinkering with the site to bring this new Doc Wahoo's blog up to par. But everyone in Cleveland should take a moment today to remember and celebrate one of the most important nights in our history, the anniversary of 10¢ Beer Night.

Paul Tepley, Cleveland Press

Yes, this is Cleveland. We can make terrible mistakes, look like idiots, and look back on it all like you look back on the hazy, halcyon memories of bad life choices in college. Because sometimes all you can do is laugh at yourself.

Meanwhile, we've all grown up, or at least we pretend to. Cleveland, along with its excellent baseball, has become a fabulous center for innovative culinary arts and an unparalleled town for craft beer. Perhaps to celebrate our checkered past and show how we've matured over the years, today is a good day to celebrate some of Cleveland's amazing offerings. Great local craft beer can be had from Market Garden Brewery & Distillery, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Indigo Imp Brewery and several others. We have a thriving local community of bloggers and reviewers to guide you in the ways of local food and beer. And there is no shortage of great local stores to guide you through the offerings in local beer and craft brews, like Rozi's Wine House in Lakewood or the new Lizardville whiskey bar & beer stores.

Finally, if you can't laugh off the shame from our youthful failings, I highly recommend a visit to Lilly Handmade Chocolates in Tremont.  Lilly is a great destination for finding outstanding craft beers and specialty wines, but the unbelievable chocolate has magical healing and uplifting powers if you need to forget your own role in the events of June 4, 1974.

Vintage Baseball, Cleveland Style

As dearly as I love the Tribe, they aren't the only game in town. This afternoon I went out to League Park to watch the Cleveland Blues play a match of vintage baseball against the visiting Rochester Grangers. Playing with period equipment according to rules from the 1860's, the Blues recreate an earlier stage in the development of the sport.

Perhaps the most charming aspect was the respect and good will shared by all the players and fans. Sitting by the first base bag, every "striker" to reach base was greeted with a complement from the first baseman and a handshake. After the visiting team won 9-8, both teams thanked and cheered each other, including the visiting Rochester nine joining in singing "For Love of the Game" to praise the Cleveland Blues.

The original Blues were Cleveland's team in the National League from 1878-1884. Perhaps most notably, the Blues were the hosts of the first ever perfect game in baseball. The current Blues play at the site of League Park, which will soon be renovated and hopefully continue to provide a focal point for Cleveland's baseball history and an appropriate home park for the Blues vintage base ball games.

So a delightful afternoon in the park and a fun game to watch. Good to see this group's dedication to both the history of the game and to having a good time playing! The Blues have a schedule posted with a number of upcoming games this summer, and members of both the Blues and the visiting Rochester Grangers will be out at the Rally Alley before tonight's Indians game. So if you're at the game, go meet some of our other Cleveland team and find out about the history of vintage baseball, or go check them out on the field.

Of Many "What If"s

Last years' Cleveland Indians “What If?” advertising campaign was well received by many of us, to say the least. The short commercial managed to capture the scope and depth of so much of what we celebrate and enjoy about baseball and its history in Cleveland.

And, as someone who always thinks that if you can't be at a game, baseball is best watched on the radio, I thought the radio versions were even better than the video. The simple and unanswered question “What if it never happened?” reminded us of a long history at League Park, Municipal Stadium, and Jacobs' Field. It connected us with Tris Speaker, Lou Boudreau, Rocky Colivato, and the great and recently passed Bob Feller. It reminded us that our history included the pioneering activities of the first Larry Doby as African-American player in the AL and Frank Robinson as the first African-American manager. Most of all, it connected all these together into a single thread.

Perhaps, then, we should reconsider one of the questions it posed last year: “What if the 90's were just the 90's?”

I first came to Cleveland and became a fan of the Indians in the 90's, yet the connection to that longer history is more important than just recalling a brief period of sellouts and division titles. In fact, knowing I may be approaching blasphemy with his statement, in many ways the 90's were not the end-all-be-all of baseball. We were winning, true. There was excitement, also true. 455 sellouts. But I also saw a team eventually move from building a championship group of players to maintaining the status quo. Instead of developing a generation of players, we now had to pay the same outrageous payrolls and trade for star power. The ill-fated trade to bring John Rocker to Cleveland really made me reconsider if this was a team worth cheering for, or just another baseball business meeting financial success.

Thus I'm a bit disturbed by this year's continuation of the “What If” spots. Unlike last year's evocative and emotional ad connecting us with a longer past, this year seems more concerned with the idea of bringing back the 90's.

Thome was great – Thome came back. Alomar was great – Alomar came back. Lofton! Back in some capacity. 455 sellouts … please come back?

 The 90's were a good time for baseball in Cleveland. But for me, they were great not because of our victories. The real greatness came from sharing seasons in a good town for baseball. Many others hav written about the unique set of conditions we had at the time: the Cavs didn't matter, the Browns were gone, the Jake was novel, etc.

 What no one can account for is the difference between then and now in terms of the fans I met and how fluently and insightfully everyone was talking about baseball. I remember talking to older fans on the train who told me about the starting rotations they grew up with. I remember listening to Herb Score call games, sometimes forgetting who was playing, and my coworkers forgiving him and telling me why they loved listening to him. (I'm almost certain one game in 1997 he called a play where Feller was pitching to Mickey Mantle.) What I miss most about the 90's isn't the players whose memories I still cherish, nor the sellout streak that meant I almost never got to go to a game. What I miss is that this was a great town for baseball, with fans who knew and loved the game.

 So what if the 90's were just the 90's? What if it we lost the world series in 1995? What if 1997 was a heartbreaking year? It's part of our history, and what if it's just one more part of a long tradition?