This time of year is such a special time for me! Spring is
officially here, at least by the calendars standards, not necessarily by what
the weather is actually outside, and that means baseball season is about to
begin. Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, OH, I began playing T-Ball at
age six, not really because I had any interest in it, but because my parents
wanted to find something else for me to enjoy doing besides listening to music,
which was the main thing I wanted to do when I wasn’t in school.
That was the summer of 1993, and if you know baseball
history at all, you know that the Cleveland Indians at that point in time had
been, to be brutally honest, mediocre for almost forty years. Thus I knew
nothing about baseball, the Indians or anything sports related at that point. I
didn’t know the positions or anything and my coach, who was a very patient man,
would always have to tell me where to go on the field.
I continued to play T-ball every summer through 1994, and
1995, when I was eight and could only play one more year. As any fan of
baseball knows, the summer of 1995 was kind of the greatest summer the
Cleveland Indians have had to this point in my lifetime. They would go on to
win 100 games in a strike shortened 144 game season, and that summer I still
didn’t know anything about baseball. Enter my grandfather, who loved the
Indians, and baseball more than any man I have ever known. I will never forget
one summer day in June when he called me aside in my backyard after one of my
T-ball games had ended.
“Jimmy” he said (because that was what my grandfather called
me at that point, later on as I got older it became “Jim”) “It is time you
learn some about the game of baseball, like where each position is on the
diamond, so when your coach says ‘go play shortstop’ you know where to go on
the field.”
“Grandpa, I really don’t need to know that because Coach Ron
always just tells me where to go” I responded.
“Trust me on this, as you get older here you ‘ll want to
know. Why don’t we start by having you watch the Indians games with me
sometimes” he said gently (that is another thing about my grandfather, he had
patience that is truly unparalleled)
“Well, it is kind of boring” I said “But I can do that for a
little bit some”
Over that summer of 95 I was true to my word and watched
snippets of games with my grandfather and he patiently answered any question I
had about the game. By the time autumn rolled around and the Indians entered
the playoffs for the first time in 41 years, I began to actually enjoy watching
the games, and remember feeling quite devastated when the Tribe lost the World
Series that year to the Atlanta Braves.
You baseball historians out there would know that the
Indians had a sellout streak that reached from June of 1995 to April of 2001,
so my grandfather and I didn’t get to go to many games together. The company my
Dad worked for had season tickets, so he once or twice a year would be able to
get tickets to a game. He managed to get four tickets in June of 1995 and he,
my mom, me and of course my grandfather came with us to my first Indians game.
The Tribe won 11-0 that night over the Baltimore Orioles, and I remember how
much my grandfather was enjoying his first trip to Jacob’s Field.
From that point on, my grandfather and I would forever share
a bond over the baseball. He was the one who invented the ‘sockball’ which any
of you who have been at the summer holiday gatherings my parents and I have
hosted in recent years, are familiar with. They are basically rolled up socks
that you can hit around with an aluminum bat in your backyard without having
the threat of breaking any windows or body parts with a real baseball. In order
to help me develop my baseball skills growing up, my grandfather figured this
out, and made the first ‘sockballs’ I owned, to help me practice! I then complimented
his creation with one of my own, the game of ‘sockball’ in my backyard,
complete with strange ground rules for when the ball gets caught in any of the
large trees in my backyard, and a home run porch: the garage roof!
Our Indians bond also grew, as since games were sold out and
my family and I didn’t have cable until 1999, the next three baseball seasons
from 1996-1998 I would often spend summer evenings over my grandparents house
to watch the games that were not on free TV sitting on the coach next to my
grandfather who would sit in his recliner and continue to tell stories about
baseball and the Indians to me, filling in my increasing interest in the
history of the Cleveland boys of summer. He always had such an excitement
whenever he told me about Tribe legends such as Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Larry
Doby, and Satchel Paige.
One other occasion during the sellout streak, I won two
tickets from a roller rink I often attended growing up. I immediately knew I
wanted to go the game with my grandfather. So on May 11th, 2000 we
headed downtown on the rapid to see the Indians square off against the Kansas
City Royals. It was a rainy Thursday evening and the game was delayed at the
beginning. However, by the time we got to our seats, the grounds crew was
coming out to take the tarp off the field! We watched as the players warmed up
and settled down to watch the game. Indians slugger Manny Ramirez would slug a
grand slam home run in the first inning as the Indians were on their way to a
16-0 rout of the Royals, leaving my grandfather and I with more great memories
to talk about and share over the years.
Once the Indians sellout streak ended and I grew older into
high school and college and beyond, my grandfather and I would go to many more
Tribe games together, and also would watch them on TV together when we would
have the opportunity. Even when we weren’t at the game or watching together,
the moment something amazing and exciting would happen it was always a race to
the phone to see who would call whom first!
On September 29th, 2010 my mom and Grandfather
decided last minute to go down to the final two games of the season. Yes you
read that right, it was a double header, and one of the twi-night variety,
meaning the first game started at 4pm and the second game would start 20
minutes after the first one ended. You could see both games for the price of
one ticket! I had dreamed of doing this for years and we decided to seize the
opportunity and go! The Indians would win both games that evening, which
included a very exciting 4-3 win over the Tigers and Justin Verlander in game two,
in which Jason Donald executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt on the sixth
inning to bring home Michael Brantley with what proved to be the winning run!
It was a truly amazing time that was everything I dreamed attendance of a
double header would be! I didn’t know it at the time, but it would also be the
last game my grandfather and I would attend together.
That following summer of 2011, my grandfather’s health began
to decline and he didn’t have the energy to go down to the games in person
anymore. However, we still watched the games at home together and one
particularly stands out in my memory. It was July 7th, 2011 and the
Indians trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. My grandfather
was over at my house, and at this point having trouble with his lungs, and thus
not driving very much on his own. I was set to give him a ride home, but my Mom
said ‘you might as well wait until the game is over’ and so we kinda just all
agreed and sat back down. I have since been forever grateful for my Mom
suggesting that for what would happen shortly afterwards!
Incredibly the Indians staged a stunning rally! Before you
knew it, the Tribe was trailing 4-1 and had the bases loaded with one out and
their best, though often injured power hitter, Travis Hafner was up. On the
first pitch Hafner crushed a belt high fastball that sailed well over the right
field fence for an unbelievable walk off grand slam home run netting the
Indians a 5-4 victory!!! As we all screamed and yelled with zealous enjoyment I
remember looking back at my grandfather who had stood up from the couch with
his arms raised exclaiming ‘oh my
goodness, he did it!!!!”
That would be the last incredible win my grandfather and I
would watch together, as in November of 2011 he would go on to join my
grandmother in Heaven. We are now on the cusp of the beginning of the second
baseball season without my grandfather. The Indians have finally decided to
start spending money again adding such star power as Nick Swisher and Michael
Bourn, not to mention hiring the managerial genius that is Terry Francona!
Thus, while I find myself excited beyond belief for this season to start, I
can’t help but feel a bit sad that my grandfather isn’t here to enjoy what is poised
to be one of the most exciting seasons of Indians baseball since the 1990’s.
Just think if it hadn’t been for the patience of my
grandfather back in that summer of 1995 to patiently teach me about the game of
baseball, I may never have grown to love it as much as he did, and thus never had
the incredible bond that God allowed me to have with him. So tomorrow as the
2013 Indians season kicks off and all throughout this season, I will forever
have my grandfather on my mind as the Indians play each game, knowing that
without his patience I may never have received one of the greatest gifts anyone
has ever given me: a love for the game of baseball!
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