Remembering The Summer Of 1995: A collection of national and local news stories interplayed with personal stories about one of the great eras of Northeast Ohio's history

When I first began assembling this list back in January, I had no idea what was about to descend upon our country. I had no idea that a then mostly unknown virus would wrap it’s invisible hands around the world and cause it to come to a screeching halt in mid-March.I had no idea that the dawning of the Summer of 2020 would arrive Memorial Day weekend in Ohio and most of the country would still be on a semi stay at home order, and no Major League Baseball games would be taking place. Yet, here we are. On the precipice of a summer that will mark 25 years since the legendary Cleveland summer of 1995.

In the summer of 1995 I was eight years old and playing T-Ball in Parma’s Recreational Summer Little League. My sister was five and playing her first summer of T-Ball. Her games were in the morning and evening and my games were in the afternoon and evening. They somehow coordinated schedules for families so no two children had games at conflicting times.

I truly began to develop a love for morning hours that summer, as my sister had games at 9am, so I spent time outside in the earlier morning sunshine while accompanying my mother and sister to her games. I distinctly remember walking over to one of the empty ball fields in the Nike Park complex and sitting in the empty bleachers simply being thrilled to be outside and enjoying the warm summer sun when I saw a deer deep out in the outfield run across the grass. Back then, deer were a far rarer site in Parma than they are now.

Below begins a list by date of both historical news stories, and personal memories that I have, from that summer in Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you enjoy it and perhaps it jogs some memories of your own. Please share any stories you have from that summer in the comments section below. I would love to hear your stories!

May 28th- A Memorial Day Weekend storm blows through Bagley Rd in Berea. It rips the roof off of a section of Crest Apartments, and does heavy damage to the intersection of Eastland and Bagley Roads. No reports of any tornados touching down surface, but funnel cloud activity was in the area.

June 12- The Indians sellout streak of 455 straight games begins. It lasts until April 3rd of 2001.

June 13th- I attended my first ever Indians game with my parents and grandfather. The Indians beat the Orioles and Mike Mussina 11-0. Jim Thome and Albert Belle blasted home runs, while Dennis Martinez pitched a complete game. At the time, the game set the attendance record in the brief history of Jacob’s Field.

The OJ Simpson Trial runs from January 24th, and all summer (where the famous ‘glove incident’ happened on June 15th) until a ‘not guilty’ verdict reached October 3rd. The news coverage was a daily part of every cable news network.

The City of Cleveland has a ton of Ozone Action days due to several heat waves that slam the city hard (June 17th-June 21st, July 12th-July 17th, July 26th-August 4th, and August 11th-21st) This summer goes down as of the hottest summers in Cleveland history. I remember playing some afternoon T Ball games that umpires shortened to three instead of four innings because of the heat. Honestly, I wasn’t bothered by it too much. I drank water and dumped it in my hat periodically and was fine.

June 22nd- The still new collaboration between Major League Baseball and NBC and ABC known as “The Baseball Network” is dissolved due to both TV networks losing so much money in 1994 due to the MLB strike, and their desire to extend the six year deal an extra season into 2000, to make up for the strike. MLB refused to agree to that and thus the networks agreed that they would quit televising baseball after the 1995 World Series. Thus the 1995 MLB Playoffs and World Series would be one and only year these two networks had postseason coverage, and most were glad about that, as all playoff games started at the same time and were broadcast regionally, so for example in Cleveland, one could watch the Indians (yay!) but couldn’t see any of the other playoff games being played. The deal worked fine during the regular season, when a game either on Saturday night, Monday night or Friday night was aired on ABC or NBC, as most people just want to see their local team during the regular season, but to stick to that format for postseason play was proved to be a mistake.

June 23rd- Federal and state agents surround a home on Stratford Avenue around 7pm in Parma to question a man. The man answers the door in the company of a large dog and states he will comply with agents requests after securing his dog. He shuts the door and never comes back. Officers keep the house surrounded throughout the evening until it is determined the man is no longer in the house, having apparently slipped out the back door and crawled through a hole in the fence. Four years later the man, Michael R. Stedman is arrested in Bangkok by Thai police, having taken on a new alias of Duncan Robert Allen Smith, in connection with a two separate 1994 Cleveland crimes; a murder and an arson.

June 25th- Akron native cartoonist Tom Batiuk stirs local and national controversy when he portrays an attempted teen suicide in his comic strip “Funky Winkerbean.”

June 30th- Eddie Murray reaches the 3,000 hit plateau in a 4-1 Indians win in Minnesota. Many fans are downtown for the annual Cleveland Orchestra “Stars and Stripes Forever” performance, taking place the weekend before the Fourth of July, are watching the game on portable televisions or listening on transistor radios

July 1st- I witness a child get bit by a dog for the first time at my church’s Fourth of July weekend cookout. This caused me to develop a bit of a fear of dogs for the next couple of years, until I met other friends’ dogs who were friendly. Now I love dogs.

July 4th- Bob Ross, famous for his syndicated painting instructional program “The Joy Of Painting” passes away due to Lymphoma, an illness he had battled privately for a few years. Amazingly, Ross has become even more popular among Millennials today, who value his calm demeanor and love for nature in his artwork. Clips from “The Joy of Painting” episodes get millions of streams on YouTube each week.

July 5th- A Massive Thunderstorm hits town. Channel 19 loses it’s broadcast signal halfway through “Christie” episode, and the Indians 2-0 victory over the Texas Rangers is delayed twice by rain, and Jacob’s Field also suffers a power outage after a lightning strike near the stadium.

July 7th- The Wyndham Hotel opens to much fanfare in Playhouse Square on Euclid Avenue. The hotel still stands now 25 years later and is considered one of the finest in the city.

July 7th-9th- Steve Taylor headlined “Alternafest” a three day Christian alternative rock concert at Norwalk Alliance Church in Huron OH. Artists who performed included Steve Taylor, Starflyer 59, The 77’s, The Throes, The Prayer Chain, Sixpence None The Richer and Hoi Polloi. Boy I was I had been older than age eight and familiar with these artists back then. This had to be quite a festival! Sadly from what I can find, this was the first and last Alternafest.

July 9th- Vincent Drost, a Lakewood man who was a composer and musician, is stabbed and killed by five youths who were bored and looking for “something to do.” The horrific and senseless murder stirs fear in what was then, and still is now, considered to be a safe city. The teens responsible are all tried and found guilty of murder and manslaughter, and served time or a still serving time for their actions.

July 13th- The now famous and well documented midwest “Right Turn Derecho” slams NE Ohio out of the blue, coming off Lake Erie, wiping out power everywhere including my Parma home where it went out while my sister and I were watching an episode of the Three Stooges, (“Flat Foot Stooges”) I had recorded from Channel 55 the previous weekend. It also wiped out the Indians game versus Oakland downtown that night in the third inning of a 2-2 tie. This would be the only rainout in Cleveland that entire summer; though many games had long rain delays.

July 17th- On Bader Ave in Old Brooklyn, a home owned by William Cristwell explodes around 10:32am, damaging over 20 houses on the street. Cristwell survived despite suffering burns to over 90 percent of his body and spending months in the hospital. Investigations later pinpointed a gas leak in Cristwell’s home being the cause, and some still felt it was a suspicious explosion, perhaps intentionally set by the man himself, who had at the time recently suffered from depression. Cristwell was never charged with anything and eventually moved down to Florida to be near family.

August 1st-15th- Heather McLaughlin, a three year old on Cleveland’s West Side is murdered by the roommate and friend of her mother Misty McLaughlin, after she was put to bed on August 1st. After a two week long search, her body is found in a revine a mile from her home. The story captivated the local West Side community with many volunteers pitching in time to aid in the search.

August 9th- Jerry Garcia, leader of classic rock band The Grateful Dead dies from heart complications, ending the yearly run of touring the band had done since the 1960’s.

August 12th-26th- My first family car caravan road trip with my parents and grandparents to Colorado and back to Ohio takes place. We travelled to visit my Uncle, Aunt and cousin in the Denver area. It was a lot of fun, as I took turns riding in our family’s Dodge Caravan, and my grandparents Toyota, with my trusted cassette player next to me to listen to my favorite tunes on. We encountered a thunderstorm driving at night in Nebraska that featured some of the most majestic cloud to cloud lightning I have ever seen! It was epic! We would do this whole trip again in the same manner in 1998, and it also was fun, but there was nothing like this first one for me!

August 22nd- The first Wal-Mart in Cuyahoga County opens in Strongsville. Yes, you read that right! It is hard to believe that Wal-Mart really has only been the main Big Box store in America for the last 15 years or so.

August 31st- Miller’s Dining Room, the popular Lakewood family restaurant, burns down in the wee hours of the morning. The investigation seems to indicate a problem with the furnace in the basement of the building was the cause of the blaze. Sadly, the owners were never able to rebuild the restaurant, and apartments that were above, and the burned out building was eventually turn down, and an Auto Zone now sits on the site today.

September 1st- The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Opens and a full Labor Day weekend of rock concerts take place at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to commemorate the occasion including Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and many others.

September 6th- Cal Ripken officially breaks Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak as he plays in his 2,131st straight baseball game. A sellout crowd at Camden Yards gives him a nearly 20 minute ovation after the top of the fifth inning when the game became official. Ripken reluctantly at the encouragement of his teammates took a victory lap around the ballparks periphery as Whitney Houston’s classic “One Moment In Time” player over the PA system. Many credit this as a major healing moment for players and fan relations still strained from the players strike that cancelled the 1994 playoffs and World Series, which had also bled over into wiping out 18 games of the 1995 season.

September 8th-Indians clinch first division in 41 years. The city celebrated jubilantly, and many home videos from folks who attended that night exist on YouTube.

Autumn then arrived, where the Indians marched to the World Series, the Browns opened what would become their final season in Cleveland before Art Model sold them to Baltimore, and I started third grade. That summer though was spectacular, and one that’s good fortune helped carry this town to the much finer reputation it has today.

Once again, any stories and memories you have from the summer or 1995 are ones I would love to hear! Maybe you were at one of the 12 walk off wins the Tribe had that year, or maybe you remember taking part in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame corranation celebration. Maybe you were a high school or college graduate that year or perhaps you got married over that amazing summer or remember some of the events I have listed. I would love to hear about it from your perspective! Any story is welcome! Share them if you are so inclined.