As I continue on with the countdown, I've found that the teams in the middle of my list are the toughest to write about. When I think of the Cleveland Indians, I think of the 1997 World Series, the late Steve Olin and the strange course in U.S. history that saw the term Indian become associated with people that were born on this soil rather than people actually from the country India.
That's not to say that I'm completely dismissive of baseball's version of The Tribe. They had Manny Ramirez, and in his era they won the AL Central for five consecutive years, resulting in two World Series appearances (both losses.) Jacobs Field became the next big thing almost before the paint had even dried on Camden Yards. And, hey... no Tomahawk Chop over in Cleveland, right? Right? (Please say that I'm right.)
Favorite current Indians player: Chris Perez. Perez is the former Cardinal who was needlessly traded for the instantly popular and even more instantly injured Mark DeRosa. After some initial struggles, the Cardinals bullpen is finally positioned pretty well for awhile now.
Favorite Indians player of all-time: Kenny Lofton. Lofton played for many teams over the course of his career, but he always seemed to come back to Cleveland. It must have been for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.
Least favorite Indians player of all-time: Albert Belle. Belle was just a grade A headcase. It would have been hard to root for him.
That's not to say that I'm completely dismissive of baseball's version of The Tribe. They had Manny Ramirez, and in his era they won the AL Central for five consecutive years, resulting in two World Series appearances (both losses.) Jacobs Field became the next big thing almost before the paint had even dried on Camden Yards. And, hey... no Tomahawk Chop over in Cleveland, right? Right? (Please say that I'm right.)
Favorite current Indians player: Chris Perez. Perez is the former Cardinal who was needlessly traded for the instantly popular and even more instantly injured Mark DeRosa. After some initial struggles, the Cardinals bullpen is finally positioned pretty well for awhile now.Least favorite current Indians player: Kosuke Fukudome. Sorry, Fukudome, it's going to take awhile in someone else's jersey before I can let the whole Cubs thing pass.
Favorite Indians player of all-time: Kenny Lofton. Lofton played for many teams over the course of his career, but he always seemed to come back to Cleveland. It must have been for the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.
Least favorite Indians player of all-time: Albert Belle. Belle was just a grade A headcase. It would have been hard to root for him.The Cleveland Indians are hanging around at #15 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them on October 4th, 2010. All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.
Finally! I have been waiting to see where you ranked my Indians in your list. I would be very interested in the Tribe cards you posted plus any others you may have. I have a nice size stack of Cardinals cards with your name on them.Plus I can find more. And no, we never had a tomahawk chop in Cleveland ala Atlanta. I have a new email address and it is tim_gretchen_marriage@yahoo.com, so let me know what you think.
ReplyDeleteWahoo! Let's go Tribe. Putting the Tribe at #15 in a 30-team countdown is actually a bit higher than I though you would go. :-)
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