The Cleveland Indians

Legends of the Tribe relives the exciting Jacobs Field era of the 1990s along with the complete 100-year legacy of this storied franchise. This book revives the memorable moments of Indians history and includes a stunning collection of more than 200 vintage photos of the great games, players, and events.

Forty Champions of the Tribe Native Clevelander Russ Schneider has reveled in the successes and lamented the failures of the Cleveland Indians from his earliest childhood. After graduating from high school in 1946 and serving two tours of duty with the U.S. Marines, Schneider acquired a degree in English from Baldwin Wallace University. Following a brief (but uneventful) season as a minor league player, Schneider became a sportswriter and columnist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He covered the Indians daily from 1964 through 1977 and became nationally known as the chronicler of the Indians' fortunes and history. That experience provided Schneider with the opportunity to meet and befriend the icons of the Tribe--among them, Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, and others. This beautiful coffee-table book features forty twentieth-century Indians legends, beginning with the era when they were the Cleveland Blues. Schneider has divided the Indians' history into quartercentury periods, selecting ten players from each as stars of this historic franchise. Illustrator Tom Denny, known for his dynamic and creative images in oil, watercolor, and mixed media, has created portraits and action scenes for each of the forty iconic players. Napoleon Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Jim Bagby Sr. from 1901-1925; Mel Harder, Bob Feller, and Lou Boudreau from 1926-1950; Larry Doby, Rocky Colavito, and Bob Lemon from 1951-1975; and Omar Vizquel, Jim Thome, and Kenny Lofton from 1976-2000 are some of the forty outstanding players selected. Also included are highlights of each player's career, biographical information, and career statistics. Sure to be treasured by sports enthusiasts and baseball lovers everywhere--especially Indians fans--Cleveland Indians Legends is a handsome and informative addition to the history of baseball.

As the anchor titles in a new “Time Machine” Lyons Press baseball series, The Ultimate Cleveland Indians Time Machine presents a timeline format that not only includes the Indians’ greatest moments—including World Series appearances and individual achievements—but would focus also on some very unusual seasons and events, such as the team’s 20-134 season of 1899 (the absolute worst in baseball history), the "Crybabies" of 1940 (who received this nickname after complaining about their manager to such as extent that fans even turned on them), or the infamous “Ten Cent Beer Night of 1974” (when thousands of drunken fans stormed the field and forced the team to forfeit). Of course there are other events to recall, like 17-year-old Bob Feller making his debut and striking out 17 batters in 1936, or Albert Belle famously pointing at his muscle after a playoff opponent claimed (rightly) that he had corked his bat and one of his teammates sneaked into the umpire's room to steal it back so the umps could not find out that it was corked. There are dozens of impressive, wild, wacky and wonderful stories over the years regarding Indians history and Gitlin is the perfect person to write it with his trademark humor and thorough knowledge of Indians lore.

The riveting story of four men—Larry Doby, Bill Veeck, Bob Feller, and Satchel Paige—whose improbable union on the Cleveland Indians in the late 1940s would shape the immediate postwar era of Major League Baseball and beyond. In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history. In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy. Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series--all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

First published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1949, Franklin "Whitey" Lewis's The Cleveland Indians begins with the organization's early years as the Cleveland Forest Citys, covers the 1920 World Series victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers, and concludes with the excitement of the 1948 pennant race. This early team history covers such Cleveland legends as Cy Young, from his days in Tuscarawas County and Canton and his time with the Cleveland Spiders; Bob Feller, his discovery and development; and Larry Doby, the second African American to play in the major leagues and the first to play in the American League. It also delivers such forgotten and lesser-known stories as professional baseball's first-ever perfect game, thrown by John Lee Richmond of Worcester against the Cleveland Forest Citys on June 12, 1880; the acquisition of Napoleon Lajoie and the city's vote to change the team's name to the Napoleons (Naps) in his honor; and Charles W. Somers and John F. Kilfoyl and the birth of the American League.

For almost fifty years, the Cleveland Indians were a joke. They had won the 1948 World Series with one of the greatest teams of all time, but had not been to the playoffs since 1954 (losing to the New York Giants in the World Series). Even the Major League movies poked fun at their inadequacy. That all changed in the 1990s, when the Indians became one of the most dominant teams of the decade. A Tribe Reborn tells the story of a failing franchise, from “The Mistake by the Lake” to “The Curse of Rocky Colavito,” and how a laughingstock team that was on the verge of relocating changed its ways to become a dominant franchise. With the building of the state-of-the-art Jacobs Field (which the Indians sold out a record 455 consecutive games, from 1995–2001) to changes in how their scouting, front office, and locker room were run, the team that nobody cared about became front-page news across the country. With interviews from Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel, Mike Hargrove, John Hart, and many more, A Tribe Reborn is a fantastic look inside how a losing franchise changed its ways to become a perennial powerhouse. While the Indians of the ’90s never won a World Series (appearing twice in 1995 and 1997), they are still remembered for their hard play, amazing talent, and rabid fan base.

This book is the day by day story of the 1954 Indians, whose .721 winning percentage is still the highest in American League history. It tells how down the city of Cleveland was on the team following three straight second-place finishes, how little was expected of it by its fans, and even some of its players, and how it exceeded all expectations by winning a league-record 111 games and a pennant, before flopping in the World Series.

An inside, in-depth look a fascinating baseball life, from small-town sandlots to the World Series. Mike Hargrove played, managed and lived the game for four decades, with big moments both heartbreaking and heart-stopping. Rookie of the Year, All Star, a tragic accident, five consecutive division titles, the Game 7 loss, getting fired, and more.