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1995 Indians vs the 1997 Indians vs the 2016 Indians

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So, in 1999, the year Pedro beat us.....I blame that series loss not on Pedro, but on Dave Burba getting hurt. Am I wrong?
 
My major what-if about the 90's-era teams were all the FoR pitchers they tried to acquire.
  • Jack McDowell was a stud, came here, turned into a pumpkin
  • John Smiley was an all-star, came here, broke his arm warming up in the bullpen
  • Trying to trade for Pedro
  • Trying to trade for Schilling
We made so many efforts to acquire that last piece, but it never lined up.
 
My major what-if about the 90's-era teams were all the pitchers they tried to acquire.
  • Jack McDowell was a stud, came here, turned into a pumpkin
  • John Smiley was an all-star, came here, broke his arm warming up in the bullpen
  • Trying to trade for Pedro
  • Trying to trade for Schilling
We made so many efforts to acquire that last piece, but it never lined up.
I was all in on Black Jack....really thought he'd be that guy to push us over! So it goes...
 
I was all in on Black Jack....really thought he'd be that guy to push us over! So it goes...
So was I. I was really excited when we acquired him.

I also thought it was funny that his nickname was "Blackjack" so my brother and I colored in the picture of him in the Plain Dealer with yellow highlighter and started calling him "Yellow Fever"

(Yeah, I was very young when this happened)
 
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I was so excited when we got Jack McDowell....
 
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My major what-if about the 90's-era teams were all the FoR pitchers they tried to acquire.
  • Jack McDowell was a stud, came here, turned into a pumpkin
  • John Smiley was an all-star, came here, broke his arm warming up in the bullpen
  • Trying to trade for Pedro
  • Trying to trade for Schilling
We made so many efforts to acquire that last piece, but it never lined up.
Hart refusing to trade Jaret Wright cost us Pedro.

There was also the trade for Chuck Finley that got nixed. Think Enrique Wilson was the sticking point on that one.
 
Hart refusing to trade Jaret Wright cost us Pedro.

There was also the trade for Chuck Finley that got nixed. Think Enrique Wilson was the sticking point on that one.
Wasn’t the Pedro deal for Wright and Colon though? Still should have made that deal, but still, wasn’t just Jaret, I don’t think
 
I was only 5 during the 1997 World Series, so the 2007 Indians were my first true Cleveland sports heartbreak. After that series I became your stereotypical 'woe is me' Cleveland sports fan. The 2007 Browns blowing their chance at the playoffs two months later didn't help.

Damn Red Sox.
 
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I just don't think the 1997 squad gets enough love at all because they didn’t kick it into stride until later on due to all the young arms..

I really loved having Ramirez, Justice, Williams, Alomar, Thome as the 3-7... Matt Williams and David Justice simply do not get the due they deserve for coming in and replacing a lot of production that was lost...All the while playing quality defense..

Grissom that year replaced Lofton’s production with ease.

Grissom's (age 30) 1997 w/ CLE: 22 SB, 27 2B, 6 3B, 221 TB

Lofton’s (age 30) 1997 w/ ATL: 27 SB, 20 2B, 6 3B, 211 TB

To me the 1997 Indians featured a better overall Manny Ramirez even tho his numbers were down a bit. Just a more polished hitter and on base guy. Moved up to the 3rd hole that year and batted there during the run.

Thome was a better power guy. Established himself as a first baseman.

Sandy Alomar was far better as well. One of best years you’ll find out of a catcher..

In addition to that run. The defending champion Yankees and to beat them in the fashion that they did with the Alomar homer off Mariano. Coming back and taking game 5... Then Baltimore and to win a 1-0 on the road...

I dunno. I get why the fans love 95... But 97 to me was just crazy and so much more fun..
 
I just don't think the 1997 squad gets enough love at all because they didn’t kick it into stride until later on due to all the young arms..

I really loved having Ramirez, Justice, Williams, Alomar, Thome as the 3-7... Matt Williams and David Justice simply do not get the due they deserve for coming in and replacing a lot of production that was lost...All the while playing quality defense..

Grissom that year replaced Lofton’s production with ease.

Grissom's (age 30) 1997 w/ CLE: 22 SB, 27 2B, 6 3B, 221 TB

Lofton’s (age 30) 1997 w/ ATL: 27 SB, 20 2B, 6 3B, 211 TB

To me the 1997 Indians featured a better overall Manny Ramirez even tho his numbers were down a bit. Just a more polished hitter and on base guy. Moved up to the 3rd hole that year and batted there during the run.

Thome was a better power guy. Established himself as a first baseman.

Sandy Alomar was far better as well. One of best years you’ll find out of a catcher..

In addition to that run. The defending champion Yankees and to beat them in the fashion that they did with the Alomar homer off Mariano. Coming back and taking game 5... Then Baltimore and to win a 1-0 on the road...

I dunno. I get why the fans love 95... But 97 to me was just crazy and so much more fun..
No Kenny, no Belle, not as good as '95.

For me it's really that simple. Grissom was no Kenny Lofton, and nobody was '95 Albert Belle.

Why selectively pick just steals, doubles, triples, and total bases?

In 1997, Kenny posted 5.0 WAR in 122 games. '97 Grissom posted 1.9 WAR in 144 games.

Grissom's OPS+? 83. Kenny's was 119. OPS .837 for Lofton, .713 for Grissom.

2.1 dWAR for Lofton, 1.3 dWAR for Grissom.

Far superior at the plate, far superior defensively... I have a hard time saying that Grissom "replaced Lofton's production with ease." I think it's more like the two aren't even in the same galaxy. It's like arguing that Jordan Luplow can replace Francisco Lindor with ease (if they played the same position).
 
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