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Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame

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Which players are deserving of entry into the Cleveland Baseball Hall of Fame?


  • Total voters
    28
Paul Sorrento & Eddie Murphy never get enough love on the 95 team. A lot of quality vets on that team as well. Pitching blew but it didn't matter. Best team to not win it. As great as they were though, I'd argue 96 & 97 teams were better as Thome and Manny came into their own and as pitchers began to be a priority.

I was almost 6 years old as we played the Red Sox in the playoffs. I remember everyone being really excited all summer & my family having to watch every game but as a 5 year old; you don't get it, you just go with it. It should have been unanimous, but the AP did a complete 180 and picked the 2nd best guy. He was a monster while here and one of the forgotten guys of the 90s. I took it personal when he left (I was 7 or 8) , but I get it now.

50/50 aside I always felt he was the type of personality these last few teams lacked. A bunch of floppy cocks that fell over if the wind blew. I think we win 2 WS if we had half of Belles production with the same attitude these past few years.

Watching Belle blast a HR after the umps checked his bat was the epitome of Albert Belle. Once he pointed to his bicep, I was fucking hooked. That was the 1st time a sports moment was injected into my veins. He was an asshole, but his cockiness was needed on a team full of mostly vanilla guys. It rubbed off and to me, was almost as important as his MVP season.
If I remember correctly, Sorrento had a terrible second half of the season. I think he hit something like 17 dingers before the break, but only 2 after.

Belle didn't just point at his bicep, he also yelled. And though it was way too loud to hear him, you could read his lips:

"Here's your fucking cork!"

Total badass.
 
Go look at Belle's career statline. The first half of his career could be put up against most players historically and come out ahead. The gut batted .317 and hit 50/50. He was technically on pace to hit 600+ HRS. We know that was obviously due to external factors, but so was everyone else.
 
Paul Sorrento & Eddie Murphy never get enough love on the 95 team. A lot of quality vets on that team as well. Pitching blew but it didn't matter. Best team to not win it. As great as they were though, I'd argue 96 & 97 teams were better as Thome and Manny came into their own and as pitchers began to be a priority.

I was almost 6 years old as we played the Red Sox in the playoffs. I remember everyone being really excited all summer & my family having to watch every game but as a 5 year old; you don't get it, you just go with it. It should have been unanimous, but the AP did a complete 180 and picked the 2nd best guy. He was a monster while here and one of the forgotten guys of the 90s. I took it personal when he left (I was 7 or 8) , but I get it now.

50/50 aside I always felt he was the type of personality these last few teams lacked. A bunch of floppy cocks that fell over if the wind blew. I think we win 2 WS if we had half of Belles production with the same attitude these past few years.

Watching Belle blast a HR after the umps checked his bat was the epitome of Albert Belle. Once he pointed to his bicep, I was fucking hooked. That was the 1st time a sports moment was injected into my veins. He was an asshole, but his cockiness was needed on a team full of mostly vanilla guys. It rubbed off and to me, was almost as important as his MVP season.
Some of my favorite moments from that era of Indians baseball:
  1. Kenny stealing home on Randy Johnson (and don't forget about Ruben Amaro on that play!)
  2. Wayne Kirby's winning run hit in the Jacobs Field opener
  3. Paul Sorrento's grand slam to finish the comeback against Cy Young David Cone
  4. Manny's "Wow" shot off Eck
  5. Tony Pena's winning home run against Baltimore Boston in the playoffs
Special mention: McGwire's shot that hit the Budweiser sign. Even though it came against us, it was still pretty damn cool.
 
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The scoreboard in old Municipal Stadium was primitive by today's (or even the 90's) standards. Nevertheless, the programmers gamely made little monochrome 8-bit animations or images for each player. Kirby's cartoon showed a little VW Bug bouncing around, eventually twisting its iconic number "53" into Kirby's "35". (The "Run Bug")
Hargrove's cartoon was a caricature of his famed, extended batting routine.
Even luminaries such as Herbert Perry received tributes of this sort.

Sorrento was greeted by a static drawing of a bowl of spaghetti.
 
Some of my favorite moments from that era of Indians baseball:
  1. Kenny stealing home on Randy Johnson (and don't forget about Reuben Amaro on that play!)
  2. Wayne Kirby's winning run in the Jacobs Field opener
  3. Paul Sorrento's grand slam to finish the comeback against Cy Young David Cone
  4. Manny's "Wow" shot off Eck
  5. Tony Pena's winning home run against Baltimore in the playoffs
Special mention: McGwire's shot that hit the Budweiser sign. Even though it came against us, it was still pretty damn cool.
I'm not looking this up, but (2) didn't Wayne Kirby have the winning hit? and (5) wasn't Pena's homer off of Zane Smith and the Red Sox?

Some of my memories are bitter ones--I'll never get over 1996, when Mesa both blew the save in the 9th because of a Roberto Alomar single, then gave up the Roberto Alomar homer in the 12th (!) to lose a game and series we never should have lost. Bitter, bitter pill. 1998 was almost as bad...Cleveland was the only team which stood between the Yankees and a championship they thought they were entitled to. We should have done baseball a great service and taken them out.

1997 was magic compared to those years. Sandy's homer off of Mariano and Mike Jackson's subsequent levitation act in the 9th, then Marquis Grissom's homer at Camden Yards which signaled the Tribe's run wasn't a fluke. The thing that bothers me to this day about Game 7 against the Marlins is how badly I wanted Leyland to be exposed for mismanaging that final game...had Nagy retired Renteria, we had the decided edge as the Marlins were about out of pitchers and Nagy was a starting pitcher in position to give us length. That's why Leyland was so happy afterwards...he was sweating bullets because he was out of them. Imagine the questions afterwards.
 
Francona to me is such an overrated manager... Everyone likes him tho cause he calls people Josie and Klubes etc.... Indians let go of Francona today it would be more of a National story than an actual on-field story
 
I'm not looking this up, but (2) didn't Wayne Kirby have the winning hit? and (5) wasn't Pena's homer off of Zane Smith and the Red Sox?

Some of my memories are bitter ones--I'll never get over 1996, when Mesa both blew the save in the 9th because of a Roberto Alomar single, then gave up the Roberto Alomar homer in the 12th (!) to lose a game and series we never should have lost. Bitter, bitter pill. 1998 was almost as bad...Cleveland was the only team which stood between the Yankees and a championship they thought they were entitled to. We should have done baseball a great service and taken them out.

1997 was magic compared to those years. Sandy's homer off of Mariano and Mike Jackson's subsequent levitation act in the 9th, then Marquis Grissom's homer at Camden Yards which signaled the Tribe's run wasn't a fluke. The thing that bothers me to this day about Game 7 against the Marlins is how badly I wanted Leyland to be exposed for mismanaging that final game...had Nagy retired Renteria, we had the decided edge as the Marlins were about out of pitchers and Nagy was a starting pitcher in position to give us length. That's why Leyland was so happy afterwards...he was sweating bullets because he was out of them. Imagine the questions afterwards.
You're right on both accounts. :alc:
 
Francona to me is such an overrated manager... Everyone likes him tho cause he calls people Josie and Klubes etc.... Indians let go of Francona today it would be more of a National story than an actual on-field story
Agreed.

I also think he's going to just ride it out to take some heat off Sandy when the eventualy handoff happens. Whatever controversy comes around, whether it's performance or clubhouse, Tito will say it was on him as he steps down and hands Sandy the reins.

That's my guess. Who knows--I certainly don't know the guy personally.
 
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Victor cried the day he was traded. Los has signed with other teams twice. I give the nod to Victor.

This is a weak argument.

Victor would have left after the 2010 season when his contract was up had the Indians held onto him. No way were the Indians giving him the contract that Detroit gave him.

Who knows what the Indians offered Santana after 2017 but I doubt it was anywhere close to what Philly offered him. And remember the Indians declined Santana's 2021 option.
 
I think the promise of what many of us thought/hoped Hafner was going to be gets in the Tribe HOF, but the actual player doesn't.
I still remember watching ESPN and them debating who was the best pure hitter in MLB, Hafner in the AL and (I believe)Jones in the NL. Hafner won.
 
Victor cried the day he was traded. Los has signed with other teams twice. I give the nod to Victor.

Slippery slope here for two reasons:

1) We don't know what Victor would've asked for and if the Indians would've given it to him or not. The Tigers gave him 4 years, $50 M as he entered his age 32 season. I highly doubt the Indians would've done that.

2) Did the Indians even offer Los a contract this winter? It didn't seem like they intended to even try to bring him back.

Los and Victor are both deserving IMO.
 
Francona to me is such an overrated manager... Everyone likes him tho cause he calls people Josie and Klubes etc.... Indians let go of Francona today it would be more of a National story than an actual on-field story

I like him because he is one of the very best in managing a clubhouse, which is huge in baseball (or any sport really).

He has 16 seasons between Boston in Cleveland.

During that time:

- Winning record all 16 seasons
- 90+ wins (or 90+ win pace) in 12 of 16
- 3 AL Championships
- 2 World Series Championships
- 10 Playoff teams

He'll head to Cooperstown when he retires and it will be well-deserved.
 
I like him because he is one of the very best in managing a clubhouse, which is huge in baseball (or any sport really).

He has 16 seasons between Boston in Cleveland.

During that time:

- Winning record all 16 seasons
- 90+ wins (or 90+ win pace) in 12 of 16
- 3 AL Championships
- 2 World Series Championships
- 10 Playoff teams

He'll head to Cooperstown when he retires and it will be well-deserved.
I get it...I just think he’s overrated quite a bit... He never cracked .500 when he was with the Phillies I believe ? And they started to take off immediately once they fired him as an NL East contender

Took over a loaded Boston team that was in game 7 of the ALCS the previous year and should have been in the World Series in ‘03...He was handed the keys to a ready made championship contender

Not only were the Red Sox loaded but they continued to have success as an organization after Francona ...

He has his moments but there’s so many head scratching moments as well... I like the guy, I’m fine with him as the manager... I just think he’s pretty overrated overall...
 
Kluber, Sizemore, and Allen are most deserving. Not to mention top SP, RP, and position players of the last 2 decades. Not sure what the bar is but I'd let those above first. Carrasco would be next.
 

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