Ready, Set, Guard: The End of an Era in Cleveland Baseball
Take a moment to listen to Cleveland baseball radio announcer Tom Hamilton (here).
I had to miss yesterday's game because I was working, but I'd asked my baseball twitter friends to loop me into any great #HammyShade (as we call it), which a few of them did. One of them encouraged me to find this final speech of the broadcast. You can hear it in Hammy's voice when he talks about bringing kiddos to the ballpark -- and when he talks about Rajai Davis' soul-reviving game-tying home run in the bottom of the 8th in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. I will never, ever forget that moment. Even thinking about it makes me tear up. Even though Chicago ultimately won that game, that Rajai Davis moment proved what all Cleveland fans know: Goonies Never Say Die. Down but not out, fighting for, earning, every single moment.
You can see it in the faces of the fans how much this meant to them. I remember pacing in my Ball Square apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, literally sweating and a little drunk on straight tequila, and screaming to wake the dead when that ball landed on the home run porch at Progressive Field.
There are many "fans" who seem to be so upset by the name change from "Indians" to "Guardians," suggesting that their childhood memories will be ruined by this franchise update. That puzzles me. I don't know how calling something by a new name now changes anything about the past. How does it devalue a lived experience? Like, if my friend gets married and changes her last name, does it mean that somehow the era when she went by a different name is sullied or tarnished or destroyed? Doesn't that sound a tad dramatic?
The team's name isn't what generates the feels. It's the play on the field. It's the camaraderie of the players. It's the Rajai Davis-like heroics. It's the pride of a city and a legacy and none of that is bound by a logo or name, it just isn't.
Even in this franchise's history, the team name has changed several times: Grand Rapids Rustlers (1894-1899); Cleveland Lake Shores (1900); Cleveland Bluebirds (1901); Cleveland Broncos (1902); Cleveland Naps (1903-1914); and then Cleveland Indians (1915-2021).
Yesterday on my Facebook page, I wrote:
Today, the Cleveland Baseball Association played its final game as the "Indians." I have been going to watch them play since I was a pretty small child and am often teased by family friends about memories of me wearing a big floppy straw hat and reading Baby-sitter's Club books at the old Municipal Stadium.
In the '90's when Jacobs Field was built and the roster was full of the likes of Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel and Sandy Alomar Junior and Kenny Lofton and Albert Belle and Charlie Nagy and Orel Hersheiser and Jim Thome, getting tickets to any game was a rare treat with the ballpark having one of the longest sell-out streaks in the sport's history. The teams just kept winning and winning and winning. Never that World Series victory -- but the team's success brought people together (including my college roommate Corey and me) and infused a sense of pride after so many years of Cleveland being the laughing stock of Major League Baseball.
When I moved to Boston in 2002, I never fell into the trap of Red Sox Nation, not even in 2004 when the team "Reversed the Curse" in that INCREDIBLE 2004 postseason. I still wore my Cleveland gear and convinced my friends to go to Fenway to cheer for MY home team instead of THE home team. Some of my favorite Boston memories were at Fenway rooting NOT for the Red Sox.
In 2016 when the team made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series, it wasn't just me glued to the edge of my seat, watching every pitch. It was baseball fans everywhere who took in that historic Fall Classic and even though Cleveland ultimately lost to the Chicago Cubs, it was incredible to be part of the energy and excitement of that time. I connected and reconnected with so many friends who simply knew of my love for the team and that made them think to check in and follow along with that World Series. It was a community event that went beyond just the love of a sport -- it was the love of a city and a rich history and a sense of magic that goes along with being a baseball fan.
MENTION the Rajai Davis home run, and I will immediately tear up.
Stretching back to 2017, I have made countless friends on "baseball twitter" and have connected with other fans of Cleveland baseball from all over the world. There is a kindness and a care that exists in that virtual space that is unlike anything I have ever experienced with people I don't know in the "real" world. We get to know each other and check in on each other, even during the dreaded off-season (aka WINTER).
Even my decision to move to the Cleveland area in 2019 was partially driven by my absolute love for the baseball team. Being able to see them play more than once a year was a dream come true.
All of this to illustrate: I am not a fair-weather fan. I am committed -- very nearly obsessed -- with this sport and my hometown team.
I am also fully in support of the decision to move away from the "Indians" nickname and am excited for the debut of the "Guardians" in 2022.
The name change in no way diminishes my lifelong love of the team nor does it devalue my memories of being a fan, going to games, or anything related.
I mean, look at us here in Cleveland. We've STILL got uniforms and everything.
Don't forget: there's only one thing left to do.
...and in case you've somehow lived this many days of your life and never seen the movie Major League, the "one thing left to do" is WIN THE WHOLE FUCKIN' THING.
Such a great movie. Treat yourself to it, please do.
No matter what, yesterday's game marked the end of an era with the Cleveland baseball franchise. New team name means new branding, new chants, new nicknames for the nickname. No more "Go Tribe" -- maybe it'll be "Go Guards" or -- "Ready, Set, Guard," I'm trying to make that happen. There's a lot of things that will undoubtably linger as we try to figure out the fan-banter and creature comforts of the Guardians -- but it'll be a fun and creative and evolving process, just as it was when we cheered for the Indians.
I am excited for new merch. I am excited to be there from the beginning of this new era. I am in it, y'all. Cleveland Baseball is in my blood.
Believeland or bust, baby.
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