Indians will be no more

   I remember the GIF to the right from my very early days (I was three in 1971 when it was first televised) that was a public service announcement against littering, pollution, and any other item of the time that dirtied our planet.

While Iron Eyes Cody, who portrayed Native-Americans in films, was actually not a member of that demographic, the commercial was very well-done, hit all the right heartstrings, and I'd even go as far as to say that the PSA played a crucial role in getting the environment movement moving into the mainstream.

And yet for all the personal memories that I have of the Cleveland Indians baseball team from the actual team and games to the memories that the Indians are just a part of a bigger memory when I woke up from yet another long sleep (I did not watch one snap of football on Sunday) when I saw a DM from Ryan informing of the official decision of the Cleveland Indians dropping the Indians half of the team name- my first thought was Iron Eyes Cody.

It's not like I didn't see this coming and it's not like I am furiously upset either.

It's actually a relief.

It just became old that every year Opening Day arrived in Cleveland and here come the protestors.

I understood (I have a small percentage of Native American in my heritage) and for as much I like Chief Wahoo as the logo for the franchise, I was understanding of why the time had come for Wahoo's departure- even with all the memories of the Big Chief that I recall fondly.

It'll be nice to finally have the focus on baseball and not a name or a cartoon and while I am a bit disappointed to lose the history behind the name, I'm not against a new start- Especially if the team would decide to use the Crooked C cap as a nod to the past that doesn't cause any uproar.

Using that cap would be a very nice touch.

I've always thought that the Indians name was tolerable but understood why people had issues with Wahoo, while with the Washington football team, it was the nickname that was the issue more than the logo.

Rob Manfred has pulled so many scams among his three-card monte game that he continues to play to this day that one that he pulled early in his reign of terror is often forgotten.

Manfred threatened the team with pulling the 2019 All-Star game from the city if they didn't remove Wahoo from the jersey sleeves, and remove the logo from any part of the park except (of course) the team store where they could continue to sell Wahoo items with the flimsy reason that if they didn't eventually Wahoo would slip into the public domain, where unscrupulous folks could make money off Wahoo and by golly only MLB is going to make money off a banned logo.

Supposedly, Larry Dolan, the owner of the Indians, had made a deal with Manfred that the team would remove Wahoo if the league would not push for a name change- that unwritten agreement lasted less than three years.

As I wrote, while I'm not thrilled, it's hard to be mad as well.

The key now is what is the new name?  And the sinking feeling that I have is this isn't the end of controversy with baseball in Cleveland- it may be only the beginning.

I wouldn't rule out a "perfect storm" scenario- A team that lost money during a pandemic, could lose more this season, is about to trade a homegrown superstar that is the most popular player that the Indians have had in years, is going to change its name, who knows what they'll rename it, and the kicker- the lease of Jacobs/Progressive Field is ending in 2023, with the team asking for stadium improvements as people need help from the pandemic.

The result of that perfect storm?

Well, I'm not predicting this, but I found this interesting a few months ago- Nashville looking to bring Major League Baseball to their town.

It's not the entertainers that make this interesting, it's the heavy hitters from inside baseball- Dave Dombrowski, Dave Stewart, and until he was hired to manage the White Sox (which could be short-term) Tony LaRussa.

When you have those types of insiders, you have a leg up on the average "we want a team" group.

I'm beginning to think that the worst-case scenario has a small chance of happening and I wonder when the threat of moving the team will begin.

And why do I worry about a move?

After all, MLB has the anti-trust exemption to control such things, which the NFL, NBA, and NHL lacks.

Tsk Tsk- They might not have that exemption much longer.

Thanks to Rob Manfred's cutting of minor league franchises, something that might have been blocked had Covid-19 not appeared when Covid-19 is finally part of the past, some of these congressmen and senators just might need an easy issue to get into the good graces of their constituents.

What better way to do that than to go after the people that took baseball away from your town?

And the best way to do that?

Revoking baseball's anti-trust exemption.

Without that exemption, teams can move where they wish without the league having the power to block them.

I'm sad about the loss of the name, not for what it represents in the name, but for what it means in memories.

Still, a name change can't change those memories and I only hope that the first name of the Cleveland Indians doesn't change in a few years.

Cleaning out the inbox-Sports Edition

The usual cleaning out the inbox begins with whatever this is to the right.
I've written before about my go-to site for Buckeye news and analysis being Eleven Warriors (located in the links section) and they did a great look back at the history of our favorite mascot-Brutus Buckeye.
Well,rather how we got to the current lovable Brutus from the beginning in 1965 with what looks like a lump of crap,to a friendly apple to a frowning apple,back to the friendly apple until 1975 when someone thought whatever the hell this hybrid of Popeye the Sailor and the Maryland Terrapin was a good idea.
Thank the lord that this was a one year experiment before the apple returned for a year and was followed by the eventual Brutus that we know and love today with gradual refinements.
Just looking at that thing makes me shake my head!

The New York Times writes about Jim Bouton,who disclosed at a recent SABR convention that he has cerebral amyloid angiopathy,a brain disease that has been connected to people that have dementia.
Bouton did the convention to discuss Ball Four,but the article talks about the book,his post baseball career,what he battles with the disease and much of the article is done through Bouton's wife,Paula.
I bet Jim Bouton has made more appearances in the inbox than any other person or topic...

We've been a booster of the Hall of Fame chances of Dick Allen-particularly with the continuing use of advanced stats that show Allen is a better choice than many already in Cooperstown's claim to fame.
Baseball Prospectus,one of the more progressive statistical groups,writes about their take on the career of Allen and his case for the Hall in an excerpt for the new book by Jay Jaffe-Cooperstown Casebook.
The book looks really interesting and one I might be buying soon!

FanRagSports (which this is my first time reading) gives a lot of facts that I wasn't aware of on why there isn't a hockey presence in Houston (NHL or AHL).
Apparently the Rockets owner,Leslie Alexander,has a massive grudge against the NHL and the article discusses all of these factors that have kept hockey out of Houston.
Since Alexander has placed the Rockets for sale,perhaps the door has been cracked for a return to the largest city in Texas..

The Big 10 network is giving Lisa Byington,a long time sideline reporter on the network,a shot on play by play this season with the Bowling Green-Northwestern game.
Byington will be the first woman to do the play by play on the network and follows in the steps of ESPN,who has used Pam Ward in the past and currently uses Beth Mowins for college games.
I'm fine with giving Byington a chance as I've never minded Mowins,although I thought Pam Ward was really bad when she did her games.

We wrap up with a quick look back at the 20 year anniversary of the Tennessee Titans spending a year in Memphis before their move to Nashville.
It's from the Memphis perspective since it's from a Memphis based newspaper,but I understood why Memphis was so bitter at the time.
It was Memphis that sold out NFL exhibition game and was mentioned as an expansion candidate and it was Memphis,not Nashville that supported both the Southmen (WFL) and Showboats (USFL),when Nashville couldn't even rate getting teams in new leagues.
However,Memphis made a huge mistake in not making the best of the temporary arrangement like Oklahoma City did with the NBA in supporting the New Orleans (then) Hornets in their pit stop in Oklahoma after Hurricane Katrina.
Oklahoma City earned massive league goodwill for the help and proved their market value and the NBA returned the favor when the owners of the Seattle Super Sonics wanted to move there.
Memphis may have done the principled thing,but not the prudent thing and the NFL will never forget that-Memphis was one of the first cities mentioned for the NFL for years and now they are highly unlikely to get a team ever....

Day Two-Nashville

Day two saw the trip continue with the Nashville Sounds and their ballpark, which is in its second year.

We were able to eat at some pretty good places in the Music City and I'll get into those as we go on.
We woke up and were treated to a terrific breakfast buffet at the Henpeck Village Market, which has the motif of an old country store with a fabulous buffet.
It was terrific and if I'm ever in Franklin (a Nashville suburb) again, I'd be sure to check Henpeck out again!

There is so much to be said for southern cooking done without the chain restaurant food and we had a great lunch too at the Row, but first a trip to the ballpark for some pre-game graphing.
It wasn't a total success, but we did get some Nashville Sounds players coming in such as Max Muncy, former Pirate farmhand Andrew Lambo, who delivered the line of the day during postgame, Joe Wendle (always nice going back to his days with the Indians) and Dillon Overton, who was especially cool in chatting with us a bit.
Fresno and their Grizzlies came in on two shuttle buses, but we left before the second of the two showed up.
We did get Colin Moran to sign one card (Moran was just promoted to Houston on Wednesday) as it seemed that most of the Fresno players that we needed were on bus two.

We were then off to the Row for lunch.
The Row is near downtown Nashville, but not in the middle of the tourist area, and looks like a retro "run down" joint, but on the inside is anything but.
The country music motif is in evidence here as each booth honors a different country music star on the wall with a huge picture and biography.
The Row features barbeque (although it isn't just B-Q) and I ordered a pulled B-Q turkey sandwich with fries.
I was very thirsty after being outside and guzzled several sodas (Thank goodness that they were diet Cokes) and the meal was excellent.

Nashville is in its second season at First Tennessee Park and it is a great park.
The stadium has a wide concourse and on a night that was a sellout, that was a huge help.
The team store was one of the best that I've ever been to and I bought Cherie and Rachel each a Nashville Sounds shirt and a program for Doug Hopkins.
The stadium has great sightlines and of course a newer version of the famous guitar scoreboard from their previous home at Greer Stadium.
This version is bright and more high-tech than the famous one and I love stuff like this inside stadiums.
I wish more stadiums would have such features unique to their area and history!

Pre-game graphing was tough with a sellout crowd.
I did get a few guys with the best being Matt Olson of the Sounds, who signed his 2015 top 100.
Olson was a bigger deal than I thought when we were told afterward that he rarely signs.
Those top 100's are always important, but even more so when you only get one shot at getting them finished.
I also was able to get one of Renato Nunez of the Sounds and Chad Pinder as well.
Nunez was reported to be not so bad as a signer, but Pinder was noted as being occasionally tough.
Derreck got blown off by former Hagerstown Sun Jake Smolinski when he asked if he would sign, Derreck was met with a sneer and "not right now" with the unspoken term being not at all.
Derreck tried again for Smolinski off the field from warmups and was met with a barely discernible head shake no.

I spent much of the game talking to a family in front of us that told me that it was their first Sounds games and that the father was a high school friend of Dan Uggla, the former big league second baseman that rehabbed with the Suns last season.
The game was nothing special (a Sounds win) that saw Derreck's new friend Jake Smolinski homer, but the best part was the racing country music legends.
Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Reba McIntyre were a fun and interesting touch that again brought a local flavor.
Imagine that compared to a beer can, wine glass, and beer bottle.....

We did manage to get a few guys off the field from Fresno-Matt Duffy (3/3), Andrew Aplin (2/2), and Nolan Fontana (1/3) before going to the back of the stadium to try to do some more post-game.
I met local graphers Shane and Bryce there and they were involved in the line of the night as they asked the aforementioned Andrew Lambo to sign.
As they tried to get to their cards quickly (On this trip, I knew the feeling) Lambo said "Fellows, the shot clock is on in this situation" and walked away.

The Fresno shuttle went inside the stadium and few made the walk down to us.
Tony Kemp (since called up to Houston) did, but I didn't have cards for him and Jonathan Singleton was a pleasant surprise in signing three cards for me.
The rest didn't bother including former Hagerstown Sun Eury Perez, so that was about it for the Grizzlies.
I did get a few more Sounds including fast-moving pitcher Daniel Mengden, who signed three cards, and Rangel Ravelo on his heritage card before we left.

We left through the craziness of downtown and saw all the craziness of the tourist section in Nashville, but the funny part was after we took a wrong turn on the way back.
We went to turn around and were in a parking lot with a large sign that said something motel and touted its rate-three hours for twenty-eight dollars!
We said it was the type of place that was so slimy that we should have had condoms for our tires!
The even better part was the two vehicles on our bumper waiting to turn into the motel!!

All and all -I really enjoyed Nashville, the park, and its surroundings, and added some pretty good stories to the bank too.
I'll try to be back later with a look at the Cavaliers win and maybe tomorrow with the final day in Chattanooga and in Sevierville for the Tennessee Smokies!