Cee...Cee...See Ya' Later!

We haven’t been motivated to post about the Sabathia trade because we don’t think there’s much to say about it that we and others haven’t already said.

Yeah, it’s great that the Indians got something for the big fella rather than see him walk for nothing like Belle, Manny, and Thome did. And they appear to have done well to get the seventh overall pick from the 2007 draft, Brewers top prospect Matt LaPorta, who looks like he can mash.

But the situations with Belle, Manny, and Thome were all different. The Tribe was either contending, and didn’t want to give the guys up for the stretch run, and/or had other reasons to think they would stay. C.C. gave no indication that he would stay. We suppose this is a little sad, and it has us thinking about things like loyalty, and a salary cap.


But -- and despite the fact that he was throwing at a tiny tiny strike zone against the Red Sox -- we’re also thinking of Cy-Cy’s 8.80 ERA in last year’s playoffs and wondering if he has the mental toughness to get it done when it counts the most. We’re also thinking that Sabathia’s physique doesn’t exactly call the phrase “world class athlete” to mind, and whatever implications that might have on his mental toughness, it certainly calls his durability into question.

The trade is also nice for Tribe GM Mark Shapiro because it has everyone talking about the time when Shapiro traded Bartolo Colon for three young All-Stars (and one superstud) to be, Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and the since departed Brandon Phillips. Good job there Mark, yes, but not enough to get you out from under the Curse of Wahoo. This one won't be either.

But speaking of getting out from under The Curse, we have to be happy for the big fella on that point. What could be better than going from Wahoo to Bernie Brewer? So cheers to C.C. -- all the best to ya' Big Fella. Better bring us a couple, Bernie B. We're prone to spillin' that first one.

The Curse of Chief Wahoo

Whatever one thinks of Chief Wahoo, the face of the Cleveland Indians, one must find remarkable that so few people talk about a “Curse of Chief Wahoo” here in Cleveland, the city suffering the longest and arguably most painful championship drought in major American professional sports. Surveys show that an overwhelming majority of Americans prefer to believe in some metaphysical order, so it’s no surprise that as bad results accumulate, speculation about the metaphysical source of those results -- a curse -- is soon to follow. So, if the Boston Red Sox had to endure an 86-year curse for trading Babe Ruth, and if the Chicago Cubs have been cursed for the last 63 years simply because they wouldn’t let a Greek bring his Billy Goat to a ballgame, why don’t more believe that the Indians, if not all Cleveland franchises, have been cursed for what many view as a hateful affront to the entirety of Native American culture and a callous disrespect for the beginnings of American history? The answer to this question lies in understanding that for a great many, if not most, Indians fans, Chief Wahoo represents something entirely different. It’s long past time for us to come to terms with the Chief. This will not happen until the activists and others who are so convinced of Wahoo’s evil can understand the good that he represents to so many others.

To understand why Chief Wahoo has endured for so long in this world that long ago turned Bullets into Wizards, and Redskins and Redmen into Red Hawks and a Red Storm, one must also understand that for so many Tribe fans, Wahoo represents the very best of “Take me out to the Ballgame.” In Northeast Ohio, one can live in beautiful country that is only a short trip away from a relatively big city. It’s no surprise that many choose to do this. And because such a small percentage of Tribe fans live in Cleveland proper, so much of the joy of going to a ballgame is inseparable with the joy of coming to the big city on the big lake. For so many of us, our first trips to the Stadium were our first times in any real city. So many of us can remember the wonder that came with seeing the bridges over the Cuyahoga for the first time, standing in the Flats and looking up at the city on the cliff, or craning our necks to try to see the top of the first skyscrapers that we’d ever seen. Our parents didn’t want to get stuck in post-game traffic in the Stadium lot. So they parked at the Terminal Tower, or in the Muni Lot, or southwest in the Flats, or southeast by the Greyhound station, and we made the trek through the city to the Stadium together with so many others of all shapes and colors. And many of us had never seen so many different people of so many different shapes and colors. And we saw, many of us for the first time, that those people were no different from us – at least because we all wanted the home team to win.

And at the end of this fascinating trek, as we crossed Route 2 and approached the magnificent structure on the lake, we saw it; the 35-foot tall neon-lit Chief Wahoo of glass and steel, perched atop the southeast corner of the Stadium roof, eyes gleaming, smile beaming, bat cocked, leg raised, ready to knock the next pitch all the way back down to Youngstown. And we didn’t think of Native Americans, or any kind of person at all. All of the magic of the trip to the ballpark coalesced in that smiling slugging alien angel of joy as we entered the Stadium gates. And then there was the magic of the ballgame itself, with Wahoo smiling in approval all the while -- from the stadium roof, our heroes’ uniforms, and seemingly everywhere else. Indians executive Bob DiBiasio touched on this when he told the New York Daily News in March 2007 that, "[w]hen some people look at our logo they see baseball . . . They see Bob Feller and Omar Vizquel and Larry Doby.”

Those who want to bury Wahoo have to acknowledge why he has lasted so long -- that in doing so they would be burying more than a racist caricature; they would be burying a part of our childhood and our culture. They must acknowledge that our collective attachment to Wahoo has little to nothing to do with an intent to disparage a race of people. So much of the resistance to attempts to get rid of Wahoo is a natural reaction by Tribe fans who feel that those who protest Wahoo are accusing them of racism, and telling them that there is something fundamentally wrong with those magical trips to the ballgame. This would offend anyone’s sense of justice. These activists must acknowledge the innocent aspects of our attachment to Wahoo before their appeals to his harmful effect will ever be well-received.

Once Tribe fans believe that our love for Wahoo is understood, we will be more apt to ask ourselves why we would want to be attached any longer to a symbol as potentially demeaning to a race of people as Wahoo is.

An honest examination of Wahoo’s origins would be a good place to start in answering this question. Any such look back gives lie to the company line that the Cleveland baseball franchise was named “Indians” to honor former Cleveland second baseman Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American to play Major League Baseball. According to an October 2007 story in a Maine newspaper, the Kennebec Journal, for which the reporter interviewed the author of a book on Sockalexis, Sockalexis’ arrival in Cleveland in 1897 “created such a sir that local newspapers jokingly dubbed his team, the Cleveland Spiders, the ‘Cleveland Indians.’” This was not done to honor Sockalexis’ Native American heritage, but rather because, "[r]acism was accepted in journalism in that day . . . Sportswriters would write things like, 'He's gonna be scalping people.'" Sockalexis was “burdened by alcohol abuse and racist taunts from opposing players and fans,” and his time with the Indians was short, ending in 1899.

In 1915, two years after Sockalexis’ death, the president of the Cleveland ball club enlisted the help of local sportswriters to rename the team, then called the “Naps” after star Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie, who had recently been traded to Oakland. The name “Indians” was chosen by the sportswriters. According to research conducted by the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance, none of the four daily Cleveland newspapers mentioned Sockalexis in reporting the name change. Three of these four reports (available here) refer to stereotypes about Native Americans. A January 17, 1915 report in the Cleveland Leader reported that “[i]n place of the Naps, we’ll have the Indians, on the warpath all the time, and eager for scalps to dangle at their belts.” The Plain Dealer of the same day included a cartoon titled “Ki Yi Waugh Woop! They’re Indians.” This cartoon (pictured above) depicts, among other things, a frowning umpire scolding a Native American: “When you talk to me, talk English, you wukoig.” “Wukoig,” according to the Plain Dealer cartoon, is an “Indian” word.

After reading these reports it should be difficult to disagree with Kansas City Star sportswriter and Cleveland native Joe Posnanski, who “find[s] that this Sockalexis story might be a bit exaggerated or, more to the point, complete bullcrap.” Posnanski points out that “the story never made much sense to begin with” because it raises the question: “Why exactly would people in Cleveland — this in a time when native Americans were generally viewed as subhuman in America — name their team after a relatively minor and certainly troubled outfielder?” Of course, they didn’t.

But despite the dubious origins of the name “Indians,” at least the name could conceivably honor Native Americans, something that Chief Wahoo could never do. Choctaw Nation member Gavin Clarkson, who teaches Native American Studies at the University of Michigan, points out that Wahoo reinforces the image of Indians as "anachronistic savages." Charlene Teters, member of the Spokane Nation and founder of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media told the Plain Dealer in April 2008, that Wahoo is “the most offensive racial icon in the country” and that his existence “really speaks to how invisible native people are in this country.” With alcoholism, unemployment, and poverty plaguing Native reservations across America, a grinning, hook-nosed, fire engine red-faced caricature that reinforces beliefs that Natives are subhuman is particularly harmful. What’s worse, as Esquire Magazine's Scott Raab has pointed out, is that Wahoo “could be interpreted as mocking the genocide of our nation's First Peoples.” New York Daily News columnist Filip Bondy puts this more pointedly: “One race can't commit genocide against another, then turn that race into a mascot. A soccer team in Hamburg would never call itself the Jews and adorn its uniforms with caricatures.”

With Wahoo seemingly standing alone as the only racist caricature currently accepted in American society, it’s hard to tell Natives like the ones quoted above to “lighten up.” Blackface has long since been understood to be unacceptable in this country, yet redface is alive and well here in Cleveland. How else to explain this disparity if Ms. Teters isn’t at least partially correct about the invisibility of Natives in America? So do we really want to be a part of reinforcing this invisibility? An insensitivity to these matters that was more understandable in the less integrated society of our parents’ day must certainly be much less so now. At some point our intention – the innocence behind our attachment to Wahoo -- ceases to matter.

Which brings us back to the Curse. Native voices have told us loudly and clearly that Wahoo offends; and given his origins and singular status among racial caricatures in America, it’s not at all hard to see how this might be true. If there is at least one Native in this country for whom Wahoo reasonably reinforces a belief that her or his race is invisible or subhuman -- thus making it even a little bit harder to engage in life’s everyday struggle -- isn’t that enough to bring a curse on our sports teams? It sure seems worse than trading Babe Ruth or banning goats from a ballpark. So why would we even want to take this chance? Haven’t we all had enough of the exquisitely painful losing? There are a lot of Natives buried in these parts. If it’s not the Curse of Chief Wahoo, what else could it be? What else would we want it to be? At least a Curse of Chief Wahoo makes sense. At least it’s a curse that we might do something to end.

So let’s not hesitate in giving Wahoo a dignified burial. In doing so, we should recognize that while Wahoo might have been born out of something bad, he turned into something very good for many of us. We should acknowledge the complexity of the lives of both persons and personifications. And we should acknowledge progress. We need not abandon the name “Indians,” and we have no shortage of persons indigenous to Northeast Ohio who would be worthy models for a new logo; one that truly honors Native Americans. We could call him, simply, “The Chief.”

Click here to sign an online petition to help end the Curse of Chief Wahoo and help bring a championship to Cleveland, and please pass this on.

Ducks, Pigeons, LeBron’s Bad Back, Cliff “Apesh*t” Lee, Secret Weapons, and Jazz Hands Take 3: Luck the Fakers

The Cavs/Celtics series is over. It should be obvious to anyone who has watched a healthy LeBron James play basketball that LeBron James is not healthy. LeBron has been silent about his back problems throughout the Playoffs. And why shouldn’t he be? It doesn’t help him or the Cavs to publicize his injury. For those who are skeptical that this injury exists, we will direct your attention to what we think is the most significant piece of reporting on LeBron James that has been published in recent years. This item was published in Sports Illustrated’s 2006-2007 NBA Preview as a "Behind Enemy Lines" quote from an anonymous scout. Anonymous scout had this remarkable bit to say about LeBron:

“What amazes me most about LeBron James? The way he runs. Have you noticed that his toes turn out? Most good athletes are pigeon-toed; Michael Jordan is. I've never seen a guy with a duck walk run as fast as LeBron does.”

Anonymous scout is right. Look around for yourself. And you don’t need to look at the pros to see this. Look at your pals who are better than you at sports. Odds are that their toes tend toward pigeon rather than duck. Now look at the schlubbiest joe you know. Or a random schlub on the sidewalk. Big belly? Slouched shoulders? Humped back? Before you look down at his feet, we’ll bet you dollars to donuts that he’s duck-toed.

The reason for this, as any good yoga teacher will tell you, is that a gait that tends toward pigeon-toed-ness (toes pointing in) is indicative of proper alignment of the spine. The spine is the source of our limbs, and thus the source of our means to move. The spine is often “the first thing to go,” and when it does, pain and immobility follow. The same pain and immobility that is obviously plaguing LeBron James right now.

If you’re still skeptical, try the following experiment: Step 1): Stand up like you would normally stand, paying no attention to the alignment of your feet. Then plug the three points of each of your feet into the ground from the balls of your feet, your fifth metatarsal (the bone that sticks out of the outer sides of each foot), and your inner heel-bone. Once your feet are “plugged in,” straighten your legs as much as you can by pulling up on your quadriceps muscles, completely ironing out the backs of your knees while trying to send your upper inner thigh muscles straight back into the wall behind you. Do all of this without arching your lower back; i.e., try to keep your tailbone tucked underneath your body so that your pelvis remains perpendicular to the ground. Note carefully the effects of these movements on your lower back. These effects might be subtle and hard to notice at first, but if you pay careful attention, you will be able to tune in. Step 2): Repeat the above steps with your toes pointed further outward than they would be in your normal stance. You should feel your back tighten up, at least a little bit. Step 3): Now repeat the above steps with your feet aligned so that the outer edges of your foot are parallel. This will keep your toes pointed inward. You will feel a release in your lower back. Your lower back will be more mobile with your feet and legs in this position.

The above experiment shows that a duck-toed gait creates pressure on the lower back. Compound that pressure by years of running up and down a hardwood floor, and LeBron’s back problems should be no surprise to anyone. Fortunately for LeBron, and basketball fans everywhere, there is a cure for this problem. Yoga. We’ve said before that it never ceases to amaze us that athletes, pro or amateur, pay so much attention to their musculature and cardiovascular health, lifting weights and running while they do untold damage to their bones, joints, and ligaments -- the underlying structure that holds their musculature together. Yoga was invented thousands of years ago so that monks could sit up straight to meditate for longer periods of time. Every yoga “asana,” or pose, was invented so as to use the arms and legs (the “organs of action”) to create space and mobility in the spine. Unfortunately, the rapid development of western medicine has left yoga in the lurch. Another problem is that yoga has been commoditized and bastardized by certain hippies, preachers, and hucksters in such a way that its real benefits have been obscured from many. This is a shame because everyone could benefit from understanding these poses and how they help to keep us and our spines healthy without fancy medicine or painful and expensive physical therapy regimens. Some professional athletes have picked up on this, as have millions of Americans who have seen through the commoditization of yoga, and used it to untold benefit to their health and well being. We hope that LeBron can do the same during this off-season. We recommend Iyengar yoga as an uncommoditized/unbastardized school of yoga that is authentic and scientific in its approach.

As a reminder of how much can be accomplished in one off-season, now is as good a time as any to send out a hearty Cleveland Frowns shout to Cleveland’s own Cliff “Apesh*t” Lee, whose performance this season thus far has been nothing short of apesh*t. Last season, you might remember, Lee, a successful member of the Indians rotation for the better part of four major league seasons, simply could not get batters out. He was demoted to the minor leagues, and was left off of the Indians’ playoff roster. After an obviously productive off-season, he is pitching head and shoulders above every pitcher in baseball right now. 6 starts, 6 wins, 44.7 innings, 39 strikeouts, 2 (TWO!) walks, a 0.81 ERA, and a 0.60 WHIP. Apesh*t. Maybe LeBron can get some tips from Cliff on what to do during the offseason. It wouldn’t surprise us if Cliff learned some yoga in his downtime. He might not want to tell us because he might want it to be his secret weapon. With all the people out there who would like to have Cliff’s job, we can hardly blame him. There aren’t enough people as good at basketball to take LeBron’s job, even if they had this secret weapon, so LeBron wouldn’t have to keep it a secret.

A final note on the subject of the value of a good off-season, or at least the value of taking some periodic rest, we notice that our picks suffer when we don’t get enough rest ourselves. We’re afraid that we’ve stepped in a big pile of dung last weekend with our pick of the Jazz to beat the Lakers in the Western Conference semis. We believe in efficient markets, and the money involved in the Lakers being in the NBA Finals goes a long way in explaining how these whistles have blown in the first two games. We still think Utah is a better team than the Lakers. But they’re up against an insurmountable opponent. Nevertheless, we think that the David Stern Illuminati will call off the dogs tonight in Utah, and let them play tonight. Mr. Stern knows that a five game series never hurt anyone. We’ll go to the well for one last try with the Jazz Hands to get one in front of the home crowd tonight, after which we’ll expect Stern and the whistles to finish the job for the Lakers the rest of the way. The pick: Utah -4 against the Lakers. We’ll be back tomorrow to discuss the impending Celtics sweep.

Greek Easter at the Jake: Holiday Bonus Pick

Of course, the principles applied in our analysis of Friday night's game in Friday's post are generally applicable to the entire series between the Tribe and the Yankees in Cleveland this weekend. It was Tribe time again today at the Jake with a walk-off bases loaded single by Victor Martinez sealing a 4-3 win for the good guys with the bad logo. After a slow start, the Tribe is now 12-12 with today’s victory bringing their winning streak to five games. This streak might be the start of one of the sustained good runs that we’ve become accustomed to seeing from the Tribe over the last few years. It feels like one of those weekends at the Jake, with the home team feeding off a crowd that’s energized by the winning streak and the presence of the overblown and overpaid Yankees. And the Indians aren’t the only ones on a five game winning streak. Despite our concern over big C.C., we’ll join forces with the home team to see if we can’t both extend our streaks to six, together. The pick: Cleveland Indians at 105/100.

Also, we have mixed feelings about the name of the ballpark changing from "Jacobs" to “Progressive" Field. We like Progressive as a company -- our friends who work there tell us that it's a good place to work. We also like that the ballpark's named after a good company that's headquartered in Cleveland and employs a lot of people here, and that the Tribe will collect some millions of dollars for the naming privileges. But "the Pro," "Pro-Field," and everything else we've heard or could think of all sound dumb so we’ll keep calling it “the Jake” for short until someone comes up with something better.

UPDATE: One hour before game time at the Jake and 85% of the point spread action and 67% of the money line action at sportsbook.com is on the Yankees. I don't get it. The below photo of Joba Chamberlain says it all about the Yanks at the Jake these days. My favorite thing about the photo is that Joba is choking on fruit flies at the same time he is choking away the ballgame, and the series. The expression on his face clearly reflects all three ways in which he's choking. We wish we were at the Jake today. Also, we don't care much if the Cavs lose today because part of us wants LeBron to go home, rest his back, and go see a yoga expert.

Seven Percenters

The Yankees are in town tonight and through Monday for the only time this season. These Yankees ruin baseball by causing things like the unbalanced schedule and dumb interleague match-ups like the two yearly series between the Tribe and the Reds, who don't have a meaningful rivalry between them, but have had one contrived for them to justify the lucrative Yanks/Mets and Cubs/White Sox series. Why should the rest of us suffer? If those teams want to play each other so much they should make the g*ddam World Series. Because of such injustices wrought upon good baseball fans by the Yankees, their ilk, and their enablers, we think that the Baseball Gods are more likely than not to restore some balance to the universe in favor of Tribe Time tonight. Plus, the big bad Yanks should be haunted by the memory of how the bugs scared them in the playoffs last year while the Lake Erie Warriors gamely pressed on. Amazingly, a whopping 93% of the action on sportsbook.com is on these freaking pansies tonight. We’re happy and proud to join the 7% who will be ca-cawing for the Byrd-man tonight. The pick: Cleveland Indians +124 over New York Yankees.

Why Even Have a Bullpen?

Of course, it gets worse before it gets better. The Tribe lost 2-1 in the 10th inning yesterday in Minnesota after Rafael Perez gave up consecutive singles (all shots) to the 9th, 10th, and 11th batters that he faced. One might ask, why leave Perez in to face that 11th batter? Your guess is as good as ours, which is that Eric Wedge is retarded. Perez, a set-up man, usually pitches one, no more than two, innings. When Brendan Harris, then Jason Kubel, hit hard singles off of him to put runners at first and second, he had faced 10 batters, having retired six of them. Seemed like an honest days work for old Raffy at that point. It sure looked like time to bring in Jensen Lewis who’d been warming up in the bullpen. In fact, the entire bullpen should have been available with Cliff Lee, Jake Westbrook, and Paul Byrd all turning in solid (7+ inning) starts for the series. With the day off today, there was even less of a need to preserve arms. Justin Morneau, the Twins best hitter, 2006 AL MVP, and one of the best hitters in baseball was up next. It might be that Morneau was 0 for his career against Perez, who, in fairness to Wedge, had struck Morneau out in the eighth inning. Even so, Perez had already pitched beyond his normal game day workload and had been hit hard by both of the previous two batters. Plus Morneau had already seen Perez once that afternoon. Yet Wedge decided to let Perez face him again, giving Morneau a chance at redemption. The Twins were the home team. The pressure was all on Perez. We saw it coming from a mile away. Thwack! Game winning single to right field.

If you don’t use your bullpen in a situation like that, when do you use it? These relief pitchers aren’t starters for a reason. Isn’t the whole point of a bullpen to bring fresh new pitchers in out of it to keep batters off balance at the end of a game? Neither the Plain Dealer nor Beacon Journal reporters who filed stories about this game cared to raise this question, both choosing to focus on the Tribe’s weak offense. Why these reporters didn’t raise this issue, which was directly and chiefly relevant to the outcome of the ballgame, is anyone’s guess. Until we get any information to the contrary, we will assume it is because they are either too entrenched to want to ask the tough questions, or are retarded themselves. Probably both. Either way, we're watching you Wedgie. And we did not like what we saw yesterday. At least today’s off day (and this bit of good local news) gives us a chance to rest our frowning muscles. . . unless LeBron breaks his back tonight.

Salty Saturday

The weather has been beautiful this week and we’re still salty. The curse of Chief Wahoo is really wrecking sh*t these days.

The Tribe is now 5-9 after dropping two straight to Boston in the ninth inning. Oh, by the way, hope you didn’t want to see Boston play in Cleveland any more this season, because after that two game series this week, they won’t be back 2009. That’s right. Our old American League rival, and last year’s opponent in the ALCS only plays in Cleveland twice this season, in April. The outdoor temperature in these games ranged from between 25 and 50 degrees. The San Diego Padres play more games in Cleveland this year than the Red Sox do. So FOX can make more money on Red Sox/Yankees and Yankees/Mets? Retarded. Oh, and hope you’re not busy next weekend if you wanted to catch the Yankees this year. They won’t be back until next season either. Retarded. Just like our retarded muscle-bound closer who finally figured out that his triceps hurt after Manny took him deep in the ninth on Monday. You pitch baseballs for a living. You are wrecking your bones, joints, and ligaments by lifting weights and that is why you can’t throw. Dummy. We will ask again. Who the f*ck is training these guys?

On to the Cavs, who are in even worse shape, as they head into a postseason that has disaster written all over it. The options appear to be twofold: First there is the potential epic embarrassment of going down to the Wizards who will be bloodthirsty for revenge after being bounced from the playoffs by Cavs in each of the last two seasons. With LeBron’s bad back, the Wizards’ chances are better than ever. The thought of Deshawn “Soulja Boy” Stevenson getting over on the King makes us cringe. What’s worse is that LeBron is likely to do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening, and is liable to cause serious long term damage in the process. We said before LeBron’s back injury surfaced, that his duck-toed gait was a recipe for future long term back problems. These back issues are likely much more serious than LeBron realizes.

And the Browns have three Monday night games next season. This is bullsh*t. Football is for Sundays. Monday nights are for sleeping. Sometimes the Monday night games last until 1am. That f*cks up the whole week. And the Monday night announcers suck.

Finally, and worst of all, it looks like the Curse of Wahoo has spread to New York, probably due to our affiliation with Shea Hey. Has anything sadder than this happened at a ballpark recently? Ever? F*ck.

We’re going to the game tonight so we'll make a pick. Since Sabathia is pitching tonight, we’re taking the over. 87% of the bettors at Sportsbook.com like the under. These dummies obviously don’t understand what a mess big CC is this year. We do. The pick: Indians and Tigers OVER 9.5.


Also, if you think we care that it's not Saturday you are dumber than Borowski.

They Would Have Built a Statue

4/12/08 Update: Sabathia smoked again by Oakland. Three and a third innings, TWELVE hits, NINE earned runs. His ERA is now 11.57 on the season.

After being touched up by a weak Oakland lineup for four runs, six hits, and four walks in 5 1/3 innings yesterday, Tribe ace and reigning AL Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia is 0-1 with a 7.59 ERA after his first two starts this season. We believe that this slow start is substantially a result of Sabathia’s inner conflict over his impending decision to either remain an Indian, or leave Cleveland to take more money to pitch elsewhere. We expect more of the same from C.C. this season until this inner conflict is resolved.

We hope that C.C. has the chance to speak with his old teammate Jim Thome about this decision, as Thome was the last Indians superstar who was confronted with the same choice. Sabathia might take note of how comfortable Thome looked back in Cleveland when he took him deep twice on opening day at Progressive Field. Thome decided to leave Cleveland for Philadelphia in 2002 for what amounted to a difference of a few million dollars. At the time, Thome was the Tribe’s all time home run leader, and one of the most beloved Cleveland Indians in the team’s history. Thome broke down in tears at the press conference where he announced his decision to leave Cleveland. His decision broke the hearts of Indians fans everywhere.

Things didn’t exactly work out for Thome in Philadelphia, and he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2006. Thome is probably the best hitter on a mediocre Sox team, but he has not been, and odds are that he will never be, embraced by the city of Chicago as a hero the way he was here in Cleveland.

We don’t think it’s stretch to say that Thome would make a different decision today if he could do it over again. We know that he still lives in Northeast Ohio. He and his wife liked the area so much that they have decided to raise their children here. It might have been more fun to raise them in an area where their father was the most beloved player in Cleveland baseball history. We have to wonder whether that’s not worth the difference between $85 and $80 million alone. We also have to wonder what Thome would have meant to the Tribe’s playoff run last year. Regardless of the answer to that question, we know that Thome would have rather been playing in the postseason than sitting at home. He will probably feel the same way this fall.

They almost certainly would have built a statue of Thome outside of Progressive Field if he had stayed. Maybe he could have made up the extra millions in endorsements alone, or maybe those millions would be worth it simply to buy the peace of mind that would have come with staying home with the franchise that drafted him and raised him; the peace of mind that would have come with being a legitimate hero to a region of millions of people who are fiercely loyal to their hometown ballplayers; and the motivation that would have come with the chance to bring those people their first championship in 50 or so years. And there’s no telling what it would be worth to actually bring that championship home.

Thome had a chance at all of that, and he sold it for a few million. We have reason to think that it might have been worth a lot more than that. C.C. now has a chance at the same thing, but his opportunity might be worth even more than Thome’s was, given the nucleus of young talent that now surrounds Sabathia on the Indians roster. Could this chance possibly be worth less than going to New York or somewhere else to be a hired gun on a roster full of imported high priced talent? Has any player earned 'all-time great'/'face of the franchise' status on any major league club after being brought in after spending ten years of his career somewhere else? In view of all of this, we enjoyed Thome’s home runs against Sabathia on Opening Day as signifying something more meaningful than the resulting runs on the scoreboard. We can only hope that somewhere inside of him, C.C. was aware of what Thome gave up to leave Cleveland. Of course, C.C. will face tremendous pressure to do the same thing, if not from the MLB players union, then at least from the other teams who will try to lure him away. Whatever C.C. decides to do, we look forward to the day that we in Cleveland have our own Cal Ripken, or Tony Gwynn, or Kirby Puckett, or John Smoltz, or Chipper Jones, or even a Biggio or Bagwell (damn this list is short) who will turn down more money for something less tangible, but seemingly more important.

Time for New Ballgames

Our friends at the Boston Red Sox blog, Me and Pedro Down by the Ballpark, have asked us to share our thoughts on our Cleveland Indians as part of a team-by-team season preview feature called "Know Thy Enemy" that they have been running at their fine site. Given that our last baseball season ended at the hands of the Red Sox, thinking about the Indians in view of the team from Boston seems to be as good a way as any to start thinking about our team on opening day, so check out our preliminary thoughts on the 2008 Tribe here, at Me and Pedro.