Haudricourt: Indians have a drought of their own to end
Cleveland — Chris Bosio still remembers walking into the home clubhouse at County Stadium after games in 1988 and watching the “Cleveland Indians” file down the tunnel and onto the field.
“I remember me and (Dan) Plesac talking about Charlie Sheen using our lockers. We were fighting over who could use whose,” recalled Bosio, a starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers that season.
Sheen was one of the actors portraying Indians players in the movie “Major League,” which was filmed in the Brewers’ home ballpark because producers couldn’t work out a schedule at Municipal Stadium, where the Indians and Browns played. Scenes often were shot late at night after the Brewers finished playing, with County Stadium redecorated to resemble Cleveland’s home park.
With Brewers legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker famously portraying fictional Indians radio voice Harry Doyle, “Major League” became a rousing success and remains one of the most beloved baseball movies. In the film, a ragtag bunch of players bands together on the previously woeful club to win the division in a one-game playoff against the hated Yankees.
“They did a complete face-lift of the stadium every night,” said Bosio, now the pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs. “There’s a lot of great memories from that movie, rubbing elbows with all those guys. It was a lot of fun.”
That memorable movie would not have been made if not for the years of failure by the Indians, who had not been to the World Series since 1954 until breaking through in 1995 and 1997. Cleveland has not won it all since 1948, which brings us to the battle of droughts that will begin Tuesday night when the Cubs and the Indians square off in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.
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When the Cubs finally broke through Saturday night to claim the National League pennant, it was a huge story across the nation because they hadn’t made it to the World Series since 1945 and haven’t won it since 1908. The Indians don’t have goats, black cats or Steve Bartman in their troubled past, but their fans have suffered many indignities, including closer Jose Mesa being unable to seal the deal in the 1997 World Series against the Marlins.
Veteran first baseman/designated hitter Mike Napoli, who played for previous World Series teams in Texas and Boston, was well aware of Cleveland’s history of failure when he signed with the club before the 2016 season. He and teammate Jason Kipnis decided to curry favor with the baseball gods by setting up a shrine to "Jobu" in a locker in the clubhouse early in the season.
In “Major League,” strikeout-prone slugger Pedro Cerrano, played by Dennis Haysbert, builds a shrine to Jobu, a voodoo statue, in his locker and tries to summon help from him by offering rum. Napoli and Kipnis followed that example and hung a sign in the locker with the inscription: “It is very bad to drink Jobu’s rum. Very bad.”
“We just thought it would be something fun to do,” said Napoli, who admitted to having “no idea” that the movie was filmed in Milwaukee. “We started winning, so we just kept it going.”
Despite that tribute to “Major League” and Jobu, Napoli said players generally don’t believe in off-field curses. He admitted that many are superstitious and follow specific routines, especially when things are going well, but said he no longer tosses away socks or jocks if he goes 0 for 4 wearing them.
“I don’t blame it on my equipment anymore,” he said with a big smile.
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Well aware of how compelling the storyline would be if these teams met in the World Series, Napoli admitted to pulling for the Cubs to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. He said the focus would be on the field when the first pitch is thrown at Progressive Field, but the idea of one franchise ending decades of futility added to the intrigue.
“I wanted the Cubs to win, just because of the history,” he said. “I thought it would be the coolest World Series. One of the two droughts is going to end.”
Asked if he thought folks outside this city would be pulling for the Cubs because their back story has more romance and intrigue, Napoli said, “It doesn’t matter. We weren’t picked (to win) in the first two (postseason) series. We’re probably not picked in this series, either.”
Napoli had that one right. Despite Cleveland having home-field advantage, the Cubs are favored to end their 108-year famine and “win the whole (bleeping) thing” as Jake Taylor said in exhorting his teammates in “Major League.”
Cleveland manager Terry Francona, who played for the Brewers in 1989 when the movie was released in theaters, has a unique perspective about what it will be like for one of these teams to finally break through. He managed the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they ended an 86-year drought to win the World Series and put an end to the so-called Curse of the Bambino.
“One franchise and one city is going to be really happy,” Francona said. “The other one is going to hear all the same things they’ve heard year after year. I hope it’s them.”
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, whose dominant pitching led the Cubs to their historic victory in Game 6 of the NLCS, said “Major League” is one of his favorite baseball movies. As far as a happy ending for the Indians, Hendricks said he and his teammates would do whatever it takes to keep it on the movie screen.
“We’re hoping they can make a new movie about a different team after this is over,” he said.
WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE
The best-of-seven series starts in Cleveland thanks to the AL’s All-Star Game victory. All games are at 7 p.m. Central time and will be televised by Fox.
Game 1: Tuesday, Oct. 25, at Cleveland
Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Cleveland
Game 3: Friday, Oct. 28, at Chicago
Game 4: Saturday, Oct. 29, at Chicago
Game 5: Sunday, Oct. 30, at Chicago
Game 6: Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Cleveland
Game 7: Wednesday, Nov. 2, at Cleveland