BIG GAMES, BIG STAGES FOR BROWNS AND INDIANS
By STEVE KING
Cleveland is at the center of the pro sports universe this weekend.
The Cleveland Indians, in pursuit of an American League playoff spot, were on national TV on Thursday and Friday nights from Progressive Field, and will continue to be on national TV on Saturday and Sunday nights, again from Progressive Field, and also then on Tuesday night from Chicago to culminate a string of five consecutive national TV appearances.
In the regular season, when’s the last time, if ever, the Indians have been on national TV for five consecutive games? It is stunning – and exciting – indeed.
It will all culminate on Sunday night when the Indians and Philadelphia Phillies play at 6:37 and then, a little less than two hours later, at 8:20, just down the road, the Browns host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.
It is the first time that the Browns and Indians have played in Cleveland on the same night – or even just the same day — on national TV during the regular season. How electric will that night be? Very much so, no doubt.
However, the Browns and Indians playing on the same day in Cleveland is nothing new. It first happened on Oct. 10, 1948 when, in fact, Sunday night football in Cleveland debuted.
The two teams both played in Cleveland Stadium back then, so, from the Browns’ first season in 1946, they had never played at home on the same day. But they did so on that early fall night – Sunday night, as mentioned – and it happened quite unintentionally.
The Browns, who were in the midst of putting together their perfect 15-0 season en route to their third consecutive All-American Football Conference championship, had been scheduled to host the Brooklyn Dodgers that Sunday afternoon. But the Indians needed the Stadium during the afternoon for Game 5 of the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves (all World Series games were played during the day at that time), so the Browns moved their game to 8:30 p.m.
Leading 3 games to 1 and in position to clinch the world title with another win, the Indians melted down, losing 11-5 before the largest crowd ever to see them play in Cleveland, 86,288.
The Bossard brothers, the excellent groundskeepers at the Stadium, quickly transformed the playing field from baseball to football and the Browns went on topple the Dodgers 31-17 before 31,187 to improve their record to 6-0.
A combined 117,475 watched the Indians and Browns that day. On Sunday night, the combined crowds for the two teams’ home games will be about 100,000.
