Monday is, or was, depending on when you’re reading this, the anniversary of a memorable event in Cleveland sports history.
It was exactly 52 years ago, on April 7, 1973, that the team then known as the Indians edged the Detroit Tigers 2-1 at Cleveland Stadium in the season opener before a crowd of 74,420, which included four boys in the junior class at Manchester High School south of Akron.
The crowd, which was just short of a complete sellout in the cavernous park, was so large — and so unexpected, as the estimate was only about 30,000 — that the Indians gameday operations staff was caught completely off-guard and as such was extremely understaffed. Some fans didn’t get into their seats until the fifth inning.
It helped, from an attendance standpoint, that the opener was on a Saturday, meaning more people were off work and school and had a chance to attend, and also that the weather was actually not bad at all for the third week of spring on the shores of Lake Erie. But what helped even more — much more, in fact — was that there was legitimate optimism about the Indians for the first time in quite a while. They were coming off a 1972 season in which they contended for the American League Eastern Division title into the early part of September before fading. Pitcher Gaylord Perry, who was in his first season in Cleveland after being acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants for fireballing hurler “Sudden” Sam McDowell, went 24-16 and won the AL Cy Young Award. Fellow pitchers Dick Tidrow and Milt Wilcox showed much promise. There was also a crew of young, talented position players such as third baseman Buddy Bell, first baseman Chris Chambliss and outfielders Charlie Spikes and George Hendrick.
When Perry pitched a gem — a complete-game four-hitter — and outdueled Mickey Lolich, one of the top pitchers in all of baseball, as the Indians, with the aid of a two-run homer by Chambliss in the first inning, defeated the defending Eastern Division champion Tigers in a thriller, it took all of the optimism and put a blowtorch to it.
The gang from Manchester, along with no doubt many others who were in attendance that day, drove home listening to legendary sports talk show host Pete Franklin on Cleveland radio station WWWE-AM crow about the big victory, revving up the fans even more.
I never heard the term, “the audacity of hope,” until five years later when the Browns hired the offensive coordinator of the Hank Stram-coached New Orleans Saints, some well-spoken, quotable guy named Sam Rutigliano, as their head coach and he began to use it quite a bit, along with a lot of other sayings. It means, according to one definition, “boldly and optimistically believing in the possibility of a better future, even in the face of adversity or doubt.”
The Indians, at that time, had not been to the World Series in 19 years (1954), and they wouldn’t go for another 22 years (1995). But we didn’t know the latter fact in 1973. We thought the Indians had a real shot that season, and the opener added more credence to that opinion.
But the win over Detroit proved to be fool’s gold. It turned out to be just more of the same, though, as the 1973 Indians won just 70 of their their remaining 161 games, finishing a woeful 71-91 and in last place in the division.
Though not as bad, the Browns are now in the same general position as the Indians were a little over a half-century ago in that their fans are trying to have the audacity of hope. That’s what finishing 3-14 last season, and having just three postseason trips in the previous 27 seasons, will do for you.
Shadeur Sanders knows that, and would love to change the narrative. Will he get the chance?
We’ll see.
We can only . . . hope, right?
Steve King
