This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, on the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”
It’s tough to pass over a Hall of Fame pitcher who won 300 games and was a mainstay of one of baseball’s greatest pitching staffs when you set out to select the best player to wear #24 in a Cleveland uniform. But that’s what happened to Early Wynn, the right-hander who spent ten seasons in Cleveland, and picked up more than half of those 300 wins with the Tribe.
This series has already recognized several players from that “other era” of baseball success on Lake Erie...recognizing as this town’s best, names like Avila, Averill, Boudreau and Feller among others, from the 40’s and 50’s teams that we’ve only read about. But some of those guys didn’t have competition like Manny Ramirez.
If you try to recall the players drafted and developed by the Indians in the last few decades who turned out to be bonafide “stars” - if only for a while - it’s a pretty short list: Belle, Thome, Sabathia...and Manny Ramirez. In that respect, the kid from Santo Domingo, via New York City, was homegrown. He was all ours...till he wasn’t anymore.
Manny’s immense talent as a hitter exploded right before our eyes, in front of five straight seasons of nothing but sellout crowds. His career in Cleveland coincided with the most successful era of Indians baseball in our memory. Even as he was surrounded by other stars on the Indians teams of the 90’s, it was obvious from the start that he was a special player. That’s why Manny Ramirez is an easy choice at #24.
This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”
BracketBusters are happening this weekend and it’s a perfect time to try and take advantage of some lines that may be off. Unlike conference play, the books are trying to set lines for games featuring teams that have not, in most cases, played each other recently. The teams were paired together and scheduled as matchups that should be close, because the teams are relatively equal and from conferences of similar strength. But, as always, if you look beneath the surface, there are going to be opportunities of value.
New General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen is expected to join the Blue Jackets on Wednesday, just in time for Thursday night’s game in Detroit, and maybe he’ll be able to put the team at ease. Since Kekäläinen’s hire, the Jackets are winless and have scored just six goals. Injuries and slumps have been the theme of the season thus far and the players, and coach Todd Richards, appear to be feeling the pressure of Kekäläinen’s hire.