Dealing: The Cleveland Indians New Ballgame
By Terry Pluto
Gray & Company

D’you remember--Who’s on First?--that hilarious old comedy routine of Abbott and Costello? Well, that was the last century. This century’s baseball team has these players:

and of course, that good ol’ reliable utility player—Hindsight

You can shuffle that lineup any way you want to, but at the end of the day, the deck is still stacked against the owner(s). It’s hardly fair to blame the Dolans for not being Dick Jacobs. After all, he did just what he’d done all his lifetime—bought low, sold high. Sold extra-high, actually. That doesn’t mean that Jacobs should be blamed for having bought the baseball team in the first place—or selling it twelve years later. Had he not bought it when he did in 1987, the Cleveland Indians might still be mired in the drafty old Stadium down by the lakefront, and probably still stuck in the lower echelons of the standings, as they’d been for most of the years since 1954. Or they might be playing elsewhere. You should recall it took the Jacobs family several years to get to the high-flying mid-90s, when the playoffs were the standard by which all other accomplishments were measured. Back then, the Browns were a bunch of nobodies, and so were the Cavs. Things are vastly different now.

Terry Pluto, the award-winning sports columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal for the last 21 years uses his extensive knowledge and the openness of the Dolan family, along with Mark Shapiro, to explain the last few years of baseball in Cleveland. Actually, Paul Dolan, president of the team, should almost qualify for co-author status, he appears so often and so openly, explaining the actions of himself and his family. The Dolans appear to be out-going, straight-forward owners, explaining matters to the fans. (Sometimes they explain too much, to be sure.) By contrast, as Pluto says, “(Jacobs) is not a man who likes to explain business, he just does business.” (page 20.)

From the first pitch “The Cleveland Indians were supposed to keep ruling the American League’s Central Division forever” to the final out, some 211 pages later “And drastic, daring dealing is the only way for a team like the Indians to do it” –consistently putting a winner on the field, that is, you’ll be part of the team in this plain-speaking look at the inner workings of a Major League baseball team’s front office, and how the entire team—front office and the one on the field—combine to make things happen.

Perhaps the Dolans biggest mistake was that, although they had been shrewd businessmen for many years, they approached the purchase of the team as fans rather than owners. For no other reason, perhaps, you have to like these guys. They play with their hearts—with tons of dollars thrown in for good measure. Seems to me they should be given a bit more time to make good on their intentions. After all, the world—and Northeast Ohio—changed drastically in the four years since they overpaid for the team.

There was the aftermath of 9/11, which will continue for a good many more years. The economic scene in Cleveland has gone through major changes in the last four years. Loss of jobs equates to many less dollars available for this not-so-inexpensive entertainment. Baseball, itself, has experienced the same sort of trauma, with new, long-term very pricey free-agent contracts. (Also, it’s not only the Indians who sometimes have to pay another team to take a player they can’t support any longer.) Then, too, the very novelty of the shiny new Jacobs Field began to wear off a bit. And don’t forget the players. It takes much more time for a player to reach his prime than it does for him to pass on by it. Aging athletes can’t always keep up, and it’s a wise manager who realizes that fact, while still working around it. Not to mention, it’s all too easy to ruin a player who’s too young to handle the constant every day stress of competitive sports.

Pluto goes into great detail about how—knowing they weren’t baseball strategists—the Dolans wisely found a solid core of young, knowledgeable men with varying skills and put them in charge of the team. General Manager Mark Shapiro (MLB’s Executive of the Year for 2005); his assistants: Chris Antonetti, (the wizard of the computer); Neal Huntington, director of player development; scouting director John Mirabelli, and minor league director John Farrell. Between them, they selected Eric Wedge as manager of the team. (Locals complain about Wedge, but his peers have chosen him as one of the coaches for the 2006 All-Star game!) There’s a lot to be said for putting someone in charge and letting them have the actual means and power to do their best without fear of the axe falling. That’s not to say they can take forever, but it takes time to find the best young prospects and nurture them to major league capability.

Next time you want to complain about the penny-pinching Dolans, stop and think about this for a moment. In 2000, they purchased the Indians for 320 million dollars. The entire team, the front office, the farm teams, the whole magilla. Then, (from page 175) “Along with having the three highest payrolls in team history (2000-2002), the Dolans also paid $40 million during all of their ownership in revenue sharing, mostly because of the success of the Jacobs era.” Today, even though they’ve cut back some, they’ve also greatly increased the scouting program in an effort to re-build the team.

Cleveland is a small market, with three major-league teams. (New York City has more teams, of course, but even with all the dollars spent there, NY teams don’t win every game, all the time.) The New York Yankees spend 200 million dollars per year on their team payroll! Every year, they spend that much! Anyone here have that kind of money to spend? Didn’t think so. Folks here want the Dolans to sell. Not so easily done. Another old playground saying comes to mind. “Put up or shut up!” No one says the Dolans want to sell, but just suppose they did. Who’d buy? You? (Didn’t think so!) Until that happens, maybe we ought to cut them some slack, and give the Dolans a chance to finish what they started.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net

For more info about the book: http://www.grayco.com/s/new.shtml

To read a book excerpt: http://www.grayco.com/cleveland/books/10223/index.shtml

To purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598510223/clevelandbooks

Or, of course, your local bookstore.

Terry Pluto will autograph copies of his new book "Dealing: The New Indians Ballgame” at the following dates, times, and locations:

Fri 7/7 from 7-8PM; Borders Express, 3265 W Market St., Akron, 330-867-2601.

Mon 7/10 - 7-8PM; Borders Books & Music, 17200 Royalton Rd., Strongsville, 216-291-8407.

Thu 7/13 - 7-8PM; Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library, 3512 Darrow Road, Stow. 330-688-3295.

Additional appearances may be listed at: http://www.grayco.com/events/events1.shtml (:divend:)