Indians Baseball

Bobby Brister asked:


Baseball is full of curses and hexes that said to be the cause of the many failures of the team to win the World Series. Each team subjected to this curses will have years of drought. It is not like they end up being the worst team of the year but even if they give their best, they always lose. The non-believers of these curses may not take this as a logical explanation for not winning. However, the losses of the best teams seemed to be a puzzle to everyone.

The players, a prominent figure or a spectator may cause the curses of baseball. It is not like the olden days that they chant spells or perform rituals to summon evil power to cause bad things to happen. Gone are the days of cauldrons and witches. These supernatural hindrances to win a National League or American League or even a World Series were heavily caused by a bitter exchange of words or plainly an act of letting go.
Several people were associated to the mishaps occurring in several teams. The following are:

1. Rocky Colavito- Who could forget this handsome baseball player. Everyone loved him for his coolness. Yet he was the alleged reason why Cleveland Indians were not to grab titles from World Series or even the American League. There were traces of the curse year after year but he denied that he never cast one on them. We will never know, however, who would want to trade the leader in homeruns for the American League? Well, it seems Cleveland made a wrong decision and put them in a troubling scenario. Nevertheless, none of these stopped Colavito from being one of the best baseball players in MLB.

2. **** Ruth- This is your chocolate man and not only nutty and chocolaty but also the best player in the history of baseball. However, this baseball icon did not escape the being associated to hexes and spells. After being traded way back in 1919, Boston Red Sox had to suffer terrible losses even though they can get themselves in the World Series. Good thing that in 2004, the Red Sox were able to break the curse and it is believed so that it has totally disappeared when they repeated the victory in 2007.

3. Donnie Mattingly- He is the curse of the New York Yankees. When Yankees hired him, the team never won anything. He stayed from 1980 to 1995 and within those years, the Yankees offense was not so good, they lost games even though the pitcher threw a no-hitter and they even placed last in 1990. When Mattingly left the team, the Yankees started winning games from 1996-1998.

These are few of the players, who were said to have negative impact in teams like Cleveland Indians, Red Sox, and the Yankees. It is funny how the names of these great players are attached to the different curses. However, of course, when you ask them, they will deny such allegations. Remember, they are baseball players, not warlocks.



MARSHALL

Rick Grantham asked:


Many great baseball players made the game interesting and memorable. These athletes have made major contributions to the reason why many youngsters want to play the game. One of the baseball hall of famers who made such an impact is Howard Earl Averill. He was nicknamed, Rock.
Averill was born on May 21, 1902 at Snohomish, Washington. He played with the Boston Braves and Detroit Tigers. However, it was with the Cleveland Indians he stayed the longest. Here, he stayed for ten years.

He leads the Indians in many offensive stats including Runs Batted In, total bases, triples, and runs. He is also one of the top Indians in terms of doubles, hits, walks, and home runs. He also made an appearance in the All Stars six times over, from 1933 to 1938. Although this was the case, the Indians never got past the 3rd place when Averill was playing for the team.

He also made history in 1930 when he became the first player to have four homeruns in the doubleheader game. He wowed everyone when he made a homerun in his first major league in his debut in 1929.

He also had the best year in his career in 1936 when he topped in the American League in terms of hits. He made 232. He fell short and landed second in terms of batting. He followed Luke Appling at 0.388 while his was at 0.378. He also finished third in the MVP race that year.

After a decade with the team, the Indian traded him to the Detroit Tigers. Being with the Tigers was the closest he could get to the World Series. However, they lost it to the Cincinnati Reds. After his brief stay with the team, he played for the Boston Braves. This was the last team he played for before he retired.

His journey did not end after baseball. When he retired, he returned to Washington where he managed his own motel. This lasted for twenty years.

He ranked number fourteen of the best fifty center fielders of all times by the baseball page .com. His career was short but it was surely enough to give him a place in the Hall of Fame. His induction to the Hall of Fame took place in 1975.

What was amazing is that Averill started his major league career in his late twenties far older than the other hall of famers. Although he was relatively older, he still managed to make his fellow Cleveland Indians proud. His age did not stop him from competing with the much younger star players of other teams. His six appearances in the All Star reinforce that.

Ear Averill is one of the true inspirations in the baseball field. His career in the major league started when he was twenty-seven. Yet, it did not stop him from becoming one of the best Indian players of all time. He is also one of the best center fielders in the history of the league. This only proves to show that you are never too old to make your dreams happen.



BLAINE