BOSTON — Carlos Baerga sat in one chair, Omar Vizquel in the other. Alvaro Espinoza relaxed on the couch between them as they all gorged on a late lunch and watched the four TV screens displaying the Indians game Saturday afternoon.
In the seats outside of the suite, down the right-field line, Kenny Lofton demonstrated his golf swing. Mike Hargrove, Paul Shuey, Chad Ogea and Paul Assenmacher grabbed some food and chatted.
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It was almost as though the Indians had transplanted the 1995 clubhouse into one of their cozy suites in 2018.
Almost.
Albert Belle wasn’t present to flip over the buffet table or smash the thermostat or to make a cameo on the scoreboard’s Flex Cam. Jim Thome was busy fulfilling his millionth obligation of the month, rather than reminiscing with his old teammates. Wayne Kirby was in the visitors dugout at Progressive Field, sporting a bright orange Baltimore uniform instead of a clean white Indians one. And there was no blaring salsa music, no one shouting the refrain to Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It,” a pair of popular backdrops to the ever-chaotic clubhouse the Indians called home 20-some years ago.
Minutes earlier, the group sat in white chairs in front of the pitcher’s mound as Thome saluted the crowd, thanked a host of former teammates and coaches and Indians staffers, received a couple of gifts and had his No. 25 retired by the franchise that employed him for more than a decade. As Thome delivered his speech — a practice he has mastered during this whirlwind of a celebratory summer — Lofton and Vizquel filmed the newly inducted Hall of Famer on their phones. Vizquel, now managing Class A Winston-Salem in the White Sox organization, flew into Cleveland on Saturday morning. He returned to North Carolina on Saturday evening.
Thome, the sport’s all-time leader in walk-off home runs, trotted around the bases one final time Saturday. He invited his son, Landon, along for the journey. When Thome reached home plate, his old teammates mimicked one of the home-plate mobbings they made so trendy in a bygone era. The 1995 club amassed 48 come-from-behind victories, including 27 in their final at-bat. So, Vizquel sprayed a water bottle, they pounded on Thome’s back and they jumped up and down, a fun moment for them and for the sellout crowd at the ballpark.
Here are a handful of thoughts and observations on Thome, his old teammates and the Tribe.
Jim Thome, in his famous stance. (Zack Meisel/The Athletic)
1. A slice of history: Thome joined Earl Averill (3), Lou Boudreau (5), Larry Doby (14), Mel Harder (18), Bob Feller (19), Frank Robinson (20), Bob Lemon (21) and Jackie Robinson (42) in the exclusive club of those to have their number retired by the Indians. All but Harder own real estate in Cooperstown.
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Thome ranks eighth all-time in baseball history with 612 home runs. He was never linked to performance-enhancing drugs, despite the era in which he primarily played. He’s a deserving Hall of Famer and it’s difficult to argue against the retiring of his number, though some will never get past his decision to bolt for greener pastures in Philadelphia.
He should not, however, be the sole representation of the ’90s-era Indians. Belle’s rift with the organization — his own doing — seems destined to keep him from receiving what would undoubtedly be a roar of approval from the home crowd if he ever returned to the ballpark. Lofton and Vizquel hold spots in Heritage Park, but what if No. 7 and No. 13 joined the rest of the numbers plastered onto the right-field facade?
If entry to the Hall is the chief criterion for such a decision, it should be noted that Lofton deserved a much better fate on the ballot. Overshadowed by controversial first-year candidates Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, Lofton received only 3.2 percent of the vote and was removed from future consideration. His numbers aren’t too dissimilar from those compiled by Tim Raines, who joined the Hall last summer.
In his first year on the ballot, Vizquel received 37 percent of the vote. He recently told The Athletic that, since it’s out of his control, he hasn’t lost much sleep about it.
2. The future awaits: Cody Allen knows his days as a member of the Indians might be waning. He’s eligible for free agency at the end of the season, but it’s not as though that has sneaked up on him.
“I can’t put myself on Nov. 3 in August,” Allen told The Athletic. “There’s no point in doing that. The thought is there at times, but that’s more thinking along the lines of, ‘I’ve been in this organization since I came into professional baseball.’ So that part of it, but not the stuff that’s like, ‘What’s going to happen in free agency?’ You don’t think about that stuff. You just play the game.”
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This could be the last hurrah in Cleveland for a handful of long-tenured Tribe players, including Allen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Michael Brantley and Josh Tomlin.
“You’re hanging out with your teammates and thinking, ‘This might be it,’ ” Allen said. “But that’s part of the game. I would love to play my entire career here, but sometimes that’s not necessarily up to the player. It’s circumstance. I’m proud of the fact that this is my seventh year here. I’ve been a productive part of this team for most of my career.
“This organization operates within certain parameters and they’ve made some really, really good decisions on guys to keep, guys to let go, what makes sense, what doesn’t, supplementing the loss of certain positions. We’re in a spot right now, as an organization, where winning is expected and we have a locker room full of extremely talented ballplayers who are under control for quite a while and that doesn’t happen by accident. That happens by making good, smart decisions.”
These could be Cody Allen’s final two months with the Indians. (David Maxwell/Getty Images)
3. Getting better: Leonys Martín was released from Cleveland Clinic on Sunday as his condition continues to improve following his bout with a life-threatening bacterial infection.
“To think about the progress he’s made over the past week, it’s been nothing short of amazing,” Chris Antonetti said.
Terry Francona, Brad Mills and a group of players visited Martín in the hospital last Thursday. Antonetti has also checked in on the center fielder, who joined the Indians after a July 31 trade. Antonetti said Martín is itching to rejoin his teammates and return to baseball activity, though with no precedent to rely upon, the team has no idea when that might take place.
— Leonys Martin (@leonys27martin) August 19, 2018
4. Measuring stick: Regular-season results mean next to nothing when teams reconnect in October. How the Indians fared against the Mariners in late March would have no bearing on the clubs’ encounter should they hook up in the postseason. Pitching matchups change. Rosters evolve. Players recover from old injuries and suffer new ones.
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But the Red Sox stand at 88-37. The Indians, at 71-52, would be tied with the Cubs for the best record in the National League in an alternate universe. But they sit 16 games behind Boston in the standings. So, while the results of the four games at Fenway Park this week won’t influence any potential October meetings, they could serve as something of a litmus test. The Indians have played better lately. They also have played some wretched doormats of opponents. So goes baseball in 2018, the year of the haves and have-nots.
The Indians, of course, boasted the best record in the American League last year, only to be bounced by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
Francisco Lindor, to The Athletic, on this week’s series: “They have a great team. We haven’t played them, but they have a great team. Last year, we led the league in wins. What’d we have, 102? And we got kicked out in the first round. It doesn’t matter — the playoffs are a completely different game. Don’t get me wrong, they have a great team. I’m not saying that’s going to happen to them. But it doesn’t matter what you do in the regular season. Everything can change in the postseason.”
Photo: Jim Thome (David Richard/USA Today Sports)
