Cleveland’s baseball curriculum vitae has many bright points. Examples include Bob Feller hurling three no-hitters, Larry Doby breaking the color line in the American League, and Quincy Trouppe leading the Buckeyes to a Negro League World Series championship in 1945.
There is also, of course, the fictional Indians team led by Rick Vaughn, Jake Taylor, and Pedro Cerrano in the 1989 film Major League. This squad won the American League Eastern Division in a one-game playoff against the Yankees; it lost the league championship, a fact that occurred off-screen—audiences found out in Major League II, which depicted the captains of the Cuyahoga exorcising the previous season’s ghosts by winning the AL championship against the Chicago White Sox.
In 1948, under the leadership of player-manager Lou Boudreau, the Indians brought a World Series title to northeast Ohio. But the road to victory had more curves than the Cuyahoga River.
An aura of anxiety covered Cleveland on the evening of September 24th, like the fog at the beginning of Dickens’s novel Bleak House—the Indians, the Yankees, and the Red Sox stood atop the American League in a triple tie. Bostonians, meanwhile, savored the possibility of an all-Beantown World Series between the Red Dox and the Braves when the latter clinched the National League title on September 26th, thanks to a three-run blast by Bob Elliott agains the New York Giants in the first inning. It was a sufficient cushion for a 3-2 victory; the win gave the Braves a National League pennant for the first time since the “Miracle Braves” accomplished the feat in 1914.
At the end of the season, the Indians and the Red Sox shared the top spot in the American League; the Yankees trailed by two games. A one-game playoff at Fenway Park determined which team would represent the league in the World Series against the Braves. On the morning of October 4th, the date of the playoff, Harold Kaese of the Boston Daily Globe acknowledged the emotional impact of the pennant race. “When today’s game is played, this town figures to be flat on its back from nervous exhaustion,” wrote Kaese. “Before the patient recovers enough to take sports nourishment, the entire football season is likely to have passed unnoticed and The Country Club curlers will be getting ready for the Stockton Cup bonspiel.”
Gene Bearden, a rookie hurler, held back the Red Sox in an 8-3 victory for the Indians. A 20-7 pitcher with a league-leading 2.43 ERA in 1948, Bearden struck out six, walked five, and allowed five hit in the triumph for the Tribe. Boudreau had a career day—four-for-four with two RBI, three runs scored, and a walk; two hits were home runs.
Indians third baseman Ken Keltner knocked in three runs, scored one run, and went three-for-five. Center fielder Larry Doby had a two-for-five day with one run scored.
The 1948 World Series between the Indians and the Braves culminated with the crown going to the former in six games. Boudreau tipped his cap to Bearden, who won one game in the series and saved the sixth and deciding game. “It was his series all the way,” declared Boudreau in Clif Keane’s account for the Globe. “That’s all I can say. It was his year. Don’t give me any credit. It was Bearden.”
Kaese, meanwhile, urged Red Sox rooters to avoid disgust, dismay, and disappointment, particularly if those emotions targeted utility player Sibby Sisti, who bunted into a double play to end the series. “Think not unkindly” was Kaese’s repeated admonition. For succor, Kaese pointed out deficits automatically placing the Red Sox at a disadvantage. Plus, the Red Sox matched or surpassed the Indians in some areas.
“The Indians had to play National League ball to beat the Braves,” rationalized Kaese. “They won because the had three excellent pitchers, whereas the Braves had only two—John Sain and Warren Spahn. They won because they were a little sharper in the field, a little more timely at bat.
“The Braves scored as many runs (17) as the Indians. They out-hit the Indians (.231 to .199). They out-slugged the Indians (61 total bases to 57).”
A version of this article appeared on www.thesportspost.com on March 12, 2016.