Drum-Taps

January 30, 2012 2:50 pm
Aerial view of Cleveland’s League Park I read a post this morning on the very fine Oldtimefamilybaseball blog that alerted me to the fact that, after years of fund-raising, renovations on what is left of the legendary League Park are about to begin. I actually lived near the site back in the early 80s when it was basically a shooting gallery for local transients.  League Park was home to the Indians for decades as well as Negro League champs, the Cleveland Buckeyes. But the reason I’m breaking radio silence and sharing the news with you is that League Park was also the home to another professional baseball club, the infamous Cleveland Spiders (1889-1899).  While the Spiders once boasted a guy named Cy Young on their pitching staff, they are also in the record books for having the single worst season in baseball history.  In 1899, the Spiders were a mind-boggling 20-134.  The season was so wretched that in the team’s Wikipedia entry it is known only as “The Debacle.”  Attendance at League Park was so low that other National League teams refused to come to Cleveland to play.  That season the Spiders played 112 road games losing 101 of them.  The team finished 84 games out of first-place.  Their staff “ace,” Jim Hughey, lost 30 games.  For their season finale, the Spiders “drafted” a clerk from the neighborhood cigar shop, an amateur named Eddie Kolb, to pitch.  They lost 19-3.  I salute Mr. Kolb for holding the opponent under 20 runs.  I have been a Cleveland Indians fan my entire life.  My grandfather used to tell me stories of seeing games in League Park.  When I commiserate with fellow Tribe fans about our years of struggle inevitably they invoke the Curse of Rocky Colavito.  I, however, believe that our suffering has deeper roots.  I believe that the Cleveland Spiders whipped up a Karma shit-storm so horribly intense that you can draw a straight line from the 1899 “Debacle” to Jose Mesa.  The Debacle created a ripple effect that has reverberated across the ages, unsettling the time-space continuum, and bringing pain and suffering to our fans.  Only superheroes like Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, and Frank Robinson have had the powers to swim through its strong currents.  When they left us carnage ensued. Since reading the news about the League Park renovations this morning, I have been choked with anxiety.  I can’t stop thinking about the movie Poltergeist.  Something lurks beneath League Park—something evil.  It pains this historian to say it, but I think it is a mistake to stir up those ghosts.  Screw the renovations.  The site should be capped off like some bad nuclear reactor. Before it is too late.

Aerial view of Cleveland’s League Park

I read a post this morning on the very fine Oldtimefamilybaseball blog that alerted me to the fact that, after years of fund-raising, renovations on what is left of the legendary League Park are about to begin. I actually lived near the site back in the early 80s when it was basically a shooting gallery for local transients.  League Park was home to the Indians for decades as well as Negro League champs, the Cleveland Buckeyes.

But the reason I’m breaking radio silence and sharing the news with you is that League Park was also the home to another professional baseball club, the infamous Cleveland Spiders (1889-1899).  While the Spiders once boasted a guy named Cy Young on their pitching staff, they are also in the record books for having the single worst season in baseball history.  In 1899, the Spiders were a mind-boggling 20-134.  The season was so wretched that in the team’s Wikipedia entry it is known only as “The Debacle.”  Attendance at League Park was so low that other National League teams refused to come to Cleveland to play.  That season the Spiders played 112 road games losing 101 of them.  The team finished 84 games out of first-place.  Their staff “ace,” Jim Hughey, lost 30 games.  For their season finale, the Spiders “drafted” a clerk from the neighborhood cigar shop, an amateur named Eddie Kolb, to pitch.  They lost 19-3.  I salute Mr. Kolb for holding the opponent under 20 runs. 

I have been a Cleveland Indians fan my entire life.  My grandfather used to tell me stories of seeing games in League Park.  When I commiserate with fellow Tribe fans about our years of struggle inevitably they invoke the Curse of Rocky Colavito.  I, however, believe that our suffering has deeper roots.  I believe that the Cleveland Spiders whipped up a Karma shit-storm so horribly intense that you can draw a straight line from the 1899 “Debacle” to Jose Mesa.  The Debacle created a ripple effect that has reverberated across the ages, unsettling the time-space continuum, and bringing pain and suffering to our fans.  Only superheroes like Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, and Frank Robinson have had the powers to swim through its strong currents.  When they left us carnage ensued.

Since reading the news about the League Park renovations this morning, I have been choked with anxiety.  I can’t stop thinking about the movie Poltergeist.  Something lurks beneath League Park—something evil.  It pains this historian to say it, but I think it is a mistake to stir up those ghosts.  Screw the renovations.  The site should be capped off like some bad nuclear reactor. Before it is too late.

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  5. jamesdereksapienza said: I was just out there last year, it was in a real sorry state. It was a trip, though, walking in what was left of the hallway from the clubhouse to the dugout. Ruth’s 500th HR was there, as was DiMaggio’s last streak game in ‘41. Lotta ghosts there.
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