Cleveland's Finest. Vince McKee

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СКАЧАТЬ crowd is always special for a ball player, and Charboneau described his first game in the big leagues at Cleveland Municipal Stadium:

      Our first opening day after coming home from the road, we played on a sunny afternoon of 74 degrees and in front of 72,000 people. I thought it was going to be like that every day. The next day it was very cold and we only had 3,000 fans in the stands. But Indians fans are great fans, and I really enjoyed them. I had a good relationship with them and they treated me really well. It was a great place to play. I wouldn’t have won Rookie of the Year any place but Cleveland, and 1980 would have not worked out like it did if I didn’t play in Cleveland.

      Charboneau’s rookie season became a thing of beauty. He fit in well with his teammates and hit for an impressive .289 average. He also showed signs of serious power, belting 27 home runs and knocking in 87 RBIs. During Joe’s rookie season, Indians fans fell in love with him instantly. A song written about him, “Go Joe Charboneau,” climbed to number three on the local radio record charts.

      Charboneau recalled that having all that attention on him “was weird, and it was really strange having a song out. It was overwhelming because I didn’t expect any of that; I just came to play baseball. I never expected any of that—it was just so different. The cool thing was that a lot of the profits went to charity, so I was okay with it.” A number of larger-than-life stories about him made the rounds, including a couple of anecdotes asserting that he could open beer bottles with his eye and fix a broken nose with pliers and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Joe explained how these stories came about, offering, “it was stuff that happened mostly in college. I attended a junior college in California called West Valley Junior College. One of my old college friends came down to Cleveland one night and told local reporter Dan Coughlin about things that had occurred back in college, and that’s how some of those crazy stories got out.”

      Joe gets ready to step into the batter’s box.

      Charboneau was quick to give credit to Cleveland’s fans for his success. He has been quoted as saying that “Cleveland was a great place to play,” and he believed that it was his relationship with the fans that helped him to achieve his rookie success. His incredible season caught the attention of nationwide sports analysts as he was voted American League Rookie of the Year—the first Cleveland Indian to achieve that honor in nine seasons. (The last Indian to win the award prior to Charboneau was Chris Chambliss in 1971, and it wouldn’t happen again until 1990 with famed catcher Sandy Alomar Jr.)

      Joe Charboneau was quite popular with the fans.

      The guidance Joe received from his third-base coach, Joe Nossek, brought out the best in his abilities. Charboneau would credit Nossek for keeping him grounded during some tough times during games. He kept him level-headed if he was having a bad night at the plate. It was also Nossek who worked with Charboneau in the outfield to further hone his skills.

      Nossek wasn’t the only person guiding young Joe that season. Assistant coach Dave Duncan took time to work with Joe and help him refine certain skills that were necessary to be a big-leaguer. Hitting coach Tommy McCraw played a crucial role in developing Charboneau’s swing at the plate and in making sure the young rookie was able to adjust to certain pitchers.

      It was the preparation of the 1978 and 1979 minor league seasons that helped Charboneau succeed in his rookie year in Cleveland. Those seasons gave him the confidence that he would need to excel at the professional level. He credits those seasons, along with the weight-training guidance of his brother, with helping his body develop as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, major league clubs didn’t have the techniques and equipment they do now, so it was those extra workouts that made a huge difference.

      Joe Charboneau’s rookie campaign will never be forgotten. In many ways it changed the landscape of baseball, proving that a player who was not highly touted could come out of nowhere and have a great season. It also gave the Cleveland Indians a new outlook, showing that the team could have a winner again after so many years of losing. Super Joe gave new life to the franchise, and to the city.

      Joe Charboneau today with Vince McKee

      CHAPTER FOUR

      Perfection!

      In the spring of 1981, the Cleveland Indians were led by manager Dave Garcia and played under the ownership of Francis J. “Steve” O’Neill. It was a roster carefully put together by general manager Phil Seghi. Bruce Drennan and Joe Tait were calling the Indians game on WUAB-TV, while Nev Chandler and Herb Score were the play-by-play duo for Indians radio games.

      The Cleveland Indians roster included the 1980 rookie sensation Joe Charboneau fresh off his amazing first year in the big leagues. Rick Manning joined Charboneau in the outfield, along with Larry Littleton. The team was anchored by “The Human Rain Delay” Mike Hargrove at first base, Duane Kuiper at second, Toby Harrah at third, and shortstop Tommy Veryzer. The team also had Pat Kelly and André Thornton ready to come off the bench at any time, Chris Bando sharing time behind the plate with veteran Ron Hassey, and future Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven to lead the starting rotation.

      On Friday, May 15, 1981, the Indians were ahead 15–8, surprising everyone by spending 16 days in first place in their division. The team never was more than a game ahead of the other teams in the division, but it didn’t matter because they gave hope to their fans. A five-game winning streak at one point in April had fans already talking postseason.

      Lenny Barker grew up in Rose Tree, Pennsylvania, with two brothers and two sisters, although he was the only one to play baseball. He enjoyed playing not only in organized leagues but also in the streets with his friends. Barker recounted that he wanted to be a pitcher at an early age, stating, “At the age of seven or eight, I felt that I would excel at it. I always liked pitching, and I would have kids in the neighborhood come over and catch for me. I knew at an early age that I wanted to be a pitcher.”

      Bert Blyleven was the ace of the 1981 Cleveland Indians.

      Barker and his friends would play in any field they could find and pretend to be their idols—Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Barker’s own personal hero, Mickey Mantle. Barker revealed that it was his dream to play in the major leagues: “My aspirations of playing big league baseball started when I was 10 years old. By the time I got to high school, I knew I had a chance to play. It didn’t matter to me who I got drafted by because I just wanted to play professional baseball.”

      Barker played baseball at Neshaminy High School near Philadelphia, where he excelled and was eventually drafted by the Texas Rangers. Barker said he found out that he was drafted by Texas when he “got a call from a scout in their farm system letting me know I had been drafted. A short while later, they started coming over and we got working on a signing bonus.” Barker made his major league debut in 1976; looking back over his three years as a Texas Ranger, he noted:

      It felt great because it was a dream come true when I was picked first in the third round. All my life as a little kid I wanted to be a pro athlete, and this was my opportunity to get the ball rolling and show them what I could do. I have nothing bad to say about the Rangers because they treated me good and it was a great learning process. I learned a lot in the minor league system. I had a great time in the minor leagues; I didn’t make much money, but I СКАЧАТЬ