Cleveland Indians: Four blasts from the past from this week in team history

Another busy week in Cleveland Indians history. A week of old power hitters, young center fielders, good hitting catchers and a shortstop with a misspelled name.

Taking another dive into the past of the Cleveland Indians to see what happened during the dog days of summer.

Bases loaded and no outs. Let’s not screw this up Johnny.

August 12, 2007. Hoping to avoid a sweep at home – at the hands of the Yankees no less – the Cleveland Indians, down 4-0, open the bottom of the seventh inning with a Victor Martinez single, then a Ryan Garko single, then a Jhonny Peralta walk.

Peralta then decides to demonstrate his Manny Ramirez-like concentration, getting picked off first base… with the bases loaded… and no outs.

What was he thinking? “Hmmm…Johnny Bench…Johnny Damon…hey wait! My name is spelled differently!” Yeah, I can see that – Peralta kneeling down in the dirt, writing his name – oops! He was picked off!

The count wasn’t 3-2, it was 1-0. It wasn’t like they had some play on. It was Jhonny being Jhonny. And hats off to Andy Pettitte for knowing Peralta well enough to throw over and get the out. He wasn’t getting any of the hitters out – might as well take the easy route.

Do we have any leftover Boog Powell uniforms?

On August 13, 1998, three days after the Angels release him – the Indians sign Cecil Fielder. Listed at 6-3, 230, Fielder was probably a tad bigger than that at the time the Indians signed him.

He had arms like tree trunks. And when he hit a ball, it went a very long way. Fielder finished second in the MVP voting in 1990 and 1991, leading the AL in home runs both seasons.

Unfortunately, his home run days were gone by the time he signed with the Tribe. In 14 games he goes 5 for 35. The Indians release him on September 18.

A debut

On August 15, 2002, Covelli (Coco) Crisp debuted for the Indians, one week after being acquired in a trade for Chuck Finley. He went 0 for 4 with a walk, stolen base and a run scored.

Coco played for five seasons with the Tribe before being traded to Boston in an ill-advised offseason trade for Andy Marte, Kelly Shoppach and Guillermo Mota. He then returned for a really nice postseason run in 2016 (home run against the Red Sox, another home run against the Blue Jays, .333 average against the Cubs.)

And he has the coolest name ever.

 A long hitting streak

On August 14, 2016, Francisco Mejia runs his (minor league) hitting streak to 50 games. This despite the fact he was traded during the streak, then not traded when Jonathan Lucroy vetoed the trade.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Thanks for the veto, Jonathan! Greg Allen, Brad Hand and Adam Cimber are here thanks to you.