The Cleveland Indians of the Rockin' Sixties featured many of baseball's most colorful and memorable personalities. Drawing on extensive research including interviews with numerous players, SABR member Doug Kurkul provides a fascinating, in-depth look at the Indians franchise and its players.
The book presents many dozens of great baseball stories and features mini-bios for every player, manager, and owner of the era, as well as many of the coaches, scouts, minor league managers, and broadcasters. .
Revisit Mudcat's sense of humor, Tito's blue-collar brand of baseball, Sudden Sam's breathtaking talent, Daddy Wags' intrinsic authenticity, the Immortal Azcue's mischievousness, Max's discipline and determination, Chico's quixotic personality, Rocky's powerful swing and rocket of a throwing arm, Stan's determined comeback, El Tiante's inimitable pitching motion, and the Hawk's charismatic magnetism.
The book recounts dozens of great baseball stories such as:
• How the cleverly rebellious Duke Sims outsmarted White Sox Manager Eddie Stanky in a dispute over baseball rules.
• The day Willie Smith keyed a Tribe victory simply by wearing Sam McDowell's cleats.
• How Rocky Colavito influenced Sonny Siebert to sign with the Indians.
• Vic Davalillo's combustible reaction when he caught Chico Salmon using his portable record player.
• How Luis Tiant kept the Indians' clubhouse loose with his unending humor and infectious laughter.
• Why beat reporters affectionately called Vern Fuller "the assistant traveling secretary."
• How refusing to wear a sports jacket in a hotel dining room once cost Dick Donovan a chance to win 20 games.
• The pandemonium when the flamboyantly mod Hawk Harrelson joined the Indians.
These Indians' teams were built around hard-throwing pitchers who collectively set numerous strikeout records. Eleven of their top hurlers combined to win more than 1,700 games with various teams. They also seemed to lead the league in "personality." Perhaps that is what Carl Yastrzemski had in mind when he said the Indians led the league in spirit.
Cleveland has hosted major league baseball for 11 decades, and hopefully many years to come. The Indians teams from the 1960s were not the best to ever represent the city, nor were they the worst. But one thing is certain: There will never be another group quite like them.
