Scott: A championship for Cleveland: Week by week with the 1920 Indians
From SABR member David A. Scott at Medium.com on March 24, 2020:
When Americans entered 1920, they knew their world would change. Women would be voting. Liquor was banned (these two issues were linked in more than a few ways). The world had recently suffered through World War I and a pandemic unfairly labeled the Spanish flu. Automobiles, Coca Cola, recorded jazz music and movies were the technology of the day and becoming so wildly popular there were predictions that every American family could dream of enjoying them.
There were hints that baseball would be changing, too. Fans heard nasty rumors that the World Series had been fixed and many people were inclined to believe that scandalous talk because baseball players had always been suspected of throwing games. In New York, the beer baron who owned the lowly New York Yankees hoped to compete for his first championship with a pitcher-turned-slugger acquired from the Boston Red Sox. His name was Babe Ruth and he had just swatted an astonishing 29 homers the prior season.
Things looked bright in Cleveland and many might have thought the good times would never change. David Rockefeller and Mark Hanna had forged major industries in the city, bringing wealth and consistent employment that would last for generations. The wealth was so significant, baseball fans on their way to the ballpark would often pass what was known worldwide as Millionaires Row, a stretch of Euclid Avenue on the city’s East Side. It was minutes away from League Park at the corner of Lexington and East 66th streets. Remnants of the park still stand in a stylishly restored facility that also serves as a community Park.
Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@davidascott_96906/a-championship-for-cleveland-8df0b3492954
Originally published: March 26, 2020. Last Updated: March 26, 2020.