Cleveland Sports Life Boat – Indians Closers
February 20, 2013
The Diff: Cavalier notes on Tristan, turnovers, trades, etc
February 20, 2013On June 22, 2013, the Cleveland Indians will induct two members of the mid-90s run into their Hall of Fame in second baseman Carlos Baerga and general manager John Hart. Hart will join five others as a member of the “Distinguished” Hall of Fame for non-uniformed personnel.
Baerga spent the large part of seven seasons with the Indians, totallig 919 games. As a member of the Tribe, Baerga amassed 1,084 hits which included 103 home runs, 190 doubles and 15 triples. He provided a slash line of .300/.354/.446 (OPS of .801). He was a three-time All-Star, a two-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award and garnered MVP consideration in 1992 and 1993. He’s also extremely photogenic.
Hart, the Indians’ GM from 1991 to 2001. He joined the team in 1989 as a special assignment scout, but managed the team for the final 19 games of that season, posting an 8-11 mark. He was the Indians’ director of baseball operations from 1990-1991, and then succeeded Hank Peters as the club’s general manager. In his 10 seasons at the helm, the Indians were 870-681 (.561), won six American League Central Division championships, and won two American League championships and appeared in the World Series in 1995 and 1997.
“Carlos and John are responsible for some of the best memories in Cleveland Indians history, and we’re proud to honor their contributions,” said team President Mark Shapiro of this very honor.
They’ll join Sandy Alomar Jr, Kenny Lofton, Charles Nagy and Mike Hargrove as other predominant members of the mid-90s Cleveland Indians teams.
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7 Comments
For a solid 4 year stretch, Carlos was awesome. Then all of a sudden in his prime he turned into a big fat fatty and his career just went south. I guess it’s safe to say he turned down the PEDs
Baerga was my man in fact I still have three Indians authentics with his name and number! Those were some great no phenomenal seasons even if they didn’t end well.
sadly, Baerga had some issues with alcoholism and demons he had to fight. after his career he often cited Julio Franco as the man who helped steer him back onto a good course for his life (though, by that time, too late for his baseball career):
http://voices.yahoo.com/baseball-star-carlos-baerga-almost-lost-everything-373065.html?cat=49
John Hart did what no Indians general manager in 40-plus years could do, and for that I’ll always be grateful.
Yea I just wish he’d have gotten that 1 stud starter. He certainly had more then enough in the way of young talented prospects. Oh well.
Wow, had no idea…that is sad. Fortunately it ended up well for him with some good counsel. And now I can forgive Julio for what he did to Manny Ramirez’s swing in ’97;)
I knew about Baerga’s issues but caught part of the press interview he gave today which was shown on ABAO on STO and in it Baerga talked about how he wanted to work with the young kids in the organization about how he went from high to low (gestured in the conference) and to help them avoid the same pitfalls.