Table of Contents
Foreword Tom Hamilton ix
Introduction xi
1 The Rebirth of the Franchise 1
2 A Long Time Coming 5
3 A Year to Remember 8
4 Filling the Seats 10
5 The Pinnacle of Heartbreak 15
6 Rapid Robert 18
7 Little Lake Nellie 21
8 Ring the Belle 24
9 Planning Ahead 29
10 Ten Cent Beer Night 33
11 Hometown Hero 36
12 Check out Heritage Park 39
13 Little O 42
14 Swing and a Drive 46
15 Breaking Barriers 48
16 A Bug's Life 49
17 Perfection 53
18 The Clock Strikes 2:00 AM 55
19 The Catch (and the Sweep) 57
20 World Series Walk-Off 60
21 Comeback for the Ages 61
22 Bang John Adams' Drum 65
23 Slim Jim 69
24 The One That Wasn't 75
25 The Curse of Rocky Colavito 79
26 The 180-Foot Dash 81
27 A Most Unfortunate Pitch 84
28 A Series to Remember 86
29 Hold Up 89
30 In the Nick of Father Time 93
31 The Dark Ages 97
32 Meet Slider, Indians Mascot 99
33 Major League 101
34 Comedy of Errors 103
35 Taking Back Tito 105
36 Handsome Lou 109
37 The SI Jinx Strikes 111
38 K-Love 113
39 Visit League Park 116
40 Center of the Baseball Universe 118
41 Stick a Cork in It 120
42 The End of an Era 122
43 The First Taste of Victory 126
44 Wild Wednesday 127
45 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 131
46 Snow-pening Day 133
47 Visit the Player Statues 136
48 The Quest for 200 139
49 Veeck's Trek 141
50 Decisions, Decisions 143
51 Once in a Lifetime 145
52 Pick Your Favorite Condiment in the Hot Dog Derby 148
53 Grover 150
54 Bye Bye, Cy 152
55 Web Gem 155
56 Quite Frankly 157
57 Rally Alley 158
58 Hard-Headed 160
59 Honoring a Legend 162
60 Justice for All 164
61 Super Joe 166
62 A Banner Season 168
63 Selby vs. Rivera 170
64 Great Sock-cess 172
65 The Score 175
66 Vote for Pedro 176
67 Negotiation Tactics 180
68 Kenny's Catch 182
69 Carnegie and Ontario 183
70 Visit Indians Spring Training 187
71 Living in the Shadow 188
72 Streak Snappers 189
73 Friends Turned Enemies 191
74 Colossal Collision 193
75 Start of the Franchise 195
76 Manny Being Manny 196
77 Nap Time 198
78 Off the Scoreboard 199
79 Red to Toe 201
80 Sunk by the Sun 203
81 "Wow" 206
82 Attend Both Parts of the Battle of Ohio 207
83 Sibling Rivalry 209
84 Catch-22 211
85 Mr. 3,000 214
86 Thunderstruck 215
87 No Help Needed 216
88 Fifty-Fifty 218
89 Experience Opening Day 220
90 Dynamic Double-Play Duo 222
91 Spitting Image 223
92 Bizarre Bartering 225
93 Mental Blauch 227
94 Turning the Paige 230
95 Killer Twin Killings 232
96 The Art of Pitching 234
97 Juan Gone 237
98 Blast Off: Watch Postgame Fireworks 238
99 Atta Boy, Addie 239
100 Pronk's Cycle 241
Sources 243