For those of you that aren’t Indians fans, here’s a bit of history from ESPN this week:
“We tried to do it in Cleveland, we didn’t quite succeed. We lost the team,” Steinbrenner said. “We tried to buy the Indians first, but we didn’t get them. So Gabe Paul said, ‘Let’s come up to New York and see the Yankee people. They want to sell.’ So we came up here, and I met with Bill Paley, and he was a man of his word, he stood behind everything he ever told me. And that was it. I just fell in love with New York.”
That’s right… Steinbrenner tried to buy the Tribe in 1973, but the Indians’ current ownership wouldn’t pull the trigger. Gabe Paul was in control of the Indians for most of the 70’s and 80’s, except for a few years with New York, as described by Steinbrenner above.
I wonder if he would’ve accomplished the same types of things in Cleveland as he has in New York? Nah… nothing ever that good happens for Cleveland’s sports teams.
