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Cleveland, Not Boston: Part 4

© Harold Friend

From 1946 to 1956, the New York Yankees won eight pennants and seven World Championships. The Cleveland Indians won two pennants and one World Championship. The Boston Red Sox won one pennant and no World Championships.

When it was close, the Indians beat the Yankees twice, in 1948 and 1954. When it was close, the Yankees beat the Red Sox but when it was close, the Red Sox never beat the Yankees. When the Red Sox won the 1946 pennant it was a runaway, with the second place Tigers finishing twelve games behind and the Yankees limping into third, a huge seventeen games out.

The point is that in a rivalry there must be more than competition. It is undeniable that the Red Sox attempt to compete with the Yankees, but so does every other team. After their unsuccessful 1948, 1949, and 1950 pennant runs, the Red Sox entered an era of mediocrity which bottomed out with a ninth place finish in 1966. Boston won 72 games and lost 90, and the only solace for Red Sox fans was that the Yankees, under the ownership of CBS and the disingenuous Mike Burke, finished last for the first time since 1912. That was one time it was close and Boston finished ahead of the New York.

Going into the 1967 season, the best that could be said about the Yankees was that at least they weren't the Mets, an evaluation whose accuracy would be driven home two years later. The Red Sox prospects were not thought to be much better, but baseball is strange and there are no experts. The 1967 Red Sox won the closest pennant race in American League history, but they beat out Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago, not the Yankees, who finished ninth.

Now, things must be put into perspective because it was a long time ago and a lot of changes have been made by those who run baseball. In 1961, the American League expanded to ten teams when the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators were created. What? The Washington Senators already existed? Right, except the Senators were not making enough money in Washington (the team, not the politicians) so they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Actually, the ball park was located just between Minneapolis and St. Paul, which are the twin cities.

Hey, thought the baseball moguls. We'll call the Washington Senators the MINNESOTA Twins. That way, the entire state will identify with the team, St. Paul will not be upset as they would be if we called them the MINNEAPOLIS Somethings, and any resentment between Minneapolis and St. Paul will be assuaged by naming the team the Twins. As was once said, you can't go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American people.

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