Ellis Burks was a manager’s dream. A major league player who was one part speed, one part power, and one part defense.
His talents were in such demand that Burks enjoyed an 18-year career with five teams, including opening and a closing acts with the team that first signed him, the Boston Red Sox.
In between were stints with the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants and the Cleveland Indians. Burks enjoyed his time in Cleveland, for he has made Greater Cleveland his home, residing in Chagrin Falls.
A first round pick by the Red Sox in the 1983 Major League Baseball draft, Burks became Boston’s starting centerfielder as a rookie in 1987. He immediately excelled, becoming only the third player in team history to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases (Burks actually stole 27) in a single season.
His exploits earned him spots on both Baseball Digest and Topps’ all-rookie teams.
In 1990, Burks went into the Red Sox record book when he became the second player in team history to hit two home runs in the same inning. His rare feat (he was only the 25th in MLB history to do so) came at the expense of the Cleveland Indians at old Municipal Stadium.
Among Burks other accomplishments are twice being voted to the American League All-Star team, winning a Golden Glove for his play in centerfield and two Silver Slugger Awards.
Twice, Burks hit a career high .344, first with Colorado in 1996 and then in 2000 with the San Francisco Giants. He made the most of the rarified air of Denver, recording career highs in home runs (40) and RBI (128) in his banner 1996 campaign.
Burks is currently working for the San Francisco Giants.
Now in his 28th season broadcasting Cleveland Indians games on television, Rick Manning has established a record for longevity exceeded only by Herb Score and equaled by Tom Hamilton in the annals of Cleveland baseball announcers. Along the way he was honored with the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Excellence in Broadcasting Award.
That’s pretty good for a second career. Manning spent 13 years as a Major League centerfielder, first with the Indians from 1975 until 1983, when he was traded in mid-season to the Milwaukee Brewers where he played until retiring after the 1987 season.
Rick earned a Gold Glove Award for his defense in 1976. A long-time media favorite, Rick received the Cleveland Baseball Writers’ “Good Guy Award” in 1980.
He retired with a lifetime batting average of .257 with 56 home runs, 458 runs batted in and 664 runs scored. Speed always was a big part of his game. He stole 168 bases.
His “magic moment” with the Indians, however, came on an otherwise routine play. He caught a fly ball off the bat of Ernie Whitt for the final out of pitcher Len Barker’s perfect game over the Toronto Blue Jays on May 15, 1981, at the old Stadium.
In Milwaukee, he is remembered for getting booed for driving in the winning run in the 10th inning of a 1-0 victory over the Indians on Aug. 26, 1987. His walk off single deprived his teammate Paul Molitor of one more chance to extend his 39-game hitting streak. Molitor, who was in the on deck circle, ended the game hitless in four at bats.
Rick was born on Sept. 2, 1954, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where he grew up playing shortstop. The Indians made him the second overall selection in the draft of June, 1972. The Indians soon converted him to centerfield and he made his Major League debut on May 23, 1975.
Manning made his broadcasting debut as the color commentator on Indians games on SportsTime Ohio in 1990. His first partner was Dan Coughlin, followed by John Sanders and now Matt Underwood. He also works regional games on the Fox network.
Rick and his wife, Sue, have two grown children and five grandchildren.
Travis Hafner enjoyed a 12-year career in Major League Baseball, the best of the seasons (10 in all) spent wearing a Cleveland Indians’ jersey.
In a four-year stretch from 2004 through 2007, Hafner was one of the most feared batters in the game, hitting 127 home runs and collecting 434 RBI. The 2006 campaign was Hafner’s finest as he smacked 42 homers and drove in 117 runs. He led the American League in slugging percentage (.659) and was so hot in August that he was not only voted a player of the week honor, but player of the month, as well.
Baseball is a game of numbers, and Hafner, who split time between first base and being a designated hitter, has them by the bushel basket.
He was the first player in MLB history to hit five grand slam home runs before the All-Star Game (2006), and remains tied for the most grand slams in a season by hitting six, again in 2006.
Hafner twice finished in the Top 10 for MVP voting, polling fifth in 2005.
In 2002, his first year in the majors as a Texas Ranger, eventual teammate Bill Selby (then a member of the Indians) gave Hafner his nickname. It was “Pronk,” a combination of him being a project as well as a critique of the way he rambled around the bases. “He just looked like a Pronk,” said Selby.
Tribe fans will fondly remember Hafner driving in the winning run in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS, also known as the “bug game.” It featured a 10-minute swarming invasion of midges that may have contributed to New York Yankee reliever Joba Chamberlain uncorking two wild pitches, one that lead to the Indians tying the game before Hafner’s heroics.
Hafner ranks eighth on the Indians all-time home run list with 200 blasts. Another of his greatest nights with the Tribe came on Aug. 13, 2003 when he hit for the cycle against the Minnesota Twins.
Hafner and his wife, Amy, and their three children, Blake, Trip and Knox, live in Avon Lake.
Brian Anderson was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on April 26, 1972, and was raised in Geneva, Ohio, where he played baseball, basketball and golf for the Geneva Eagles. Continuing to Wright State University, he blossomed into the most coveted left-handed pitcher in college baseball. The California Angels made him the third player selected in the 1993 Major League draft, and he made his Major League debut in September of that year.
Brian went on to enjoy 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with the California Angels (1993-95), Cleveland Indians (1996-97), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2002), Indians again (2003) and Kansas City Royals (2003-2005). His career essentially was ended by Tommy John surgery in 2005. He attempted a comeback the following year, but it was cut short again due to a second Tommy John surgery.
His career record was 82-83, including 12 complete games and four shutouts, with a 4.74 earned run average. His combined record for three seasons with the Indians was 16-13.
Brian was especially valuable to the Indians during their World Series season of 1997 when he made eight starts with a 4-2 record. He returned to the Indians in 2003 and made 24 starts with a 9-10 record.
His effervescent personality propelled him into a career in broadcasting with the Tampa Bay Rays. He has been the Rays’ television analyst since 2011.
Brian, 43, has two children, Rylyn Mae, 10, and Jackson James, 8. He and his wife, Jessica Marie, were married on Nov. 1, 2014, and live in St. Petersburg, Florida.
A lifelong baseball fan, Larry Dolan bought the Cleveland Indians in February, 2000, and proceeded to make his mark not only in his hometown but within baseball. A lawyer by profession with special skills in the field of labor relations, he was largely credited with negotiating long-term labor peace between the owners and players’ union when he served on the Major League Baseball Ownership Committee and Executive Council. He also served on the MLB Diversity Committee.
His exploits as an athlete also should not be overlooked. Son of an inventor, Larry grew up in Cleveland Heights and attended St. Ignatius High School, where he played both football and baseball. He threw a touchdown pass in the Wildcats’ 13-0 victory over East Tech in the 1949 Charity Game before 30,227 at the Stadium. He was the catcher on the baseball team which also won the Senate championship in 1950.
He went on to the University of Notre Dame where he played on the freshman football team. After graduating in 1955 he remained at Notre Dame for law school. He then served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps for two years before returning home in 1958 to become an assistant prosecutor in Geauga County.
He also joined a law firm now known as Thrasher, Dinsmore and Dolan. He soon became a partner in the firm and later was named president and managing partner.
For nearly 25 years Larry managed the firm’s practice and professional development, building a reputation of excellence in general, civil and business law.
Now 83, Larry has retired from active management of the Indians. The club is now run by his son, Paul. Larry and his wife, Eva, have six children and seventeen grandchildren.
Although denied the 1997 World Series championship in a heart-breaking loss in extra innings in the seventh game against the Florida Marlins, Mike Hargrove will remain one of the most beloved managers in Cleveland Indians history.
Hargrove is the fifth Tribe manager—all former Cleveland ballplayers—to be inducted in the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame. He joins Mel Harder, Roger Peckinpaugh, Steve O’Neill and Tris Speaker.
A native of Perryton, Texas (the city’s baseball stadium is named in his honor), Hargrove played 7 years for the Tribe before managing it for nine years. He began his playing career with Texas before coming to Cleveland via a trade with San Diego. As a manager, Hargove skippered both Baltimore and Seattle after leaving Cleveland.
Voted American League Rookie of the Year in 1974, Hargrove carried the most unique of nicknames: The Human Rain Delay. He earned it through his ritual between pitches of stepping out of the batter’s box to readjust his hitting gloves, hitch up his pants, rub his nose, knock dirt from his spikes and tamp on his helmet.
Hargrove played for 12 years. He had a career batting average of .290 and was an All-Star in 1975. He retired in 1985, and within two years was managing Class A Kinston of the Carolina League. Hargrove was voted the circuit’s Manager of the Year in his rookie season.
The Indians named Hargrove its manager in 1991. He had winning records in six of his nine years in Cleveland, won five consecutive American League Central championships and twice advanced to the World Series. Hargrove’s first American League Central title in 1995 ended a 40-year drought between championships, the Indians having won the American League pennant in 1954.
Hargrove is the second winningest manager in Cleveland Indians history. His 721 victories are just seven wins shy of record holder Lou Boudreau’s total.
Mike Hegan’s name is familiar to Indians fans as Tom Hamilton’s partner on the Tribe radio broadcasts, but in a previous life he was one of the finest athletes ever produced by St. Ignatius High School. Mike made all-scholastic in both football and basketball and all-state in baseball. He was named Greater Cleveland Catholic High School Athlete of the Year in 1960.
After a year of college at Holy Cross in Massachusetts, Mike signed a baseball contract with the Yankees and went on to a 12-year Major League career with the Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland A’s as a first baseman. He played in the 1964 World Series with Oakland.
In 1969 he hit the first home run in Seattle Pilots history in his first at bat and was the Pilots’ only representative in the All-Star Game, a distinction that never will be duplicated. After only one year in Seattle the Pilots moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. Much like his father, Jim Hegan, a great defensive catcher for the Indians in the 1940s and 50s, Mike was known for his glove. In 1971 and ’72 he set the Major League record of 178 consecutive errorless games at first base, a record that stood until Kevin Youkilis of Boston eclisped it in 2007.
Mike retired in 1977 with a .242 lifetime batting average and entered broadcasting. He was the television color commentator for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1977 to 1988. He joined the Indians broadcast team in 1989 on television and for the last 11 years teamed with Hamilton on the radio. He intends to retire after this season, ending 34 years in the baseball broadcast booth. He and his wife, Nancy, now make their permanent home in Hilton Head, S.C.
Deceased 2013
Buddy Schultz inspired the Ohio High School Athletic Association to make a major rules change for the state baseball tournament after he pitched Shaw to the state championship in 1968. Because of rain, the state semi-finals and championship games were played on the same day, back to back, and Buddy pitched every inning of both games. In the first game the hard-throwing lefthander crafted a three-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. In the second game he threw a two-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts. Before another tournament was played the OHSAA adopted a rule limiting the number of innings a pitcher is permitted to throw on one day. It is called the “Buddy Schultz Rule.”
Buddy pitched seven of Shaw’s eight tournament games that year and did not allow an earned run.
One of the greatest athletes in the storied history of Shaw High School, he lettered in three sports. In football he was an all-scholastic quarterback with a record of 15-1-1 in games in which he started. In baseball he was a starting pitcher for four years. In successive years he was all-league, all-scholastic and all-state.
Buddy went on to set five pitching records at Miami of Ohio and after 38 years he still holds two of them. One is likely to stand forever — 26 strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
While playing summer baseball for the Gardner Realty team in the Lakewood A League, Buddy broke Bob Feller’s strikeout record in the AABC national tournament in Battle Creek, Mich. Buddy struck out 18 in 8 1/3 innings.
He went on to pitch in the Major Leagues with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals from 1975 to 1979. He retired with a five-year record of 15-9, 12 saves and 3.68 earned run average. He lives in Phoenix and owns a marketing and promotion company.
A true “iron man” pitcher who worked his way up through the Cleveland sandlots, playing in all classes from E to A. Started pitching in Class E at the age of 15, winning 13 of 15 games, averaging 13 strikeouts per contest and hurling two double headers. In 1923-24-25, he was the only pitcher on the Suchan Café roster in Class B. Starting all of their games he pitched the team to the championship finals one season. Later, playing with McAllister Tires, he pitched and won both games of a double header to clinch the Class a championship for his team. While with the Favorite Knits in Class A he pitched three full innings against the Boston Braves of the National League in an Amateur Day game at league Park.
Played 13 years of major league baseball, ten in a Cleveland Indians uniform. Won undying fame in the 1920 World Series when, as the Indians’ second baseman, he executed an unassisted triple play against the old Brooklyn Dodgers. He also led the American League in triples that season with 11, scored 83 runs and batted in 55. Traded to Boston in 1924, he enjoyed one of his finest seasons, hitting .274, collecting 41 doubles, scoring 93 runs and driving in 48.