base, Roger laced a double to win the game. The Senators took the series four games to three. The winners’ share totaled a handsome $6,000 per man.
The Senators repeated in 1925, but lost the series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. A number of the games were played in poor field conditions, leaving the diamond a sea of mud. Roger had a fielding nightmare, charged with eight errors for the seven games. Despite the awful time at shortstop he was voted Most Valuable Player in the American League. He beat out players including Al Simmons, Harry Heilmann, and Mickey Cochrane. The vote was handled by the senior sportswriters in each American League city. The writers had a complicated point system where the maximum points a player could get was sixty-five. Peck totaled forty-five, just slightly ahead of Simmons.
In 1927, Peck was off to the Chicago White Sox, where aching knees reduced his playing time. When Billy Evans became the general manager of the Cleveland Indians he believed the veteran shortstop would be a strong candidate to lead his ball club. In December, Roger gladly accepted the job and the chance to come back to his old stomping grounds. There was much work to be done.
Chapter 2
STARTING TO BUILD
In 1928, Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the leading cities in the nation. The population of the greater Cleveland area was over one million, making it the sixth largest city in the United States. The downtown area was thriving with first-class restaurants, hotels, and a popular theater district. Playhouse Square had multiple theaters including the Allen, the Hanna, the State, and the Ohio. The new phenomenon of talking motion pictures attracted thousands of viewers.
Just one year earlier, the Terminal Tower opened for business, the second-largest building in the country. The massive structure had fifty-two floors and stood over seven hundred feet tall. The project was the brainchild of the reclusive railroad barons, brothers Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen. Described as having “innate modesty,” the two men proposed building the gigantic structure on Public Square. Incorporated in the plans was the construction of a huge railroad terminal directly underneath. The 3.5-acre complex included major retail space, a sleek hotel, a medical building, and a post office. The cost of the project totaled a whopping $179 million. To encourage all the thrill seekers in town, there was an open observation deck built on the forty-second floor. Statistics were not kept on how many crazed individuals rode the elevators up the dizzying heights.
Since 1924, Cleveland government had been run by a city manager system. The person in charge was supposed to be nonpartisan, able to work with either Democrats or Republicans. William Hopkins, a successful businessman, ran the city. He reported to the city council but usually succeeded in getting his plans approved. In 1925, he got the authorization to build a municipal airport, one of the first in the United States. It would be a few years before regular passenger service, but mail planes began to make daily flights to and from the airport. Hopkins had big ideas to develop downtown Cleveland, among them a new place for the Indians to play baseball.
Though Prohibition still ruled the land, savvy Clevelanders knew where to find a good bottle of scotch. Bootleggers sneaked boats across Lake Erie to Canada, where a vast supply of gin, whiskey, and vodka could be purchased. Government agents patrolled the shipping lanes, but many boats were able to reach the Cleveland lakefront and get the alcohol to any number of clandestine warehouses. In the winter, men would drive their cars and trucks over the frozen lake and bring back all the booze they could carry. This was one industry that Cleveland officials did not openly boast about.
By 1928 there were three major radio stations in town, WHK, WTAM, and WJAY. The stations offered a wide variety of programming including music, news, comedy shows, and a small amount of sports reporting. The sports programming at WTAM was handled by Tom “Red” Manning, the former public-address announcer at League Park. Manning used a four-foot megaphone at the ballpark to announce the lineups to the reporters in the press box. He had to tone down his voice a few decibels when behind the radio microphone.
Recreation and leisure time were important components of the 1920s lifestyle. The economy steamed ahead, with good jobs that were easy to locate. Both men and women had disposable incomes which allowed for the purchase of cars, radios, refrigerators, and a robust nightlife. Nightclubs were everywhere downtown, and dinner, dancing, and a bit of romance were there for the asking. Young people, many of them college educated, spent their money freely, which made Cleveland a genuine hot spot. Now it was time for baseball to return to the forefront.
General manager Billy Evans had a difficult job awaiting him. The 1927 Indians won a grand total of sixty-six games, which got them sixth place in the American League. Remaining from the 1920 World Champions were shortstop Joe Sewell, outfielder Charlie Jamieson, pitcher George Uhle, and first baseman George Burns. Luke Sewell, the younger brother of Joe, had been with the club since 1921. The veterans were still going strong, leading the club in most of the offensive statistics. The elder Sewell could be counted on to hit over .300 while striking out less than ten times per five hundred at bats. Joe always claimed he could see the ball hit the bat. Based on his strikeout ratio, he was probably telling the truth.
Charlie Jamieson was one of the most consistent players in the game. He usually hit around .300, scored plenty of runs, and played excellent defense. Charlie had a lot of range in left field, always among the league leaders in assists. He was a fan favorite at League Park, a fixture on the ball club.
George Burns fit the category of an aging veteran, but still had his moments on the field. Burns was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1926. His statistics that year were amazing, batting .358, with 216 hits, a league leading sixty-four doubles, and 115 RBIs. As the reigning MVP, Burns received a salary boost to $12,000 a year, but the following season his numbers dropped considerably. At age thirty-four, Burns could still hit, but he was on the inevitable decline. Billy Evans had a decision to ponder at first base.
George Uhle, born and raised in Cleveland, was the ace of the Indians pitching staff. He had won over twenty games three times, the most recent being twenty-seven wins in 1926. Uhle was one of the few pitchers in the American League that Babe Ruth did not terrorize. Though Ruth hit over .300 against George, his home runs were few and far between. That in itself was quite an accomplishment.
Luke Sewell was a fine complement to his older brother Joe. Though he generally hit around .250, he always got his bat on the ball. The Sewell brother just did not strike out. Luke was an exceptional defensive catcher, several times leading the American League in assists. His percentage in throwing out base runners was well above average. For some years he sat on the bench behind Steve O’Neill and Glenn Myatt, but he grabbed playing time when the Indians traded O’Neill to Boston. Luke was a durable catcher, playing over 120 games a year. This was one position manager Peckinpaugh did not have to concern himself with.
The remaining part of the Cleveland roster was somewhat unsettled. Billy Evans did not have the time needed to implement the immediate changes he felt necessary. Alva Bradley and his partners were willing to spend a small fortune to acquire some top-shelf talent. They believed that if enough money was waved around, great players were sure to follow. Bradley reasoned, if he offered the Yankees George Burns and $100,000, they might part with Lou Gehrig. The team president would learn quickly that players of Gehrig’s ability were not available even for a yacht filled with cash.
With spring training just around the corner, Billy Evans thoroughly studied his roster. The infield was decent enough with Burns at first base, the veteran Lew Fonseca at second, Joe Sewell at short, and a young Johnny Hodapp at third. Fonseca, primarily a singles hitter, could bat well over .300 but had difficulty staying healthy. The Indians acquired Hodapp in August 1925 from the minor-league Indianapolis Indians. He was a big kid, six feet tall and weighing 185 pounds. He came from a family of undertakers, an always steady profession, although slightly on the morbid side. The club shelled out between forty and fifty thousand dollars to
