Here They
Are in All Their Glory!
The
Uniforms of the Cleveland Indians
Bask in the Tradition. Bask
in the Memories.
Titled “Eat, Sleep,
Indians,” and Licensed by Major League Baseball,
the Artwork is available in two framed
presentations:
An eye-catching framed-and-matted print
measuring 12” x 21” that sells for only $52 each—which is an exceptional
value for a fully assembled Artpiece of this size. And a dramatic 19” x 39” triple-matted high-quality print (a
Letter of Authenticity is included) that is limited to an edition size of only
299 and sells for the discounted cost of $399.
Please note your Artwork will arrive at your
door in 7 to 10 days when you place your order. And needless to say, there is a 30-day full moneyback guarantee. In addition, The Greatest-Scapes pays
all shipping costs and any required sales tax!
The Greatest-Scapes also offers the option of
an interest-free Extended Payment Plan for credit card orders. For the $52 framed print, you can pay $26.00
upfront and the balance of $26.00 thirty days later. While the $399 framed Limited Edition can be purchased with an
initial $133, and payments of $133 billed thirty and sixty days later.
To phone in your credit
card order, please call us at 1-800-786-3022 anytime between 10am and 6pm
(Eastern) Monday through Friday. You
can also mail in your order, payable to The Greatest-Scapes, to: The Greatest-Scapes/P.O. Box
5548/Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Please
include your shipping address and specify which Artwork(s) you’re ordering and
how many. And please don’t hesitate to
call us toll-free if you ever have any questions or would like any additional
information.
For your convenience, you can print out our
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And this Artwork evokes an unmistakably
Classic quality. Indeed, it will look
at home next to a diploma or a work of fine art. Whether you hang it on a wall or lean it on a shelf or mantle,
the Artwork will make a striking impression.
Please keep in mind, though, the visuals
depicted here on the website simply can not do justice to the detail and
quality of the actual Artwork.
Please note the uniform images shown are
produced from hand-painted watercolor paintings. The publisher chose this route, rather than photographs, because
in many cases original jerseys no longer exist, even at the various halls of
fame. In addition, a more consistent
look and feel for the uniforms is achieved by painting them, and allows for a
higher level of detail than a photograph in some cases.
Here, then, is a detailed description of the
12” x 21” Artpiece that sells for only $52 each. It consists of a 5” x 15” paper print that is housed in a black
frame with a textured black mat. The
black mat has a white groove cut into it, thus adding depth and beauty to the
piece. Weighing approximately five
pounds, the Artwork is covered by crystal-clear glass and includes a
“hanger” on the back to allow for easy hanging. The black frame—and especially the textured black mat with
white groove—makes this a truly stunning Artpiece.
The above is an example of
the 12” x 21” Artpiece, which depicts the Washington Redskins.
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As for the 19” x 39” Limited Edition Artwork,
please note each Artwork is printed on 115-lb Garda Gloss stock and then
mounted to avoid any rippling effects.
As for its matting and framing, the Limited Edition is triple-matted in
an acid-free framing style. The outer
mat is a rich, black textured mat with white core. The middle and inner mat colors have been selected to complement
the team’s colors and the overall framed piece. The matting is framed to create a shadow box effect, giving the
entire framed piece a unique three-dimensional look. The frame is an exquisite solid wood frame finished with a rich
black matte texture, chosen to complement all three mats and the print
itself. Finally, the Artpiece is protected
by high-quality framing glass; the total weight of the Artpiece being approximately
10 pounds.
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The above is
an example of the 19” x 39” Limited Edition Artpiece,
which depicts
the New York Yankees.
Here then is the history of the Indians’ Uniforms …
#1A.
1906 Cleveland
joined the National League in 1889 and were originally known as the Cleveland
Spiders. They were a part of the National League until 1899, after which the NL
downsized from 12 to 8 teams with Cleveland (and their 20-134 record in 1899)
being one of the casualties.
But the team was reborn in 1901 when they
joined the brand new American League, and they are one of only four AL teams to
have stayed in the same city from day one (the other “Charter Members” being
the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox). To go along with their change of leagues,
they changed their uniform from white to blue, and appropriately changed their
team name to the Cleveland Blues.
There seems to be some dispute as to their
nickname from 1902 to 1907 or so, with some claiming they were known as the
Broncos in 1902, then the Naps from 1903 to 1915. Team nicknames in this era
were somewhat loose and somewhat unofficial, with different newspapers calling
the same team by different nicknames.
We’re fairly certain that by 1906 or 1907
they were generally known as the Napoleons or Naps. This was in honor of their
second baseman and manager Napoleon Lajoie (Lajoie, elected to the Hall of Fame
in 1937, played for the Indians from midway through the 1902 season to 1914,
and interestingly managed the team from 1905 – 1909).
The 1906 Naps finished the season in 3rd
place, with a record of 89-64, their best record to date - isn’t it remarkable
to think that as early as 1906 teams played in excess of 150 games per season?
Notice the blue collar on the 1906 home
uniform, standard issue on all uniforms of the early 1900’s. This collar was
blue when turned down, as we have shown it, but when the collar stood up, it
was white. Note also that even though the jersey has four buttons down the
front, this is still a “pullover” style jersey that had to be pulled over the
head – once again, this was common in jerseys throughout baseball at this time.
We believe the first major league team to wear a completely buttoned front
jersey (ie one that didn’t have to be pulled over the head) was the 1909
Phillies, followed by the 1911 Cubs. The pullover style jersey finally
disappeared after the 1939 season (we believe the A’s were the last team to
wear it), but of course pullovers resurfaced in a big way with the double knit
era of the 70’s and 80’s.
#1B.
1909 The
Cleveland Naps road uniform has a classic look for the era. Notice especially
the thin blue pinstripe - a good three years before the Yankees wore pinstripes.
As best we can tell, the first instance of pinstriped uniforms was in 1907.
That year the Boston Braves’ road uniform were made from a gray flannel with a
fine green pinstripe. Later that same year the Cubs had a new gray uniform with
fine pin striping made for the World Series - they wore it for the World Series
opener in Chicago and were later reprimanded by the league for not wearing a
white uniform at home. The Yankees, most often associated with pinstripe
uniforms, first wore a pinstriped uniform for one year at home in 1912 (the New
York Times wrote about their 1912 home opener “The Yankees presented a natty
appearance in their new uniforms of white with black pin stripes”), then every
year from 1915 to the present.
The Indians finished the 1909 season in 6th
place with a 71-82 record, and player-manager Nap Lajoie handed over the
managerial reigns to Deacon McGuire 2/3rds of the way through the
season.
Baseball is rightfully proud of its past, and
it’s remarkable how some statistics remain relatively constant over baseball’s
history. But there are some things that highlight the difference in eras – for
instance, from 1901 – 1909, the league leading # of home runs in the American
League were 14, 16, 13, 10, 8, 12, 8, 7, 9 – this was indeed the “dead ball
era”.
1909 was the last year for Cleveland’s old
wooden facility known as “League Park”. It was replaced in 1910 by a brand new
concrete and steel ballpark also called League Park. The new League Park,
located at East 66th and Lexington, played home to the Indians for the next 36
years.
#1C.
1916 In
1915 the Naps were no more, and Cleveland would henceforth be known as the
Cleveland Indians. Why the name change? After being known for over a decade as
the Napoleons or Naps in honor of their second baseman and manager Napoleon
Lajoie, Lajoie was released by Cleveland and claimed off waivers by the
Philadelphia Athletics prior to the 1915 season.
And why the “Indians”? Prior to joining the
American League in 1901, Cleveland was sometimes called the “Indians” in honor
of their star player Louis “Chief” Sockalexis. Sockalexis was a native American
who joined Cleveland in 1897 and played only 94 games over a 3 year span,
hitting .313. Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward referred to Sockalexis as
"a marvel". He must have made quite an impression for the team to
adopt Indians as their nickname, if indeed that’s how the name came about. The
1916 uniform features a very unusual design element: uniform numbers on the
sleeve. This is the first time in major league history that numbers were sewn
on the sleeve, and it was a one year experiment. Amazingly, it wasn’t until the
1952 Brooklyn Dodgers that uniform numbers made their first appearance on the
front of a uniform.
And for those of you counting at home, the 1916
Indians finished at exactly .500 with 77 wins and 77 losses, far better than
their 57-95 effort a year earlier, and not nearly as good as their 88-66 record
would be in 1917.
#2.
1921 After
coming off a World Series Championship the year before, the Indians took a page
out of the 1906 Giants uniforms, by displaying the words, “Worlds Champions” on
both their home (pictured here) and road jerseys.
The 1920 World Series was Cleveland’s first
trip to the fall classic since it began in 1903, and player-manager Tris
Speaker’s 98-56 Indians squared off against Wilbert Robinson’s Brooklyn squad,
then known as the Robins. After falling behind 2 games to one, the Indians reel
off 4 straight victories and take the best-of-nine series 5 games to 2. The
batting heroes for the Indians were Indian great and hall-of-famer Tris
Speaker, Sam O’Neill and Charlie Jamieson, while Stan Coveleski won 3 games and
Duster Mails 1 (with a total of 15 2/3rds scoreless innings). This
was to be the Indians’ only World Series appearance until their record setting
1948 season.
The 1920 World Series saw several “firsts”,
all of which took place in game 5: Elmer Smith belts the first ever World
Series Grand Slam in the first inning. Then in the 4th Jim Bagby becomes the
first pitcher ever to hit a home run in the Series. And in the 5th, the improbable happens - Bill Wambsganss turns
an unassisted triple-play, a feat that may never be duplicated.
The 1921 “Worlds Champions” jersey is still
the pullover style jersey with four buttons down the front. It also has a blue
“cadet” collar, a small upright collar worn by many teams from about 1910 to
the mid-late 20’s.
The 1921 Indians were no slouches either –
they finished with a 94-60 record, 4.5 games behind the AL leading Yankees.
#3.
This Indians home jersey is now a full button
down style jersey with blue piping around the collar and down the buttoned
front. Of particular interest is the Indian head logo on the left breast - this
is the first time the Indians have used an Indian head logo on a uniform. We
had a devil of a time trying to find an original source photo for this patch. I
By 1928, hall-of-famer Tris Speaker has left
the Indians after 11 glorious years (the last 8 of which he player-managed)
during which he batted below .300 only once (.296 in 1919), and the Indians are
playing their games at League Park at East 66th and Lexington where they’ll
play for another 18 years. 1928 was an off year for the Tribe as they fell to a
dismal 62-92 mark.
#4.
1935 We
absolutely love this home jersey, especially because of its innovative use of a
wide red band around the collar and down the buttoned front. The Indians wore
this style of home jersey from 1933-1935, and they were the first team to use
this style. Note also how the Indian head logo is now on the left sleeve (where
it first appeared in 1929) and has been re-designed since it’s 1928 debut.
The 1935 Indians were coached by Washington’s
pitching legend Walter Johnson, who guided the team to a 3rd place
85-69 finish the season before. But after going 46-48 in the 1935 season,
Johnson is relieved of his duties part way through the season. The Indians
rebound a bit in the second half, and finish with an 82-71 mark.
It’s interesting to note that between 1932
and 1946 the Indians played their games at two facilities. They typically
played their weekday games at League Park, their home since 1910. Then on the
weekends, they played at the massive new Municipal Stadium. Municipal Stadium,
which opened in 1932 and seated over 80,000 fans. Later renamed Cleveland
Stadium, it would become the Indians’ full time home from 1947 to 1993.
#5A & B.
1948 What
a year, what a uniform, what a lot of stories!
First, the season: Under the guidance of
player-manager Lou Boudreau, the Indians finished the regular season tied with
Boston with identical 96-58 records, just two games ahead of 3rd the
place Yankees. Thus Cleveland and the Red Sox played a one game playoff in
Boston. Cleveland, behind rookie pitcher Gene Bearden’s knuckleballs, beat the
Red Sox 8-3 and advanced to the World Series. For more about this game, please
visit http://indians.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cle/history/cle_history_feature.jsp?story=2
.
Second, the World Series: This was only the
Indians’ second appearance in the World Series, their previous visit being a
win in 1920. This time they faced the 91-62 Boston Braves. The good thing was
the Indians simply stayed in Boston after their one game playoff against the
Red Sox. Lead by two wins by Bob Lemon, 10 2/3rds innings of
scoreless pitching by Gene Bearens, and great hitting by Larry Doby, Lou
Boudreau and Eddie Robinson, the Indians won the Series 4 games to 2 over
Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain’s Braves.
And stories? Ask anyone from Cleveland born
before 1940 about the 1948 season – you’ll get an earful…I recall driving on
Interstate 90 in Ohio in 1992 and hearing a replay of one of the Indians games
from the 1948 season – how’s that for reliving the past?
As for the uniform, look at the new Indian
head logo on the sleeve of both the home and road jerseys – this was actually
introduced in 1947 and was designed by 17 year old high school student Walter
Goldbach.
Note also the “swoosh” underlining the word
“Indians” on the home jersey. This style was introduced to baseball by the 1932
Cubs, and has been worn by many teams since then. The Indians would wear a
“swoosh” on their home jerseys from 1946 to 1949, then it would be
re-introduced in the 1990’s.
#6.
1954 This
home jersey is a simple design. There is no piping and the text on the front of
the jersey has been simplified – the result is a wonderfully beautiful jersey.
Note also the Indian head logo on the left sleeve. This is “Chief Wahoo”,
another in a series of Indian head logos. But Chief Wahoo is different – he was
introduced in 1951, and 50 years later a very close facsimile is still gracing
the Indians’ uniforms.
1954 saw Cleveland host the All Star game,
with the American League defeating the National League 11-9. More importantly,
the Indians set a club record with an amazing 111 wins in the regular season
against only 43 losses for a tremendous .721 winning percentage. The reason?
Pitching! Early Wynn goes 23 -11, Bob Lemmon goes 23 – 7, Mike Garcia goes 19
and 8, Art Houtteman goes 15 –7 and Bob Feller, then a 16 year veteran (not
including the 3 ½ years he took off for WWII), went 13-3. The bad news? The
heavily favored Indians fall in 4 straight games to Alvin Dark, Don Mueller and
Willie Mays of the New York Giants.
#7.
1969 Short
sleeves become shorter on this home jersey, and buttons are replaced with a
long zipper. During the 40’s,
50’s and 60’s many teams used zippered jerseys instead of the more traditional
button front jerseys, while a handful of teams wore them well into the 70’s and
even the 80’s. The Reds, Yankees and A’s were the only three pre-1977 major
league teams that never wore zippers. The 1937 Cubs were the first team to wear
a zippered jersey, and as far we can tell the 1988 Phillies were the last to
wear one.
The patch on the front of the vest – a patch
worn by all teams in 1969 - commemorates the 100th anniversary of
professional baseball (the barnstorming Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first
openly pro team in baseball history, going 65 and 0 in their first season).
Note also the numbers on the front of the
jersey. Numbers first appeared on Indians uniforms in 1963. Uniform numbers
first made their appearance on the front of a uniform in 1952 - the Brooklyn
Dodgers were the first team to adopt them. The Braves followed suit in 1953,
and the Reds joined in beginning in 1956. As noted earlier, the 1916 Indians actually wore a uniform number on
their sleeve, but it wasn’t until the ’52 Dodgers that the number made it to
the front.
As for the Indians’ ’69 season, it was more
miss than hit as the Tribe finished 46.5 games behind the Orioles with a 62-99
record.
#8A.
1970 In
an attempt to recapture an earlier era, the Indians adopt the pinstripes once
again, as shown on this home jersey. Thankfully, the zipper is now gone and
Chief Wahoo is still smiling on the left sleeve. As noted earlier, Chief Wahoo
was introduced in 1951, and 50 years later he’s still gracing the Indians’
uniforms.
And it must have made a bit of difference as
the Indians rebounded from an off year in 1969 to a more respectable 76-86
record in 1970.
#8B.
1975 The
jersey is totally redesigned, but not many would say for the better. This road jersey is of a double-knit style
that most major league teams succumbed to during the 70’s and early 80’s. It
was a pullover style, made of stretchy, synthetic polyester. The pants were
called “Sans-a-Belt”’s because the elasticized waistline eliminated the need
for a belt.
The jersey script resembles an early Greek
style of typography. It was dropped after 3 years of use. Thank heavens.
April 8, 1975 is a great day for baseball.
Frank Robinson becomes the first African-American manager in MLB history – a
player-manager to boot - and he does things in grand style, hitting a home run
in his first at bat.
And the Indians just miss the .500 mark with
a 79-80 record, a harbinger of things to come in 1976 when they would finish
above .500 for only one of three times (the others being 1979 and 1981) between
1969 and 1986.
#8C.
1981 Polyester
has almost ridden its course, as this third blue jersey shows. Because of a
players’ strike, the season is much shorter than usual, but memorable
nonetheless for the Indians who finished with a 52-51 mark. On May 15th
Lenny Barker retires 27 consecutive Toronto Blue Jay batters, for a perfect
game and 3-0 win at Cleveland Stadium. Barker’s perfect game is one of only two
“No-No’s” in Indians’ history, the other being pitched by Adie Joss on October
2, 1908. Barker would go on to finish the 1981 season with an 8-7 record and a
3.92 ERA.
#9.
1989 The
Indians do themselves and fans a favor and return to a clean, classic jersey
design, as shown in this handsome road uniform. Uniform numbers returned to the
front of the jersey in 1986, the first time since 1969.
The Indians finish 73-89, 6th in
the AL East, but good times are just around the corner…
#10.
1995 Welcome
to the success known as the Indians of the 90’s!!! Not only has the team become
a perennial powerhouse, but they’re looking pretty good doing it!
The “Indians” script on this 1995 home jersey
is similar to their 1954 jersey. The patch on the right sleeve commemorates
their new ballpark, Jacobs Field, which opened a season earlier on April 4,
1994.
Now the real news: A 41 year drought ended on
September 8, 1995 – The Indians clinch the AL Central Division to advance to
post-season play for the first time since 1954. The 1995 Indians go 100-44 (the
player lockout caused teams to miss the 1st 18 games of the season),
winning the Division by 30 games, the largest margin ever recorded by a
Division winner! One amazing individual stat was the fact that on September 30,
1995, Albert Belle became the first player in major league history with fifty
doubles and fifty home runs in the same season – a remarkable statistic!
But more importantly, the Indians swept the
Red Sox 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs. They then advanced to the
American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners, and the
Indians won 4 games to 2 to win their first pennant since 1954. Thus it was on
to the World Series for the 1st time since 1954 – this time is would
be the Indians vs the Braves (in 1948 it was also the Indians vs the Braves,
only then it was the Boston Braves). The Series went six games, but the Braves
came out on top in a dramatic 1-0 game in game 6 as Tom Glavine and Mark Wohler
one-hit the Indians in Atlanta.
#11.
1997 This
third jersey was worn both at home and on the road. Notice the team logo on the
collar of the blue undershirt - a trend that started in the mid 90’s and is now
quite commonplace. The patch on the right sleeve is the “A.L. champions” patch.
During most of the 1997 season, the right sleeve of Indians’ uniforms instead
had a patch honoring the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson
breaking baseball’s color barrier. All teams wore this patch in honor of Jackie
Robinson and all he achieved, and all MLB teams retired his number 42 - the
first time in the history of the big four North American sports (MLB, NFL, NBA,
NHL) that a number has been universally retired (hockey has since done it with
Wayne Gretzky’s #99).
Now back to the season itself. After
capturing the AL Central, our beloved Indians win Round One of the Playoffs 3
games to 2 over the Yankees thanks to a 4-3 Game 5 victory. As it turns out,
this Indians victory prevents the Yankees from stringing together at least 5
World Series Championships in a row as they won in 1996, then three-peated from
1998-2000. The Indians’ 1997 victory is the only Yankees series loss against 12
series wins over the 5 year period 1996-2000.
After knocking off the Yanks, the Indians go
on to beat Baltimore in 6 games to win the ALCS and the pennant, and advance to
the World Series for the 2nd time in three years. This time the
Indians arrive as favorites, facing the upstart Florida Marlins.
I could go on and on, but it wouldn’t change
the result. The Indians were overcome in Game 7. In 11 innings. After leading
2-1 in the 9th. Enough said. Arghhhhh!!!
But what a run it’s been for the Indians!
They have been a model franchise in baseball in the late 90’s and early 2000’s,
including winning the Central Division Championship every year from 1995 to
1999 and again in 2001. In ’95 they went 100-44, in ’96 they were 99-62, then
86-75 in ’97, 89-73 in ’98, 97-65 in 1999, 90-72 in 2000 (missing the post
season by a single game), then back on top in 2001 with a 91-71 record.
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The Cleveland Indians: “Eat, Sleep, Indians,”
TRADITION…
MEMORIES… CLASSY…
Order Yours Today … and Revel in it!
800-786-3022
412-781-3022
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