Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

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Throughout the summer, interested parties waited for an announcement of a change in ownership. Speaker’s group appeared to have fizzled out, but the others seemed to still be in play. On September 8, word came through that Alva Bradley, contrary to earlier statements, was ready to buy the Indians. Sportswriter Henry Edwards, still digging up scoops for the Plain Dealer after twenty-seven years on the beat, was all over this story. His source was Chuck Bradley, the brother of Alva. Chuck told Edwards, “Alva has changed his mind. He has decided that in order to boost Cleveland, a Cleveland man should buy the ball club instead of having it owned by residents of other cities.” Edwards asked Bradley if he intended to be a partner but could only get a maybe in reply.

The Bradley brothers may have planned to boost Cleveland, but in reality they had numerous interests of their own to advance. Alva had a large block of real estate downtown that could be turned into restaurants, hotels, and new offices for the Cleveland team. The only thing missing was a new stadium to cash in on. Edwards mentioned that other individuals had been talking about a new lakefront stadium that could seat over eighty thousand fans. Perhaps the Bradley brothers would lead the charge to make the talk reality. It made sense that downtown businessmen would see the huge investment opportunity in a state-of-the-art facility just a few blocks away from their real estate. The time had come for Cleveland men to take back the team.