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

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With an active off-season concluded, the Indians boarded a train on the Nickel Plate Railroad bound for New Orleans. For the first time in many seasons there was a degree of optimism among the players. Catcher Luke Sewell told reporters, “If I could choose from the sixteen clubs of both major leagues, I’d want to play with the Indians. They are going somewhere.” They were certainly headed to New Orleans, but Sewell believed his club had a chance to move up in the American League standings. It would be a monumental feat to pass the Yankees or the Athletics, but a higher place in the standings was possible.

The early days in Louisiana were drenched with rain and Heinemann Park turned into a lagoon. The team stayed off the field and started in on calisthenics. One day, the boys got a heavy medicine ball and began heaving it at one another, and Luke Sewell fired the ball at the stomach of Joe Shaute. On impact, the oversized ball exploded, showering everybody with the stuffing. That ended the calisthenics for the afternoon.