Cleveland Indians' Active Roster ending the 2007 ALCS  
Monday, October 22nd, 2007

You know what I dislike about MLB?  It doesn't seem to be so much anymore about the city.  People don't realize it, they cheer on, chant the name of their city and their team with pride.

But it's not like you can say, "that Boston sure breeds good ball players," or "Cleveland really knows how to make 'em."  It's not as often, anymore, that the players on your city's team are even from your city.

Training can account for a part of success, sure, but natural talent stands for more of why each player is on that diamond.  Yet money, contracts, trading, corporate hoo-hah as I like to call it - that is landing them there more than that any real sense of loyalty to where one came from.

What is the purpose?  Ratings?  So that everyone in the nation will want to tune in when the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies face off in the World Series?

Check out the Cleveland Indians' Active Roster at the end of the 2007 American League Championship Series:

Player Name	Home City	Home State	Home Country	Played Longest for	Started with
Josh Barfield	Barquisimeto	Lara	Venezuela	Cleveland Indians	San Diego Padres
Rafael Betancourt	Cumana	Sucre	Venezuela	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Casey Blake	Des Moines	Iowa	USA	Cleveland Indians	Toronto Blue Jays
Joe Borowski	Bayonne	New Jersey	USA	Chicago Cubs	Baltimore Orioles
Paul Byrd	Louisville	Kentucky	USA	Philadelphia Phillies	New York Mets
Asdrubal Cabrera	Puerto La Cruz	Anzoategui	Venezuela	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Fausto Carmona	Santo Domingo	Distrito Nacional	Dominican Republic	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Aaron Fultz	Memphis	Tennessee	USA	San Francisco Giants	San Francisco Giants
Ryan Garko	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	USA	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Chris Gomez	Los Angeles	California	USA	San Diego Padres	Detroit Tigers
Franklin Gutierrez	Caracas	Capital District	Venezuela	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Travis Hafner	Jamestown	Maryland	USA	Cleveland Indians	Texas Rangers
Aaron Laffey	Cumberland	Maryland	USA	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Jensen Lewis	Cincinnati	Ohio	USA	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Kenny Lofton	East Chicago	Indiana	USA	Cleveland Indians	Houston Astros
Victor Martinez	Ciudad Bolivar	Bolivar	Venezuela	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Tom Mastny	East Bontang	Borneo	Indonesia	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Jason Michaels	Tampa	Florida	USA	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia Phillies
Trot Nixon	Durham	North Carolina	USA	Boston Red Sox	Boston Red Sox
Jhonny Peralta	Santo Domingo	Distrito Nacional	Dominican Republic	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Rafael Perez	Santo Domingo	Distrito Nacional	Dominican Republic	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
C.C. Sabathia	Vallejo	California	USA	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Kelly Shoppach	Fort Worth	Texas	USA	Cleveland Indians	Boston Red Sox
Grady Sizemore	Seattle	Washington	USA	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Indians
Jake Westbrook	Athens	Georgia	USA	Cleveland Indians	New York Yankees

Zero of them were born in Cleveland, Ohio.  Zero percent, zip, zilch, none.  What does that tell us?  Does that mean that there is not one person that was born and raised in the entire city of Cleveland that is good enough to play Major League Baseball?

No, there may well be Clevelanders on other teams in the MLB.  But why other teams, then?

Only one of the players is even from the state of Ohio:  pitcher Jensen Lewis, from the opposite end of the state in Cincinnati.

 

Back to Home >>