The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since 1994, they have played in Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field). The team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. Since their establishment as a Major League franchise in 1901, the Indians have won two World Series championships, in 1920 and 1948.
The "Indians" name originates from a request by the club owner to decide on a new name, following the 1914 season. In reference to the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves), the media chose "the Indians". Common nicknames for the Indians include the "Tribe" and the "Wahoos," the latter being a reference to their logo, Chief Wahoo. The mascot is called Slider.
The Cleveland team originated in 1900 as the Lake Shores, when the American League (AL) was officially a minor league. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the major league incarnation of the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. Originally called the Cleveland Bluebirds, the team played in League Park until moving permanently to Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1946. At the end of the 2011 season, they had a regular season franchise record of 8,771–8,449 (.509). The Indians have won seven AL Central titles, the most in the division.
Cleveland ( /ˈkliːvlənd/) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location on the lake shore, as well as being connected to numerous canals and railroad lines. Cleveland's economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedical. Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As of the 2010 Census, the city proper had a total population of 396,815 and was the 45th largest city in the United States, and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2011 ranked as the 28th largest in the United States with 2,068,283 people. Cleveland is part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which in 2011 had a population of 2,871,084, and ranked as the country's 15th largest.
Michael G Polk Jr (born August 29, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his sketch comedy.
Polk was born in Warren, Ohio. He attended Kent State University as an undergraduate and earned a degree in communications and psychology in 2001.
Polk created HBO's Runaway Box / Man in the Box. His work has also appeared on Cinemax and broadcasts of the basketball show "Inside the NBA" on the TNT (TV channel).
He sang his YouTube song "One Semester of Spanish - Love Song". for Kim Kardashian on Spanish television channel Telemundo. That video has received over 5.8 million views on YouTube. He thanked his viewers as "Spanish Mike" when the video hit 2 Million views.
Some of his other work includes "Ooh Girl!" - An Honest R&B Song"., "The Great Office War" and two different versions of a "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video" all of which have about 20 million views combined on YouTube. The tourism spoof video actually prompted Cleveland's convention and tourism bureau to solicit other videos in a 'counterattack' to Polk's not so flattering work. Segments of the Cleveland tourism videos were also featured in the Michael Moore documentary film Capitalism: A Love Story.
James Howard "Jim" Thome ( /ˈtoʊmeɪ/; born August 27, 1970 in Peoria, Illinois) is a Major League Baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is the eighth MLB player to hit 600 home runs.
Thome was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 13th round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft. While in the minors, he got into a fight with future Major League star Chipper Jones. Thome and Jones would later become good friends. Thome made his Major League debut on September 4, 1991 as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins. He was 2 for 4 in that game, with his first hit coming off pitcher Tom Edens in the fourth inning. He hit his first career home run on October 4 against New York Yankees pitcher Steve Farr.
Originally a third baseman, he was shifted to first base when the Indians traded for Matt Williams in 1997.
At the plate, Thome hit 25 home runs and 73 runs batted in with a .314 batting average in 1995. Thome then hit 38 home runs in 1996 and 40 in 1997. Thome soon became a prolific home run hitter, once hitting a 511-foot (156 m) shot at Cleveland's Jacobs Field. It is the longest home run ever recorded at a Cleveland ballpark. He hit 49 home runs with the Indians in 2001, followed by a career-high 52 homers in 2002.
Omar Enrique Vizquel González (Spanish pronunciation: [oˈmar βisˈkel]; born April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela), nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays. Vizquel has played for the Seattle Mariners (1989–1993), Cleveland Indians (1994–2004), San Francisco Giants (2005–2008), Texas Rangers (2009) Chicago White Sox (2010–2011), and Toronto Blue Jays (2012). In Venezuela he played with the team Leones del Caracas.
Vizquel is considered one of baseball's all-time best fielding shortstops, winning nine consecutive Gold Gloves (1993–2001) and two more in 2005 and 2006. He tied Cal Ripken, Jr.'s AL record, since surpassed, for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error (95, between September 26, 1999 and July 21, 2000). Currently, his .985 career fielding percentage is the highest of all-time for a shortstop in Major League history. On May 25, 2008, Vizquel became the all-time leader in games played at shortstop, passing Luis Aparicio. Vizquel is the all-time leader in double plays made while playing shortstop. He has the most hits recorded by any player from Venezuela (2,842; 45th all-time, as of April 18, 2012), surpassing Aparicio's record of 2,677 on June 25, 2009. On May 24, 2010, Vizquel became the shortstop with the second most hits all time, behind Derek Jeter. Vizquel is the sacrifice hit leader of the live-ball era.