Word: clevelanders
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...stopped at a mountaintop to look for the last time at the beautiful city he had lost, and wept. His mother reproved him for his tears: "You do well to weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man." Carlos Nunez Cleveland...
...easily the most colorful baseball man never to play the game. A happy rebel against "the simple pieties of baseball," Veeck limped along on an artificial leg, dreaming up outrageous stunts to lure fans to the ball park. He installed the first exploding Scoreboard, moved the fences at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium in and out depending on the strength of visiting teams, and once gave away six pigeons to an elegant fan simply "to answer the burning question of how a dignified man would hold on to six squab while watching a ball game." The son of a sportswriter...
Veeck, who genially described himself as a hustler and publicity hound, owned major league teams four times: the Browns, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox (twice). His usual approach was to buy a rundown franchise, spruce up the ball park, then operate the team on the cheap while raising cash through promotions. Veeck had firm theories on how to promote. If you want to give away 50,000 beers, he once said, give them all to one fan--it will generate far more interest and conversation...
...races and handed out outlandish door prizes, including a swaybacked horse. He installed a chicken-wire screen above the rightfield fence to turn opponent home runs into singles, then rolled it out of the way when the home team came up. The practice was banned after one day. In Cleveland he offered nursery care during games and staged a night honoring a fan who had written to ask why ballplayers always get the free cars and prizes. When the Indians started the 1949 season poorly, Veeck announced that the team was starting over and restaged opening-day ceremonies...
Although Teamsters President Presser was the target of a federal strike force that wanted to charge him with embezzling funds from his Cleveland local, the Justice Department last year decided not to prosecute. A federal grand jury is now probing the reasons for this decision. One reported explanation was that Presser had been used by the FBI as an informant on Mob activities...