Throwback Night

On a throwback night, former Indians have a comeback celebration
Posted by Joe Maxse jmaxse@plaind.com June 14, 2008 20:44PM
Mark Duncan/Associated Press

The weekend also is featuring an alumni reunion of former Indians, who watched the game from a stadium loge.The older "Boys of Summer" gathered in a right-field party suite at Progressive Field on Saturday night. While the Indians and San Diego Padres went through batting practice, one-time Tribe players from the days of Cleveland Stadium, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, held their second-annual reunion.

There were plenty of memories to go around.



Steve Hargan, who pitched here from 1965 to 1972, recalled hitting his lone home run off Detroit's Pat Dobson in 1967.

"I swung as hard as I could and put the screws to it," said Hargan, 65, who owns a septic tank cleaning company in Palm Springs, Calif. "All five starters [Luis Tiant, Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert, John O'Donoghue] had a home run that year."






Jack Harshman, 80, was picked up from the Red Sox in July 1959 for the pennant drive. While the Indians could not beat out the Chicago White Sox, Harshman went 5-1, all the wins complete games.



"Looking at that Stadium was like looking at the Grand Canyon," said Harshman, who broke in with the New York Giants in 1948 and lives in Austin, Texas. "I remember the only loss was in 11 innings.

"I hit a home run in eight American League parks ... hit one in Shibe Park [in Philadelphia] and Kansas City. The only one I didn't was Yankee Stadium."

Catcher Hal Naragon, 79, played in 46 games for the 1954 pennant winners. While the Indians lost the World Series to the New York Giants in four straight, Naragon was a coach with the Detroit Tigers when they won the title in 1968.



"I know the pitchers don't like the small ballparks," said Naragon, who lives in Barberton. "It seems like strikeouts don't matter to the hitters. All that matters are home runs. I know the strike zone now, you can't call a pitch above the belt."

Naragon said he was fortunate to work with two of the finest pitching coaches in Mel Harder and Johnny Sain.

As the side-by-side loges began to fill, the stories about the good old days, even when the Indians may have lost more than they won, started to flow.

Jack Kubiszyn, 71, was a utility infielder for two seasons. He brought his wife of 50 years, Lucy, with him from their home in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for their first trip to Cleveland since 1962.




"I'm not into baseball like I used to be, being in Alabama with football and everything," said Kubiszyn, who worked in insurance and real estate. "I hit something like .367 in spring training in 1962, so they kept me. Woodie Held was kind of sick, but he got better once the season started and I never played. Maybe I ran for somebody."

Kubiszyn loved telling the story of his claim to fame when Jimmy Piersall rushed the mound against Detroit's Jim Bunning in 1961.

"When the game was on TV or there was a big crowd, Jim liked to do stuff," said Kubiszyn, who was out of baseball after a beaning injury in the minor leagues. "I ran out and grabbed Jim and got him back to the dugout. As soon as he got there he was fine. The next day I got my picture in all the papers holding him."

Vern Fuller, who played with the Tribe from 1964 to 1970, helped organize the event that drew approximately 45 players