No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. Scott H. Longert

if Willis could help their club.

      During all the high-level bargaining, Cleveland scout Cy Slapnicka waited quietly for an opportunity to move in and steal the prize. He was everything you wanted in a scout: aggressive, resourceful, slightly devious, and willing to bend the rules. Along with these qualities, Slapnicka had a great eye for talent. One way or another he was going to bring Hudlin to Cleveland.

      On the morning of June 7, Slapnicka walked into Del Pratt’s office and asked if the Yankees had picked up their option. Pratt answered no, but they had until 1:00 p.m. to do so. The Indians scout eyed the clock for another two hours, then visited Pratt again. Time was now up for the Yankees. Slapnicka reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a check for $25,000. He negotiated with Pratt on the additional three players for Waco and the deal was done. The value of the transaction including the three players was $40,000, a remarkable amount of money for a nineteen-year-old not quite finished with high school.

      The Cleveland fans were quite eager to get a look at the best pitcher from the Texas League. On August 16, 1926, Willis Hudlin started the opening game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns. The fans packed League Park to the tune of 25, 000 spectators, an overflow crowd. Willis made it through two innings but completely lost control in the third. He walked the first three batters, then gave up a base hit. Speaker pulled Hudlin from the game but the relief pitchers did not help, the Browns winning, 11–7.

      On August 31, Hudlin made another appearance against St. Louis, this time in relief. With the game tied he pitched seven scoreless innings to record his first major-league win. The Indians stole the game in the bottom of the twelfth when Homer Summa scored on an error by the Browns shortstop. Cleveland fans were delighted in what they saw from the young pitcher.

      The second-place Indians still had a chance to catch the Yankees, which meant Hudlin would ride the bench for the remainder of September. He trekked back to Wagoner to compete his high school education, but had a rough time paying attention in class and ultimately gave up all thought of finishing school. He would later tell reporters, “It is pretty tough work trying to study geometry when you are thinking of how to throw a curveball past Babe Ruth.” That winter he did a different type of studying. He built a wooden ballplayer and put canvas behind the dummy to stop the baseballs. Hudlin added a wooden strike zone from the knees to the chest, then practiced throwing strikes throughout the winter. If nothing else he would get an A for effort.

      In the 1927 campaign Hudlin would win eighteen games, leading the Cleveland pitching staff. He might have won twenty, but a bad-hop grounder hit him right between the eyes, resulting in a concussion. For too many days he was light-headed and frequently bled from the nose. Regardless of the accident, Hudlin still had an exceptional season. He was one of the bright spots in a vastly disappointing year.

      Team president Bradley and general manager Evans certainly wanted to improve their ball club for the 1928 season. This posed quite a challenge for the Indians as well as the other American League teams trying to unseat the World Champion Yankees. The New York club was an absolute powerhouse with no hint of slowing down. In 1927, Babe Ruth broke his own home run record with sixty, while Lou Gehrig trailed with a paltry forty-seven. Next in line was Tony Lazzeri with eighteen. The Ruth-Gehrig combination knocked in an amazing total of 339 runs. If that was not enough, Bob Meusel had 103 RBIs while Lazzeri finished with 102. The Yankees won 111 games against forty-four defeats. One has to go back to 1906 to find a club with a better record, that being the Chicago Cubs of 1906, led by first baseman/manager Frank Chance. If for some reason the big bats were silent, the Yankee pitching staff could easily take up the slack. Waite Hoyt led all American League pitchers with twenty-two wins, followed closely by Herb Pennock with nineteen.

      Truly the Yankees were a dynasty, with few teams that could throw down with them. One was Philadelphia. After more than a decade of being hopelessly inept, Connie Mack had his Athletics competitive again. Young players, including pitcher Robert “Lefty” Grove and outfielder Al Simmons, were leading Philadelphia back to the upper division. A new third baseman named Jimmy Foxx was about to pay big dividends for Mr. Mack. The Washington Senators were a solid club and St. Louis usually played above .500. The Indians had to improve tremendously to jump over any of these ball clubs.

      With a number of obstacles to overcome, the 1928 Indians prepared for spring training. The new ownership determined to move camp to New Orleans, a familiar location for Cleveland teams past. A few weeks before they left, City Manager William Hopkins addressed the city council. He advised them that a meeting had taken place on January 25 with Alva Bradley, Chuck Bradley, and team secretary Joseph Hostetler. A new stadium was on the table and Hopkins wanted to test how much the Indians might pay for an exclusive lease. He had in mind an enormous facility on the lakefront that could seat approximately eighty thousand fans. Osborne Engineering, the firm that had built League Park, gave Hopkins some tentative plans that included a price tag of two million dollars.

      For the stadium to be built, a bond issue had to be submitted to Cleveland voters in the November general election. Hopkins estimated the bond interest and carrying charges would amount to $155,000 for the first year. He wanted Bradley and the other Indians owners to pay for the bulk of it with additional money coming from football games and world-class boxing events. Hopkins explained to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “When we go to the people for a bond issue we want to be able to say this won’t cost you a cent. We want to know in advance that the income from the stadium will pay the carrying charges on the bonds.”

      It is likely the opening of the Terminal Tower gave the city politicians plenty of optimism about a new project. If that massive structure could be built, why not a new stadium? Civic pride was taking hold in Cleveland. It stood to reason that the time was now to take on another large-scale project. Perhaps the momentum had indeed swung in the city manager’s favor.

      Though public support seemed to be within reach, Hopkins had some major obstacles to overcome. The largest was the right-of-way the railroad companies enjoyed at the lakefront. At present, the rail people could build track on much of the land needed for the new stadium. He required their approval to set aside the area for construction. All things considered, it was an ambitious plan. Even if the bond issue passed and the railroad barons gave their okay, Hopkins still had other battles to fight. Most importantly, Alva Bradley needed to be on board for the lease agreement. Full support from the city council had to be achieved. If Hopkins was successful on all these counts, the voters in Cuyahoga County were still a big question mark. Was a new stadium really necessary? League Park had been doing fine for thirty-seven years. The park at 66th and Lexington had good views, was easy to get to, and brought in revenue to the businesses located in and around the field. For years, the neighborhood kids prowled Lexington Avenue in hopes of snagging baseballs that sailed over the towering right field wall. They would be out of luck if the Indians moved to the lakefront. City Manager Hopkins had let the genie out of the bottle. He needed to be exceedingly shrewd in getting his wishes granted.

      On February 19, 1928, the Indians pitchers and coaches boarded their train for the trip to New Orleans. Everybody in the group was eager to once again play ball. No doubt they all were motivated to show their best stuff to the new management. The reporters and photographers for the city’s three daily newspapers were falling all over themselves to board the train and escape the frigid Cleveland winter. The sportswriters and the camera guys for the Plain Dealer, News, and Press had been going south with the team for many years. This was a chance to get some exclusive interviews and talk baseball in a relaxed setting. It had to be one of the great perks of the job.

      Upon arrival the squad headed for the Hotel Roosevelt, one of the finest places to stay in New Orleans. Unfortunately, the boys had arrived at the conclusion of Mardi Gras and the celebrants were still in their suites sleeping off all the fun. Everybody gathered in the lobby, waiting for rooms to open up. Local reporters sat down with manager Peckinpaugh to see what he thought about the Indians’ chances for the season. Peck told the writers, “I’m not going to make any predictions because we can’t estimate our strength until Uhle and Levsen show whether they have come back. We are certainly stronger than we were last year if only because the team’s spirit is bound to be better.” Peck would go on to say the Yankees and Philadelphia were the class of the league with Washington right behind. Possibly Cleveland