MLB Network recalls memorable 1990s Indians
'The Dynasty That Almost Was' to re-air Tues. at noon and 7 p.m. ET
CLEVELAND -- It’s hard to reference the Indians’ teams of the 1990s without using the word “magical.” The Tribe won the American League Central from 1995-99, eclipsed 90 wins in a season for the first time since 1955 and turned around the perception of the city.
During this stretch, the star-studded lineup that featured players like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, Omar Vizquel and Sandy Alomar Jr. drew 455 consecutive home sellouts. MLB Network paid tribute to the Tribe’s special run with “The Dynasty That Almost Was,” which will re-air Tuesday at noon and 7 p.m. ET.
The 90-minute film includes interviews with members of the 1995 and ’97 teams, front office executives like John Hart, Dan O’Dowd and Mark Shapiro, former manager Mike Hargrove, broadcaster Tom Hamilton and hitting coach Charlie Manuel to give a behind-the-scenes perspective of those late ‘90s seasons.
“There’s a collage of moments that I believe in ’97 brought us together,” Alomar Jr. said in June. “One of them was the Jim Thome birthday celebration that we all pulled our socks up and from that day on we started rolling and that’s why they call it, ‘Sock-cess.’ We became a unit. We had a good team. That was not the issue.
"Our chemistry was not there at the beginning of the season. But after that, I don’t know if it was the birthday or us doing things together, but we started rolling after that, and it carried all the way through the World Series.”
Game 7 of that 1997 World Series -- though it did not end in the Indians’ favor -- will also air on MLB Network at 1:30 p.m. ET Tuesday as part of its series, “MLB’s 20 Great Games,” coming in at No. 13 on the list.