Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn | Tags: Charlie Sheen, Major League, Sports Illustrated
If you haven’t tracked down the July 4 issue of Sports Illustrated — the annual “Where are They Now?” double issue — then you’re missing out on a whole lot of Major League action.
As in a seven-page feature on the cast and crew recalling moments from the past as reported by Chris Nashawaty.
You can find the story online via the SI website, but you don’t get the full impact without seeing the images and more.
Good job, Nashawaty — that’s reporter I’d not give a big ol’ shitburger to!
Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League, Major League 4, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn | Tags: Charlie Sheen, Major League 4, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn
The notion of Wild Thing showing up in Major League 4 makes me a little uneasy — but not as uneasy as knowing Lou Brown has little chance as me making a cameo.
You can also forget landing one of these caps, either. They’re no longer made.
But I still want one.
But the notion of the movie happening lives on. Check this out.
Filed under: Cleveland Indians, Lou Brown, Major League, Major League II | Tags: Cleveland Indians, Indians, James Gammon, Lou Brown, Major League, Major League movie
By Joe L. Brown
For www.youhitlikeshit.com
CLEVELAND — Lou Brown, the gravelly voiced manager who led the Cleveland Indians to their first pennant in more than 40 years in 1988 has died after an ongoing battle with cancer. He was 70.
Brown, whose belief in calisthenics, sound un-flashy glove work and downright loathing of contract squabbles, kept him at the helm of the Toledo Mud Hens for 30 years, was hired for the job by General Manager Charlie Donovan, who had been promoted after the death of owner Donald Phelps.
Un-beknownst to Brown and Donovan, owner Rachel Phelps had intended to produce a team worthy of re-locating to Miami, but it was Brown’s daring managerial style and an eclectic mix of veterans and unknown talent like Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano and Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn that led the Indians to the AL East title for the first time since 1954.
Brown’s Tribe defeated the New York Yankees in a playoff game on a bunt by catcher Jake Taylor, which meant the team finished with a 93-70 record in his dream season. Brown told reporters that “there are two or three potential all-stars” on his roster, but it was his managing of that talent that was vital for the Tribe’s success. One example? Brown discovered that Vaughn’s wildness was a result of poor eyesight, propelling the former California Penal Leaguer into one of the game’s greatest success stories.
Brown often admitted that he wasn’t “one for inspirational addresses” and he was known for wasting sports writers’ time when they irked him. One of his great thrills in life was a simple one, grilling burgers.
Filed under: Gentry, Major League, Meet the team | Tags: baseball, Cleveland Indians, Gentry, indians major league movie, Major League, Major League baseball, Red-tag season
Sure. there’s a new season upon us. But there’s one thing I never really liked to see during spring training — red-tag season.
I always felt bad that Bobby Gentry was singled out in the documentary about my 1988 Indians team. We made several rounds of cuts, but only Gentry here was shown getting a legitimate red tag.
He was sent down to Colorado Springs, our brand-new Triple-A club that was managed by former big-leaguer Steve Swisher that season, and he did pretty well but it wasn’t enough to get back to the bigs.
He later became a long-time fielding coach for the San Diego Padres, and I hear his boy made his big-league debut last season.
— Lou Brown
Filed under: Duke Temple, Jake Taylor, Lou Brown, Major League, Pedro Cerrano, Pepper Leach, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Indians memorabilia, Duke Temple, indians major league movie, Jake Taylor, Jobu, Lou Brown, Major League, Pedro Cerrano, People Magazine, Pepper Leach, Ricky Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Sports Illustrated, Wild Thing, Willie Mays Hayes
For all of the things I saved through the years, I never did latch onto copies of People and Sports Illustrated where my guys appeared on the covers.
“Wild Thing” appeared on the Sept. 18, 1988, cover of People, while several of us appeared on a SI cover that fall, too.
Have one? E-mail me…
– Lou Brown
Filed under: "That bitch" Rachel Phelps, Baseball cards, Charlie Donovan, Clew Haywood, Eddie Harris, Harry Doyle, Jake Taylor, Lou Brown, Mike Rexman, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Pedro Cerrano, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Upper Deck, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: 1989 Upper Deck, baseball card, Baseball cards, Baseball movies, Bob Uecker, Charlie Donovan, Charlie Sheen, Cleveland Indians, Clew Haywood, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Duke Temple, Eddie Harris, Harry Doyle, indians major league movie, Jake Taylor, Jobu, Major League, Mike Rexman, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Pedro Cerrano, Pepper Leach, Rachel Phelps, Ricky Vaughn, Roger Dorn, Tom Berenger, Upper Deck, Wesley Snipes, Willie Mays Hayes
We’ve done some nosing around and have found this exclusive first look world premiere scoop of all scoops — the 14 cards pulled at the last second from the 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set. (Including a card of yours truly, Lou Brown.)
You see, Upper Deck had better things to do in 1989 than include a real Star Rookie named Ricky Vaughn in its inaugural baseball card set. (They instead opted for some bum named Ken Griffey Jr. for card No. 1.)
And they made some other last-second changes to the set — opting to not include managers, bench coaches, announcers and even some Major Leaguers in the 700-card first series.
My team was very, very disappointed. However, after 20 years these “missing” cards have been discovered and can only be found here on my blog.
— Lou Brown
See all of the cards after the jump.
Filed under: Lou Brown, Major League Movies | YouTube Clips, Willie Mays Hayes | Tags: Baseball movies, Lou Brown, Major League, MLB, sports movies, Willie Mays Hayes
Filed under: Baseball cards, Donruss, Meet the team, Pedro Cerrano | Tags: Baseball cards, Baseball movies, Cleveland Indians, Dennis Haysbert, Donruss, indians major league movie, Jobu, Major League, MLB, Pedro Cerrano
Once you got to know him, you’d find that Pedro Cerrano had some serious charisma.
In fact, I could see him running for office someday. (And, I swear that guy on the Keifer Sutherland show, 24, looks a lot like him. But, anyway…)
Sure, Cerrano’s voodoo freaked out some veterans in the clubhouse (well, at least Eddie Harris admitted that to me), but Jobu helped Cerrano with the curveball and that’s all that matters. Harris warmed up to Jobu, too, after a freak accident that first summer — so it all paid off in the end.
Believe it or not, Charlie Donovan considered sending Cerrano down to Triple-A early in his rookie season, but we decided we needed his bat in the lineup and then looked to move Vaughn. Good thing we got him some glasses and Cerrano finally pulled it around.
Cerrano’s sophomore season was another story … but Jake, Duke and Pep told me that Isuro “Kamikazi” Tanaka was a real help.
Something about marbles.
Maybe they’re a good stress-reliever? I’ll look into that.
Filed under: Baseball cards, Donruss, Meet the team, Roger Dorn | Tags: 1989 Donruss, baseball, Baseball cards, Baseball movies, Cleveland Indians, Corbin Bernsen, Donruss, indians major league movie, Lou Brown, Major League, MLB, Roger Dorn
Roger Dorn.
I never really liked that guy — probably because his car cost more than I made in my last five seasons managing the 
Toledo Mud Hens combined.
Then, again, I did manage to get him a good deal on some whitewalls at Tire World. After that — and our pennant — he gave me a Rolex, so I can’t complain.
Once he got over my stance on calisthenics, and stopped acting like he was centerstage in the Playa Tijuana bullfighting stadium, he became quite a spark for my team. For some reason, he also seemed to listen to Jake Taylor a little more as the season progressed. And he always seemed to light a fire under Ricky Vaughn, too.
He’s good with his investments, so I’m sure he’s rebounded quite well from his short-lived stint as the Indians owner.
Filed under: Baseball cards, Donruss, Eddie Harris, Meet the team | Tags: 1989 Donruss, baseball, Baseball cards, Chelcie Ross, Cleveland Indians, Eddie Harris, indians major league movie, Major League, MLB
Eddie Harris may have been an old junk-baller, but he got the job done for us against the Yankees and that’s all that matters.
And those damned sportswriters need to lay off on the conspiracies about Crisco, Bardahl, Vagisil, Vaseline and especially jalapenos.
Those were just his endorsement deals, guys. (Well, except Vagisil. I don’t know where they got that from … )
Ol’ Eddie put plenty on the ball — just like Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry.
And it’s his veteran arm and presence in the clubhouse that mattered most.
