Results tagged ‘ MLB ’

Tribe drops prices on dogs and suds; fans go wild

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The Cleveland Indians announced they are rolling back the price of concessions at Progressive Field early this morning and the interwebs have been abuzz ever since. The $4 beers, $3 hot dogs, $2 soda refills and 15 $1 dog nights (presented by Sugardale!) have shown fans a concerted effort by the club, both on and off the field, to keep fans happy at the ballpark. “We’ve asked our fans what they want most in their ballpark experience at Progressive Field, and more affordable concessions prices routinely top the list,” said Indians president Mark Shapiro. “This is a way for us to let fans know we’re listening to them and that we value them.”

TribeVibe is listening too! Here’s a snippet of the response to these changes:

If you’d like to partake in the excitement, single-game tickets are still available via Indians.com, by calling 216-420-HITS (4487) or by visiting any Indians Team Shop. If you’re on the hunt for the Sugardale Dollar Dog nights, the Indians’ promotion schedule can be viewed  here.

We’ll see you at the ballpark!

– TribeVibe contributor Courtney Shilling

Tribe wins MLB Wild Card award for keeping our field green

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The Cleveland Indians were recently awarded a Wild Card spot for MLB’s 2012 Green Glove Award, a competition designed to promote better environmental practices throughout the league. In recognition of the club’s sustainability efforts, Brad Mohr – the Assistant Director of Ballpark Operations at Progressive Field – was invited to the White House for a forum on sustainability in sports last year. Next month, he’ll be headed to Sydney and Melbourne to speak at the Sports Sustainability United Summit. He has also presented at the Green Sports Alliance Summit the past two years and is very active in the sustainability community in Northeast Ohio. TribeVibe caught up with this industry-leader and asked him a few questions about the Tribe’s green efforts.

TribeVibe: What did the Cleveland Indians do to improve their diversion rate – the percentage of waste materials diverted from traditional disposal – in 2012?

Brad Mohr: We continued to take a serious, thorough look at our trash and recycling procedures in 2012, which paid off in another dramatic drop in trash going to the landfill. The most impactful improvement was the composting of organic material. Organic material that can be composted is anything that will break down in a natural environment such as food prep scraps, leftover food that cannot be donated and grass clippings. Our organics are sent to a facility that makes and sells mulch. We began composting as a pilot program late 2010 and we discovered we could compost a great amount of our waste. We went full throttle on composting in 2011 and recycled over 20 tons of organics. With composting becoming more and more a part of our operation and culture with education and familiarity, we composted 53 tons of organic material in 2012. That amounts to 21% of all of our recycling weight.

We continued to be consistent recyclers of other materials by saving from the landfill:

  • 34 tons of aluminum and plastic beverage containers
  • 69.5 tons of cardboard
  • 31 tons of paper
  • 19 tons of metals
  • 20 tons of wooden pallets
  • 13 tons of fryer oil
  • 2.5 tons of electronics
  • and an astonishing 2/3 of a ton of light bulbs

All together, we recycled 248 tons of materials. Compare that with 408 tons of trash and we have a diversion rate of 38%.

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Q&A with Alexandria Justice, MLB Fan Cave Candidate

AlexSliderWe are proud to have two candidates in the running for the MLB Fan Cave contest! We asked each of our candidates some questions to help you get to know them better and explain why they should represent the Cleveland Indians in the Fan Cave.  Don’t forget to go vote for Alex here and follow her on Twitter @alexjustice4all!

What is your favorite Tribe memory? Where were you and why does it stand out?
I have so many amazing memories of the Tribe, but if I had to pick just one, it just might be from the playoffs against the Yankees back in 2007. If not for the Indians, Cleveland public schools wouldn’t have had baseball and softball teams because of a lack of funding. Since my three other siblings and I played for John Marshall, this meant a lot to me. The Indians organization not only kept our teams alive, they also invited us to many events where we had the opportunity to hang out with the players. At the first playoff game in 2007, the Indians invited the softball and baseball teams to hold out the giant American flag on the field for the singing of the National Anthem at the beginning of the game. I cannot even begin to describe how sick that experience was — and to make that unforgettable day even better, we ended up crushing the Yankees in a beautiful 12-3 win.

Who is your favorite Indians player of all time and why?
It is so tough to choose just one of these amazing and talented guys, but I have to say my favorite of all time is Omar Vizquel. In the 10 years that he was with us, I can’t even count the number of times he left me in awe over the moves he would pull on the field. From his incredible offensive performance in the playoff runs in the 90s, to the three-run triple he hit against the Seattle Mariners in 2001 that tied the game and eventually led to a win and the greatest comeback in MLB history, to when he caught the catcher sleeping and stole home against the Detroit Tigers in 2003. His talent was pretty much limitless. Now that he is retired, I am eager to see him come back home in the next few years so he can give us just a little bit more of his magic again.

There are two Indians fans as hopefuls for the Fan Cave. Why should fans vote for you? What makes you a great representative of the Cleveland Indians?
First of all, I am so thrilled to have not only one Indians fan in the running to be in the Cave, but TWO of us. I like the odds! I know that I would make the perfect representative of the Tribe for many reasons. Most of all, though, I just want to give something back to the Indians. The MLB has provided me with 21 years of the great game of baseball, and the Indians provided my sisters and me with four years of softball in high school, and four years of baseball for my brother. Without his high school experience, he never would have lived his dream playing college baseball. Between attending home and away games, watching games on TV, being able to play in high school and seeing the happiness baseball brings my entire family, I could not be more thankful for all that the Indians have provided me. I just want to have an opportunity to show how grateful I am by proving in the MLB Fan Cave how truly passionate Cleveland fans are. My bond with them extends to almost every part of my life, and I only want to continue making our relationship more and more unique by representing them.

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Indians offer special ballpark experience for Stand Up To Cancer auction winner

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As part of the current Stand Up To Cancer initiative, Major League Baseball and all 30 organizations have put more than 70 experiences and items up for auction on MLB.com to generate additional funds for cancer research.

The Indians have offered a special game-day experience as part of the program. The auction will conclude at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, which is the final day of the Winter Meetings. The winning bidder will get to take batting practice — thrown by a Major League BP pitcher — at Progressive Field and will get to watch the team’s BP session from the home dugout.

The winner will also have the chance to meet manager Terry Francona, watch the game from the press box and chat with radio play-by-play man Tom Hamilton. The package also features complimentary lunch or dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company and four passes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

CLICK HERE  to bid on the experience, and help support MLB in its Stand Up to Cancer campaign.

For more information on the campaign, visit StandUp2Cancer.org.

Indians beat reporter Jordan Bastian shared his own personal story with with cancer on Indians.com. Read More

MLB Authenticators work to ensure the validity of rare autographed items

Photo by Ian A.C. Johnson

Ever wonder how an autographed or game-used item is deemed “authentic” by Major League Baseball and its clubs?

Well, for those in the market for such an item, there is a small sticker to look for on each item which guarantees its authenticity. Each club in MLB has a group of official Authenticators, whose job is to keep track of autographed and game-used items to confirm that they are genuine.

Linda Kaspar is one of four authenticators assigned to the Indians. One authenticator is required to be on hand at each game, and Kaspar rotates with her colleagues to split up the 81 home games.

“We have to be present,” she explained. “We have to witness everything that is either signed or comes off the field as it comes off the field to make sure that it’s valid, and the person signing it is the real person.”

Kaspar, like many of her co-workers, is a retired Cleveland Police Officer, and she has worked in this role with the Indians for the past five seasons.

“I happened to know somebody that was going for an interview for an authenticator [position], and they needed more people so I was asked to come to the interview and I got hired,” said Kaspar.

These authenticated items are often an important fundraising source for charity organizations that wish to raise money by selling similar items. Having the official sticker to mark an item’s legitimacy is an important way to protect both fans and the charity organizations.

Cleveland Indians Charities uses the money raised through a series of auctions to fund programs such as the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s baseball and softball programs, as well as making a significant annual donation to the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland.

Currently, there are several authenticated items available through the Indians official online auction, with proceeds from each benefiting CIC and its partner programs.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the current auction items.

More History Made at Progressive Field

Wow – 28.0 innings of baseball in the span of 2 games. Gut-wrenching losses no doubt, but if you hang around this game long enough you really learn to appreciate the opportunity to witness baseball history and Progressive Field has no doubt supplied us with plenty of memories over the past 72 hours.

Two days removed from watching the longest Opening Day game in Major League history (16 innings), we played another 12-inning affair against the Blue Jays this afternoon. In research conducted by the Indians Baseball Information Dept. using Baseball-Reference.com and confirmed by the Elias Sports Bureau, 2012 marks the first time that any team has opened the season with consecutive extra-inning games of at least 12 innings since 1969 when four different teams pulled the trick. At Municipal Stadium in Kansas City that year, the Twins and Royals played a 12-inning game on April 8 followed by a 17-inning game on April 9. At Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, the Red Sox and Orioles played a 12-inning game on April 8 followed by a 13-inning game on April 10. Ironically, the Red Sox added a 3rd straight game of 12-plus innings when the club played a 16-inning game here in Cleveland against the Indians on April 11 at Cleveland Stadium. If you’re into brevity, we’ve just witnessed something that hasn’t happened in 43 years.

Did I mention that both starting pitchers carried no-hitters into the 5th inning? Ubaldo took that a step further and had a perfect game going until issuing a 2-out walk in the 6th – his no-hitter remained in tact until Brett Lawrie’s 2-out single in the 7th. He seemed really locked in and followed up Justin’s Opening Day performance to give the Tribe a couple outstanding starts to begin the year. Through 2 games of this young season, Justin and Ubaldo have combined to give the Indians starting rotation a 1.80 ERA (3 ER/15.0 IP). The duo has also combined to hold Toronto to a .063 (3-for-48) opponents average (one single, one double, one home run), while notching 13 strikeouts against just 4 walks. The Indians pitching staff overall has held the Blue Jays lineup to a .180 clip (18-for-100). It was also really good to see Jason and Asdrubal dial in with their first home runs of the year

I wonder what’s in store for us here at the ballpark tomorrow…

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