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Indians’ curator delves deep into club’s past
- Updated: October 24, 2016
CLEVELAND — It was found in a small box inside an office at Progressive Field. There is a small blue gem on a silver setting, which is fixed to a black stone. That rests inside a gold frame, which is attached to a long thin chain. It is a delicate physical reminder of one of the great years in Indians history.
The Indians do not possess one of the rings that were made for players and others to honor the team’s 1948 World Series. What the club has is a necklace — donated by an unknown source an unknown number of years ago — made from part of a ring that commemorated Cleveland’s last World Series triumph.
• World Series Game 1: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOX
Game Date Time (air time/game time) Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 25 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX Gm 2 Oct. 26 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX Gm 3 Oct. 28 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX Gm 4 Oct. 29 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX *Gm 5 Oct. 30 8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX *Gm 6 Nov. 1 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX *Gm 7 Nov. 2 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX * If necessary | All times listed ET • World Series coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Indians
“It was probably for one of the wives,” said Jeremy Feador, the Indians’ team curator. “It’s kind of a neat piece to have, because we don’t have a ’48 ring in our collection. But we do have this, which helps represent that team and what the ring would’ve looked like.”
If the Indians defeat the Cubs in this fall’s World Series, breaking Cleveland’s 68-year championship drought in baseball, it is a safe bet that Feador will be trying to obtain a ring for the team’s growing archives. Since joining the organization three seasons ago, Feador has made an aggressive effort to collect items from the present for future generations to see. He has also tried to search for historic items that have gone missing from seasons past.
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On Monday morning, when Feador brought a short stack of manila envelopes and a handful of items from Cleveland’s previous World Series, it became clear just how much of the team’s physical history is absent. The Indians, whose franchise dates back to 1901, have an assortment of artifacts from the ’48 and ’54 World Series, even less from the ’95 and ’97 Fall Classics, and virtually nothing from 1920.
The ’90s were a golden era for baseball in Cleveland, but the team surprisingly does not have many items from that period in franchise history. During those days, the focus was on the present — not the past — and collecting items as history unfolded was not high on the priority list. The Indians also did not have a team historian like Feador.
Ball from ’95 World Series. Press pins from ’48, ’54. On far right is part of a ’48 ring, turned into necklace, perhaps for a player’s wife. pic.twitter.com/qReOU9689p
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) October 24, 2016
Ball from ’95 World Series. Press pins from …
