Our Tribe

In 1997, the Cleveland Indians came within two outs of winning the World Series. Instead, they blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth and lost 3-2 to the Florida Marlins in twelve innings. Yet another heartbreak for Tribe fans. Sportswriter Terry Pluto was in the press box, covering the game for the Akron Beacon Journal. Hundreds of miles away his father, a lifelong Indians fan, lay suffering -- both from the disappointment of the game he was watching and from the pain of the stroke that had debilitated him four years earlier. As their Indians frittered away the lead, both Plutos, despite their physical distance, were thinking the same thing: The Indians always need one more run. Indeed, the Indians have frustrated their loyal fans for generations. In Our Tribe, Pluto tells the story of this team -- from the glory days of Boudreau and Feller to those of Belle and Ramirez (and the many mediocre decades in between) -- based on tales his father told him, what they watched together from the grandstands of the Stadium, and what he saw up close as a sportswriter. He also tells the story of a life shared by father and son through their resilient devotion to one particularly vexing baseball team -- the joys and struggles of growing older together, of coping with a sick parent, and, finally, of burying the man who indelibly shaped his son's life. For so many people, baseball remains an important bridge across generations, sometimes the only topic of conversation when other topics seem threatening. Absorbing his father's love for the game, and their team, Pluto grew to understand and respect the often distant man who allowed himself few pleasures besides baseball in a life built around laboring to provide for his family. A son, a father, a baseball team ... a timeless connection. A heartfelt, memorable tale. Book jacket.

Terry Pluto, a sports columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal, has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers. He is a seven-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award and has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of nineteen books