Yesterday was the first time Francisco Lindor returns to Cleveland, and while Lindor now plays for the New York Mets: I still root for Lindor to succeed. He brought a ton of joy to Cleveland baseball and I will remember the excitement when our superstar prospect took the league by storm (and had a Rookie of the Year Award stolen from him by Carlos Correa). Although technically no Cleveland player wears 12 (that honor goes to manager Stephen Vogt; who deserves his own separate post), I felt it was as good a time as any to review 12.
Cleveland Players Who Wore 12: 50
Player Who Wore 12 the Longest: Willis Hudlin (11 Seasons)
OK, I did not write this to discuss Willis Hudlin, who I never heard of before researching this piece. However, since we’re here: Willis Hudlin was a pitcher for Cleveland from 1926-1940. He actually predates uniform numbers and his first number was 15. Overall the Indians were not particularly good during his time; they finished 2nd once, and his career ended in 1940 with a trade from the Indians to the moribund Washington Senators. He bounced around a bit before retiring.
Not too much to say about Hudlin, he was a solid pitcher for over a decade in Cleveland after debuting as a young man. He never led the league in any major category, and never really came close. He did pitch some in relief for Cleveland, although he probably deserved some recognition for a quite good season in 1927 when he led American League pitchers in bWAR. Franchises need players like Hudlin who provide consistent, solid play to fill out their roster. We all remember Bob Feller as the superstar for the Indians when they won the World Series, along with player-manager Lou Boudreau, but others were vital to the effort including Eddie Robinson (a first baseman, who batted .300 in the season), Gene Bearden who pitched a shutout (and saved Game 6).
In more recent memory: Coco Crisp was the offensive hero in Game 5 of the 2016 World Series for the Indians, Roberto Perez smacked two home runs in Game 1, Ryan Merritt started one game in his Cleveland career and it was a desperately needed performance in the ALCS, Rajai Davis was the hero against Aroldis Chapman, and Josh Tomlin posted several gutsy performances. It takes a whole team: and I honor Hudlin for his long career in Cleveland.
Roberto Clemente
Before I get to Lindor I need to discuss Roberto Clemente. Clemente was the great Puerto Rican right fielder who played for the Pirates, and is also Lindor’s personal baseball hero. Clemente means a lot to Puerto Ricans; I recall Alex Rodriguez expressing similar sentiments on the importance of Clemente to his own career.
We all know the greatness of Clemente from his superb right arm, excellent bat, but what should be remembered first and foremost is Roberto Clemente’s spirit. Clemente spent most offseasons working charitable causes, including the one which resulted in his death in 1972. Roberto Clemente’s spirit is honored on Roberto Clemente Day by Major League Baseball, along with the annual Roberto Clemente Award which honors a player’s efforts to support charities in their own communities.
The Other Cleveland Great: Francisco Lindor
Unfortunately for Lindor, Cleveland retired 21 in honor of Bob Lemon, a Hall of Famer and the hero pitcher of the 1948 World Series. So Lindor flipped the numbers to honor Clemente. Lindor did plenty to make Cleveland fans remember 12 for the remainder of their lives. When Cleveland drafted Lindor in 2011: his glove was already rated as the best in the Cleveland system, and Major League ready, few thought Lindor would hit (at least for power) too. In fact, Francisco only hit 23 home runs in his entire minor league career spanning nearly 2,000 plate appearances. When Lindor came to Cleveland: he hit, and he hit a ton. In his first 99 games in the majors Lindor batted over .300, with 12 home runs (over half his career total in the minors), and he just kept on hitting.
Lindor, alongside his teammate Jose Ramirez, anchored a team poised to breakout, and in 2016 they stepped up and led the team to the World Series. Both were slick fielding infielders, and then suddenly both of them learned to pull the ball in the air at the same time. At 22 Lindor only hit 15 home runs in Cleveland in 2016: but he hit over 30 the following year. But most importantly: Francisco kept fielding too.
Lindor’s best moment for me came in the 2017 ALDS (which of course ended badly for Cleveland): Kluber had imploded against the Yankees, and fell behind by 5 runs. Meanwhile C.C. Sabathia wobbled but never broke, and slowly worked his way through the Indians lineup. Sabathia got pulled, and Chad Green came out to close the 6th and Lindor finished the inning with this titanic blast off the foul pole. The game went 13 innings and ended with a Yan Gomes walk off, but that Grand Slam by Lindor is what sticks with you.
Peruse the top 10 best moments for Lindor in Cleveland here, if you’d like some good memories.
Through it all: Lindor played with a joy and a smile on his face, a vigor which you just usually do not see from Major League baseball players. It’s not the swagger of Jose Ramirez, although Lindor does bring some of that to his game as well, but just a childlike excitement which fills you up and brings a grin to yourself. The kind of play which reminds you that we, as adults, are still watching a kids game and getting all worked up over whether a leather white ball does not land in a brown (or black, or blue) glove and your team runs the bases more often than your opponent. A little bliss in what can be a cruel world.
We need more ballplayers like that.
Some of that disappeared when we all saw Lindor chase the money. When Paul Dolan asked us to “enjoy” this transcendent player, knowing (like we knew) that Cleveland would never even try to come close to what Lindor would get on the open market. It also became apparent in the way Lindor chased the money himself. How he specifically signed a contract worth just $1M more than Fernando Tatis, Jr (who was a free agent the same year Lindor got traded to the New York Mets. It’s more difficult for me, as a Cleveland fan, to see that same joy in Lindor now that I could before.
I try to choose instead to remember the joy, and the magical time in Cleveland when Lindor roamed the dirt between third and second base, and some of the moments he brought us. Welcome back to Cleveland Lindor, I still appreciate you, and good luck (when you’re not playing Cleveland).
-Benjamin, J