Jim Ingraham: It's almost hard to believe just how good Cleveland's baseball team was back in the 1990s

Remember the good old days when the Guardians/Indians were consistently hotter than the weather? When the middle of the Guardians/Indians' lineup was filled with hitters who scared pitchers? When Cleveland's baseball team was so good that in the first inning of one game, they scored eight runs BEFORE THEY MADE THEIR FIRST OUT!!! No, really. I was there. I saw it. With one out in the first inning, Cleveland was leading 8-0. The year was 1995, although it could have been 1996 or 1997 or 1998 or 1999. Those Cleveland teams in the mid-to-late-'90s fielded lineups that were among the most ferocious the game has ever seen. If more of them had behaved off the field — after they had moved on from Cleveland — the entire lineup might have wound up in the Hall of Fame. That would have been an induction ceremony to end all induction ceremonies in Cooperstown. From 1995-99, Cleveland ruled the baseball world. For a variety of reasons they never won a World Series, but it wasn't from a lack of talent. Heck, the calendar had barely turned to September that year and Cleveland had already clinched its division. To these eyes, those 1995 maulers were the greatest team ever to not win a World Series. I mean, come on! The whole outfield should be in the Hall of Fame, but, due to a variety of reasons, none of them are. Albert Belle in 1995 was almost an entire team by himself. He hit .317 with 50 home runs, 52 doubles, 126 RBIs and 121 runs scored — and he produced all of that in a shortened 144-game season. He should have been the American League's Most Valuable Player, but not enough of the voting writers checked his box, mostly because they despised him. So the writers voted Mo Vaughn, who led the league in strikeouts, the MVP. Cleveland's 1995 team almost certainly will go down as the greatest collection of talent ever produced by the city's American League team. Heck, Eddie Murray, who IS in the Hall of Fame, was a part-time first baseman for Mike Hargrove's 1995 group, and all Murray did was hit .323 with 21 home runs and 82 RBIs. How potent was that Cleveland team? The only lineups Hargrove saved from his years of managing were two lineups from those powerhouse Cleveland teams in the 1990s. In one of the lineups, Manny Ramirez was batting eighth and Jim Thome ninth. In the other one, Thome was batting eighth and Ramirez ninth. This is not a joke. Talent wise, those late '90s powerhouse Cleveland teams were in a class by themselves, even though they never won a World Series. There should be a movie made about those teams. You just don't see powerhouse lineups from top to bottom in baseball today. One reason is that it's almost impossible to collect that much talent on a single team. It was then, and it is even more so now. At the start of the season general managers do not get to go through the buffet line and select the players they want for their team that year. Well, in a certain way, they do. Especially the wealthiest owners. They know who they are, and we know who they aren't (cough-cough). If you are wondering, check the standings each day. In most cases, the teams, both good and bad, are who they choose to be, both good and bad. Indeed, it's the degree to which some teams pursue that carrot that is telling. Some teams seem to approach the carrot with the kind of vigor that their fans deserve. Other teams spend a lot of time just shrugging. It's a fine line. A very fine line. Most teams play to win. Some teams play to survive. Others are just here for the hors d'oeuvres. But it's the fans who help pay the bills, and it's the product on the field that produces the level to which the customers should care. Truthfully, the customers should care a lot, and most of them do. It's their money that is being used to produce, good or bad, whatever is being sold. There was a time, 30 years ago, when Cleveland ruled the baseball world, or, at least, a significant part of it. Those were grand and glorious days that were produced by one of the most stunningly efficient sports franchise machines, certainly, that Cleveland, or the industry as a whole, has ever seen. Everything clicked and everyone clicked within it. All of it, all of them, all the time, produced what all sports franchises pursue — but painfully few produce. The irony, of course, is the degree to which the fans should care, given the quality of the product on the field, and the sustaining spirit of what might have been. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on X.