Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Former Cleveland Indians pitcher Charles Nagy tees off on hole nine during the annual YSU golf outing.

By ROBERT HAYES

Correspondent

POLAND — Charles Nagy remembers the euphoria surrounding the Cleveland Indians of the 1990s well.

A three-time All-Star, Nagy donned the Indians uniform from 1990-2002 and played for the San Diego Padres in 2003. He’s also a member of the Guardians’ Hall of Fame and is an Olympic Gold medalist.

The former Tribe pitcher was the guest of honor at Youngstown State’s baseball golf outing Monday morning at the Lake Club.

“The dinner was great (Sunday night), very nice. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Youngstown before. This has been fantastic,” Nagy said. “Just the people. They’re friendly and how much passion they have for the school, for Youngstown State, and just how dedicated they are.”

“Dan (Bertolini) has been fantastic, everybody has been wonderful.”

A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Nagy was drafted by Cleveland in 1988 and made his pro debut in 1990 after skipping AAA. The move from the AA Canton-Akron Indians to the big leagues was an eye-opening experience for the right-handed pitcher.

“You never really plan for it. When I was growing up it was, you go to high school, you go to college, then you get a job,” Nagy said. “Next thing you know this opportunity came. I was just very lucky to get drafted and just tried to make the most of it and work as hard as I could. I had a lot of friends that came into town (for the debut), just their enthusiasm, it was a lot of fun.

“I didn’t really know the guys on the team. I wasn’t in big league camp. In 1990, they had a lockout, so they weren’t in camp that year. I was on the minor league side. You just adapt quickly and figure it’s baseball. All you can do is make pitches and hitters are hitters, they’ll get themselves out.”

Nagy was in Cleveland during a transitional time, especially for baseball. His first three seasons were spent at the cavernous, but historic, Municipal Stadium that was shared with the Browns. For him, the goal was to turn the culture around in Cleveland after many seasons of underperforming baseball.

“I learned about the history and the guys on the team,” Nagy said. “But at that point, it wasn’t so much Bob Feller and everything from the past. It was the 30 years of bad baseball and being an Indian. The team was always in the basement in the American League East so it was trying to dig out of that hole more so than trying with the past.

“Bob was around, he was very helpful. It was fun to talk to in Spring Training. He was always out there and it was nice, to just listen to his stories and listen to him talk.”

In 1994, Jacobs Field opened as part of the Gateway Complex in Cleveland which included the Gund Arena for the Cavaliers. A year later, Cleveland was in the World Series for the first time since 1954.

The Indians came close to knocking off the Florida Marlins during the 1997 fall classic, but the aura of Cleveland baseball was at a high point, especially following the departure of the Browns in 1996.

“We were growing as a team at that point, that was circled on the calendar in 1994,” Nagy said. “Albert was getting better, Kenny was getting better, Sandy, Carlos, myself, they added a few pieces that offseason with Eddie and Dennis Martinez. It felt like we were ready to do something special. Eddie and Dennis taught us how to win. We had the talent, it was just learning how to win and then once we started to do that everything started to take off from there.”

Also on the ’94 Indians were the likes of Carlos Baerga, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez. On June 12th, 1995, a streak of 455 consecutive sellouts began at Jacobs Field.

“Just the amount of talent we had, it was finally a place where people wanted to come and play for the Tribe. I know in the offseason, just running across other guys talking, they were like, yeah I’m trying to get over there. They wanted to be a part of us because nobody wanted to pitch against us,” said Nagy. “Just driving around town, everywhere you go there’s Chief Wahoo in yards, and flags are everywhere, and the sellouts started. It was a lot of fun.”

Bertolini fondly remembers following Nagy and the Indians on television, seeing at a young age what it took to win at the highest level.

“You know what you really respect about (Nagy) is that he did his job. He did it really well for a long time. I think he had like an ironman streak for pitchers, just every fourth day you’d knew if you gave him the ball, he’s going to go out there and compete,” Bertolini said. “He was one of the most successful pitchers from 1995-2000. So, probably because he doesn’t like the limelight, it’s not about him, he kinda went under the radar. But man, was he a special guy and did a lot for the Indians.”

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