Cleveland Indians Relocate Team to Baltimore in the Middle of the Night
In a surprise move, the Cleveland Indians have moved the team to Baltimore under cover of darkness. At midnight, dozens of team busses and semi-trucks rolled out of the city en route to their new home.
The shocking change is reminiscent of the same scenario when the Browns exited Cleveland in favor of Baltimore years ago. Team officials did not return calls, but a note was attached to the stadium door.
“Sorry it had to end this way, but we want the Indians to have a chance to be in a city where the football team is doing fairly well. It takes pressure off us. It’s not fair to the Indians to be the only pro team the city can count on anymore, especially now that LeBron left town again and the Cavs have returned to their earlier performance level,” the note read.
“Baltimore has been extremely supportive of the move, offering much the same incentives as they did when the Browns moved here to become the Ravens. In fact, they used the same documentation and contracts, just crossing out the word ‘Browns’ and penciling in the word ‘Indians.’ We want to thank the people of Cleveland for all their support. It’s not you–it’s us.”
I published this story as soon as I got a call from an Indians insider in the middle of the night, so most of the town had not heard the news. I called several contacts in Cleveland to find out what regular fans think.
After I told him what happened, Donald P. Waitingforjimbrowntoreturn from the East side told me, “What? That’s a bunch of donkey business! They can’t move the Indians to Baltimore! They already have a baseball team!”
I told him the city has been approved for two MLB teams and expect to announce a promotion for fans to rename the team. “Rename the Indians?” Waitingforjimbrowntoreturn said. “To what? Orioles 2? The Little Orioles? Orioles Redux? Come on, man, this is silly, stupid and I’m mad. Wait until this town hears what happened!”
The team caravan was just entering Baltimore city limits when the news first hit social media, radio, newspapers and television in Cleveland.
