Published: October 5, 2017 - 8:51 PM | Updated: October 6, 2017 - 6:58 AM
Image 1 of 8Fans walk to the left field entrance before Game 1 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees on Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland.(Leah Klafczynski/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 2 of 8Edwin Encarnación fans (from left) Adam Saintz, Coley O'Brien, Evan Merten, and Tyler Abels walk to meet their fifth parrot, Kate Began, at the ticket gate before Game 1 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees on Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Leah Klafczynski/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 3 of 8Baseball fans wait in line outside the left field gate before Game 1 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees on Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Leah Klafczynski/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 4 of 8Cleveland police atop the parking garage before the Cleveland Indians take on the New York Yankees in Game 1 of an American League Division Series on Wednesday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 5 of 8Cleveland Indians fans wait for the gates to open in left field before the team's game against the New York Yankees, Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Leah Klafczynski/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 6 of 8Cleveland Indians fan Krista Ebberson of Perry appears as the main gaits open before Game 1 of the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 7 of 8Cleveland Indians fan Griffin Starr, 11, of Lakewood waits outside for the gates before Game 1 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees on Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal)
Image 8 of 8Edwin Encarnación fans (from left) Kate Began, Adam Saintz, Evan Merten, Coley O'Brien and Tyler Abels pose in their parrot costumes before Game 1 of the ALDS between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees on Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland. (Leah Klafczynski/Akron Beacon Journal)
By Craig Webb
Beacon Journal staff writer
Cleveland: They waited 162 games for just this moment.
The postseason.
The memories of the extra-inning loss in Game 7 of the World Series to the Chicago Cubs left a feeling of unfinished business among Indians fans.
So they gathered by the thousands well ahead of the start of Thursday’s night game against the New York Yankees to be among the first inside Progressive Field.
Buoyed by a 102-win season — second most in team history — hope and optimism were flying higher than a Francisco Lindor home run as fans waited patiently for the gates to swing open.
Clevelander Kate Began stood in line in a full parrot costume.
Began’s costume and that of four of her feathered friends honors Indians slugger Edwin Encarnacion’s trademark home run strut with his right arm hoisted in the air.
The flock of feathered fans has been wearing the parrot costumes to Friday regular-season games for a month or so.
They had only witnessed one loss so far from their perch in the ballpark’s Corner Bar.
Began proudly points out she is the only female in the nest.
“I’m the momma parrot,” she said.
During one game, Encarnacion waved his arms like a bird and pointed at them, which was “pretty cool.”
What’s not cool, Began said, is the costume, so they’ve been thankful for night games.
And being the superstitious parrots they are — there will be no trips to the bird bath until the Indians win the World Series.
“We’re full-blown parrots,” she said. “I do Fabreze mine.”
One of the earliest arrivals at the ballpark was Erin Baker who showed up around 1 p.m. for a 7:38 p.m. game start.
She sat, leaning against the gate and crocheting mittens for life after baseball.
But the Clevelander is confident there’s still plenty of baseball ahead for her team well into the World Series, and possibly into November.
“I am very optimistic, but I am generally a very optimistic person,” she said. “I hate to think of the alternative.”
There were signs of optimism all over the ballpark. And most of them were tucked under the arm of ultimate Indians fan Jim Stamper.
He’s the guy who dresses in a white tuxedo jacket and holds up giant Chief Wahoo signs at games.
His postseason slogans this round range from “The Will to Win” to his perennial favorite “Not in My Teepee.”
The Cleveland resident has cheered a lot of teams since his first game in 1959.
He likes this year’s team because it feels different than the storied squads of the past that had a lot of individual athletes.
“I think they are more a team this year than we have ever had,” he said.
Tribe fan Steve Stempkowski drove from Yankees territory in Dunkirk, N.Y., to root for his favorite team.
Living in that state to the east, Stempkowski said, he’s been forced to watch a lot of Yankees games on local TV.
“I root against them,” he said.
The long-distance Indians fan says he has a good feeling about this postseason.
“Last year was a disappointment,” he said. “I think they will bounce back.”
Craig Webb, who is trying really, really hard to not cheer from the press box, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.
