My Chat with a Beat Writer

Today I had the privilege of sitting down with Mr. Andrew Call, former Cleveland Indians beat writer for The Repository in Canton, Ohio. Mr. Call covered the Indians from 1995 until May 2008. During his time covering the Indians, he was able to see some of great baseball teams and players.

When I asked him who his favorite baseball team was when he was growing up, I got an answer that I was not expecting. Mr. Call said that he rarely, if ever watched baseball as a young person. His school did not offer baseball either, so his exposure to baseball before becoming a sports writer was minimal.

Knowing that Mr. Call covered some good teams and players during his time in Cleveland, I asked him who his favorite players to watch were. I was not quite as surprised with his answers to this question. He said that his favorite hitters to watch were Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. Belle was one of his favorites because he was a greatly feared hitter who had amazing power. Mr. Call liked watching Manny Ramirez because he was the best pure hitter that he watched.

Before I had time to ask my next question, Mr. Call answered it. Being a Giants fan, I wanted to ask him what he thought about Omar Vizquel. He said that Omar was his favorite defensive player to watch. I completely agree with him on that statement after having the pleasure of watching Omar play for a couple years in San Francisco.

During my chat with Mr. Call, I asked him about the greatest moment he was able to witness in baseball. The moment he mentioned is not necessarily a famous baseball moment, but having been in similar situations I was able to understand where he was coming from. The moment he mentioned was the the first game of the playoffs in 1995. This was the first time the Indians had been to the playoffs since losing to the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series. This moment stood out in his mind because of the electricity that was running through the crowd in that game.

Talking with someone who followed the game closely for several years was a great pleasure for me. I was able to ask Mr. Call many other questions about baseball, but didn’t write it all down this time.

Don’t be discouraged, winter is almost over and Spring Training Games are just around the corner!!!