I just got back from the Cavs-Spurs game. I really want to know what Moondog and Gordon Gund had to say to one another in their minute-long conversation during a timeout...

Anyway, Baseball Prospectus has just announced the dates and locations of their 2005 gatherings/book signings. Excitingly, the tour will include a stop in Cleveland this year (March 18). Will Carroll, BP's injury guru and the host of Baseball Prospectus Radio, will be in attendance. I'm not sure that there's ever been a Cleveland BP gathering, so that's cool.

I think the majority of our readers are down with Prospectus already, but for anyone out there who needs some prodding, I give you my strongest recommendation to attend. I've been to a couple of BP events in Chicago, and I can tell you, it's much more than just a book signing. It's a fun, informal, lengthy conversation with some of the smartest people in baseball. If the Cleveland fans show up in huge numbers, BP will be more inclined to include us on their tour next year, perhaps even sending more than one author to the event.

Unfortunately, neither Alex nor I will be in town on the 18th. So if anyone out there would like to cover the event for "Mistake by the Lake" as a guest blogger, drop me a line (ckrubin at gmail dot com). Meanwhile, if anyone out there happens to be an Indians fan in the Chicago area, I would totally be interested in meeting up at the Chicago event on Tuesday the 15th. And while I can't speak for Alex, I'm guessing the same thing goes for any Indians fans in the New York area (on Monday the 14th).

Today, Jim Paxson came back for the second time to rip-off Danny Ainge. Last year, he gave Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm, Michael Stewart and three shiny nickels for Tony Battie, Eric Williams, Kedrick Brown, and Ainge's used 2001 Toyota Camry. If you have yet to hear, Ainge accepted the Cavaliers' 2007 1st-round pick for Czech-It-Before-You-Wreck-It Jiri Welsch.

I think you likely already know my opinion from the whole "rip-off Danny Ainge" comment, but allow me to explain myself. Ainge's strategy to building a team is to accumulate as many high draft picks as possible. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you pick smartly and have good enough picks to do so. However, in 2007, everyone in their right mind should expect the Cavaliers to be contenders for the NBA Championship. Therefore, the Cavs' pick should conceivably between 24th-30th in the 1st round. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the talent level drops precipitously after the 4th pick or so, and then drops even more after about the 10th. To find a good player in the end of the 1st-round is to get lucky, frankly.

If I were a GM, I would happily give up my first-round picks for young effective players like Jiri (he's only 25). Sadly, his stats aren't eye-popping, but he is a much more effective 3-point shooter than most of the Cavaliers. And considering the dearth of production from the bench in recent weeks, he is a welcome addition to the Zoo Crew Part Deux. His eFG% on the season is 47.8% and is shooting 32.3% from deep this season. Those numbers would put Jiri as 6th and 3rd on the Cavaliers respectively.

By no means will this put the Cavaliers "over the hump," but having a good-shooting tall guy who can also handle the ball pretty well coming off the bench taking minutes away from Lucious Harris and Pavlovic can't hurt. Now I'm really excited for Anderson Varejao to come back. The second team, consisting of Lake Effect Snow/Welsch/Pavlovic/Varejao/Tractor could produce consistently enough to not blow so many double-digit leads.

P.S. I hate explaining jokes, but I know that likely only Corey and Scott Blackburn will get the title of this post.

Before I get started, being inspired by Corey's post of Zyndrunas Ilgauskas' tip-off skills, I went searching for more information. Firstly, I e-mailed Justin Kubatko of Basketball-Reference.com, the king of historical basketball statistics, whether he had additional information about tips. Jason redirected me to Roland Beech, the linchpin of 82games. Here's Roland's take:

We could create some tip win% stats, but frankly they would not be meaningful -- particularly at the start of the game there is little motivation to win as the teams simply alternate possession at the start of each quarter, and I think a number of players are 'very casual' about the opening tip. On the other hand a live jump ball that occurs in play is very valuable, but you do get some pretty big mismatches -- Boykins vs anyone, etc...

Maybe bring it up at the end of the season and we'll crank out some numbers

Note to self, e-mail Roland Beech at the end of the season. I state in my e-mail that winning the tip is important because it can gain you an extra possession. Roland is right that in the end, possessions generally even out for teams regardless of the winner of the tip-off. But, in optimal conditions (a team wins the tip-off and gets the last possession in each quater) a team could get an extra two possessions per game.

I want to comment on an interesting rumor: Usher Raymond (or Ursher if you really like MTV) will become a minority-owner of the Cavaliers. I'll leave the "Yeah" jokes to you, dear reader. But of note is that Usher is only 26, meaning he is younger than Lucious, Z, McInnis, Jerome Moiso, Newble, Lake Effect Snow, Tractor "Robert" Traylor, and Scott Williams plus every single coach including little Stevie Silas from his new "employees". This tops Eric Wedge being younger than Omar Vizquel. Altough, congratulations are in order for Wedgie--who is finally older than all of his players!

ESPN.com's article on Usher's potential stake in the Cavaliers is pretty scant on details, and extra non-sensical rumors. So I found some at SportsFan Magazine. Read the third paragraph (it starts with "The Cleveland Cavaliers...").

Wait for it...

Say what?! Albert Belle... in... Cleveland? Please. While that would definitely make for interesting fodder for sports columnists (paging Roger Brown), Belle being the part-owner of anything in Cleveland would likely not be good for business. While I know that plenty of people would still go to games and buy merchandise even if Belle did own the Cavaliers, I would nonetheless feel dirty and used. I want none of my hard-earned (well... collected) money going to Joey Belle ever again.

This rumor raises an intriguing question, which Cleveland-area figures, would you like to see as a part-owner of the Cavaliers? Here is my Top 5:

1. LeBron James
2. Alex Rubin
3. John Adams
4. Tom Hamilton
5. Jim Traficant (can you say, "greatest press conferences of all-time"?)

I'd love to see any suggestions you readers might have. Post 'em in the comments, would ya?

Like any good fan, I wish Aaron Boone the absolute best as the new Indians third baseman this season. I simply have my reservations about whether or not he is appropriate for the job. You see, Boone is already threatening to break with a certain proud tradition among Indians third basemen of the past eight years: he does not resemble Ted Danson.

I'm not suggesting that Indians third basemen resemble Ted Danson for a reason; I'm simply pointing out that they do. And I'm calling it a tradition--one that I will be sad to see come to an end.

Consider Russell Branyan, the most Danson-like of them all:



Russell had it all going for him. He even had Danson's classic puffy 80's haircut working for a short time. It was Branyan who truly brought my attention to the whole Danson thing in the first place.

But the tradition actually dates back to Travis Fryman:



I know; it's only a slight resemblance. It's there nonetheless.

Most recently, there was Casey Blake:



Casey turned a couple of mere coincidences into a trend. While he is of course still an Indian, he will no longer play third base. Perhaps the tradition will begin anew among Indians corner outfielders.

Now take a look at Aaron Boone:



Not very Danson-like at all. I propose that if the Indians want to make Boone the new third baseman, fine, but they should at least do one of the following:

1. Attempt to make him look more like Ted Danson. This would include a shave, a new hairdo, perhaps some light surgery. You know, nothing unreasonable.
2. Hire Ted Danson. I think he would make an excellent third base coach. He played a retired ballplayer in his most famous role, anyway.
3. Let Casey and Boone share a platoon. Then we could call it "The Boone Platoon", which could make for some interesting scoreboard graphics, I think. They could also use "Mistake by the Blake", or something.

Any of these solutions would be fine with me.

Try this out the next time you go to a Cavs game: bet your friend that the Cavs will win the opening tip-off. You can even give him generous odds. Say, if the Cavs win the tip, he buys you a delicious Gund Arena hot dog, and if the opposing team wins the tip, you'll buy him three. If your friend is merely a casual fan, or perhaps an idiot of some sort, this will seem like a bargain. He will jump at the chance.

For this to work, of course, you have to make sure that Zydrunas Ilgauskas is in the starting lineup. You see, you are an avid Cavs fan, so you know that Zydrunas Ilgauskas, our very own All-Star center, is perhaps the greatest winner of opening tip-offs on the face of the Earth.

Now let's say your friend is some kind of super-idiot, and he lets you make the same bet with him before every game, for a whole season. The only way he can possibly get the better end of the deal is if he wins the bet more than once every four games. Well, I'm here to tell you that's not going to happen. So long as Z is in the lineup, the Cavs will win well over three fourths of their opening tip-offs.

I've always admired Z's dependable jump ball abilities, so I decided to look up just how often he wins the opening tip. Tip Percentage, however, is not a stat you can find on any free website that I know of. The only way for an amateur such as myself to obtain such numbers would be to compile them from the play-by-play logs of the individual games. Which is just what I did. Don't worry, it only took a couple of hours. I was able to find play-by-play logs for all the games so far this season, all the games last season, and, strangely, 63 out of Z's 81 starts in '02-'03, as well as 21 out of Z's 23 starts in '01-'02. I couldn't find any play-by-play data for any games prior to that. All told, I found 216 game logs.

Here are Z's opening tip-off numbers, by season, from among the games I was able to find.

• '01-'02: won 17 of 21 tips (81%)
• '02-'03: won 52 of 63 tips (83%)
• '03-'04: won 69 of 81 tips (85%)
• '04-'05: has so far won 40 of 51 tips (78%)

Now, I hear what you're saying. Z, at 7'3", is the second-tallest starting center in the NBA; how do we know this isn't simply the number of tip-offs we would expect him to win, given his height? The answer is that we don't know. In order to develop an idea of how often a player should win the tip-off based on his height, I would have to spend hours upon hours pouring over more game logs, compiling the numbers for all the other players in the league. And I am not about to do that. If some statistician out there cares enough about this minor statistical category to compile the data, I would be thrilled to hear about it. For now, all I can say is that I suspect that Z's tip-off success rate is somewhat better than what we could expect from, say, just any old 7'3" man.

Consider the breakdown of Z's tip-offs by opponent height:

• vs. 7'6" opponents: 1 of 1 (100%)
• vs. 7'2" opponents: 6 of 9 (67%)
• vs. 7'1" opponents: 20 of 24 (83%)
• vs. 7'0" opponents: 34 of 39 (87%)
• vs. 6'11" opponents: 47 of 57 (82%)
• vs. 6'10" opponents: 43 of 50 (86%)
• vs. 6'9" opponents: 26 of 35 (74%)
• vs. 6'8" opponents: 1 of 1 (100%)

We would expect the percentages to go up as the opponents get shorter, since it should be easier to win the tip-offs against the short guys. But, even ignoring a couple of small sample sizes, there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern in Z's breakdown. For whatever reason, he has done really well against the 7-footers, not as well against the 6'9" opponents, and so on.

I thought I'd wrap this up by listing Z's tip-off numbers against a few of the more notable adversaries. Remember, my data does not cover Z's whole career, so a few of these could be wrong:

• The man who is the most completely and hopelessly owned by Z in tip-offs is Jamaal Magloire, who is 0-for-8
• The next most owned indivual is Kevin Garnett, who is 0-for-6 against Big Z
• Z has only tipped-off against a man taller than him on one occasion, against Yao Ming earlier this season, and Z won
• Tracy McGrady was the only man shorter than 6'9" who was fool enough to attempt a tip-off against Z
• Z is 3-for-4 against Shaq
• No one has beaten Z more than twice--only one man is 2-for-2 against Z, and that's Jerome James
• Z once crushed a grown man with his thumb

Dear Mr. Diop,

Congratulations on playing the finest game of your professional career tonight against the hated Atlanta Hawks! In case you didn't notice, you notched 6 points (on 3 for 6 shooting), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks, and only 1 turnover in only 15 minutes on the court. While neither the point nor rebound totals mark a career high for you (you had 10 points against New Orleans on 11/23/02 and 11 rebounds against those same Hornets on 4/9/03), this is undoubtedly the closest you'll ever come to a double-double for the rest of your career.

In fact, you displayed such skill on the hardwood tonight, Coach Silas felt enough confidence in you to let you in the game during 3 of the 4 quarters! We know the troubles you've been having trying to enter a game with more than 2:00 remaining in a blowout recently, but now we can proudly say, "troubles no more!"

Your performance was so super-human tonight (even for a sensation like yourself), that if we were to project this kind of performance relative to the average per game production of a similar player like LeBron James, we would get 169 points, 29 rebounds, 51 assists, and 5 blocks with 11 turnovers in 69 minutes.

Once again, my congratulations. Here's hoping for you to finally attain the elusive first single-double of 2004-2005 or perhaps even the magical first double-double of your career!

Sincerely,
Alex Rubin

First of all, sorry to everyone for the long delay between posts. [Insert lame excuse.] Anyways, the Cavaliers played the Nuggets last night and fortunately, I was able to watch a large majority of the contest. Sadly, the effort from the Cavaliers was less than stellar. While the major media was busy hyping "LeBron vs. Carmelo" or "What's wrong with Carmelo?", all of the true Cleveland sports fans knew the game would really be a battle between LeBron James and Cleveland native and legend Earl Boykins.

On the one hand, I love Earl, and hearing Bill Walton and the other guy (Brad Nessler?) rant and rave about him made me happy. However, on the other hand, I love LeBron and the Cavaliers even more. Therefore watching Earl slice the Cavs apart effortlessly was pretty frustrating. And Walton and Nessler are professional NBA analysts, shouldn't they freaking already know how good Boykins is? For national analysts, it was especially embarassing, considering Walton claimed Sasha Pavlovic hadn't played since the second quarter during the fourth, when Sasha just left the court! In fact, Coach Silas was so disappointed with the Cavs during the 3rd, no starters were on the court for the beginning of the fourth. Except for LeBron, because well, he's LeBron.

Getting back to Boykins though. I have always regretted that Jim Paxson was too stupid to not offer Earl Boykins a contract after the 2000 season in which he proved he was a great point guard with a PER of 19.2 and a player winning percentage of .618 (both better than the marks posted by Brevin Knight and Andre Miller, the Cavs' other point guards; Knight's numbers were atrocious). So he's good, he's from Cleveland, he wanted to play in Cleveland despite the crap surrounding him, he was cheap, and he's so short that perhaps extra fans would show up to watch.

The Cavaliers need to do a few simple things to become an elite team (at least in the East)

1. Make a higher percentage of three pointers. The Cavaliers are 27th in the NBA in 3FG%, at .322. By definition, threes are more valuable than any other field goal, but this added value is badly underrated by most NBA analysts. Because of the added value, you have to evaluate 3FG% on a different scale: a .500 FG% is equal to a .333 3FG% because for the same number of shots you'd net the same number of points.
   
   Earlier on in the season, it appeared that Jeff McInnis was finally taking over as a legitimate 3-point threat for the team, but that skill has all but disappeared in 2005. Before January, McInnis shot 51-117 (or .436), but in January and February he's only sunk 20-76 (or .263). Here's hoping that J-Mac finds his touch again, and that the Cavaliers (especially LeBron and all other slashers) learn to drive down the middle and kick to an open Sasha Pavlovic.
2. Dominate at something. Besides a poor 3FG% and strong offesive rebound percentage (3rd in the NBA thanks to Z and Gooden Plenty), the Cavaliers show up as about average compared to other NBA teams in most other statistics: adjusted FG% (16th); points per shot (15th); FT% (16th); turnovers per game (11th). Of course this is a major oversimplication to make my writing seem more impactful. Still, though, I would love to see the Cavaliers simply take over the boards (which they've come close to doing), or shut down an opponent's 3-point shooting game.

Am I the only one who was surprised to find this evening that they were still playing football?! I was pretty sure that football season had come to an end circa mid-November, right about when LeBron season started.

I'm kidding, of course, because not only was it the evening of the so-called "Super" Bowl, it was the evening of one of the most anticipated events of the year: LeBron's appearance on The Simpsons. To mark the occasion, I will now offer my brief review of the episode. I'll also present my long-overdue reviews of two other fine LeBron-inspired products: "Flava23" and "LeBron's Lightning Lemonade".

LeBron on The Simpsons

Over a year ago, LeBron went on record saying that his favorite TV show was The Simpsons (and that his favorite characters were Patty and Selma). It comes as no surprise that LeBron agreed to lend his voice to the show so soon into his pro career. The Simpsons, of course, has a weighty precedent of pro athletes as guest stars, so I was expecting big things from this, the much-hyped post-Super Bowl episode. Unfortunately, I was left quite disappointed.

This episode had many of the same flaws that have come to represent the overall decline of the series. For one, the plot was poorly conceived, uneven, and overly sensationalistic. In case you missed it, Homer becomes a laughing stock when his embarassing public dancing display is spread around the world via the internet. He lucks out, however, when a fictional local football star asks him to coreograph some Terrell Owens-style endzone dances for him. Soon, a number of famous athletes (LeBron among them) want him to do the same. Meanwhile, Flanders is gaining attention for his homemade Bible films, which are reminiscent of "The Passion of the Christ". Eventually, Homer is asked to plan the Super Bowl halftime show. Unable to think of any ideas, he requests Flanders' help. They put on a reenactment of "Noah's Ark" which, in the end, draws public ire for being too religious and decent.

Now, I am bothered by the fact that they barely used LeBron. He has like two lines. I suppose I should have expected as much, given that they tried to cram Yao Ming, Tom Brady, Warren Sapp, and Michelle Kwan in there too. But honestly, none of these famous stars had anything to do with the main storyline. All of them made cameos simply so that FOX could attract viewers; that's it. LeBron deserves so much better. Remember the classic episode where Burns recruits professional baseball stars to be ringers on the company softball team? That beauty of an episode had no less than nine famous athletes as guest stars, all of whom had plenty of screen time, plenty of hilarious moments, and roles that were absolutely central to the main storyline. The Simpsons has not lost its ability to make funny jokes, but its ability to construct quality episodes, which used to be so strong, has fallen to an embarassing low.

I also have complaints about the animation of LeBron. For one, they took away his beard and gave him a rather stupid-looking mustache. It was quite distracting, since it looked nothing like him. Secondly, while I understand that they were forbidden from depicting a real Cavs jersey, they did a really lousy job of faking it. LeBron wore a red jersey with a huge, yellow horizontal stripe across the chest. It looked like a Dominique-era Hawks jersey. And yet, somehow, they managed to leave little doubt about the identity of the other athletes' teams.

Overall, despite a couple of jokes that made me laugh out loud, the episode was too dumb and there was not nearly enough LeBron.

My rating: 1½ LeBrons

Flava23

The loyal readers among you will certainly recall the story of how Alex and I came upon a wellspring of Flava23 this past LeBron Day, after having spent months upon months scouring the Earth in search of the stuff. Truly, it was a LeBron Day miracle!

Some of you, however, may be wondering what Flava23 is, exactly. It is a LeBron-inspired flavor of Powerade, whose taste and color were both personally selected by LeBron himself. To the best of my knowledge, it hit stores last August, although I didn't realize this until much later, which is why I had so much difficulty locating some. Lucky for me, I am now the proud owner of a stockpile of Flava23, which I intend to hoard until at least LeBron Day 2005.

I have mostly positive things to say about the packaging and design of the product. The label features a stylized comic-book version of LeBron, dunking a basketball. The image is almost certainly taken from the LeBron-inspired comic books which were a marketing tie-in with Flava23 when it was introduced. The bottle itself is most intriguing. It is angular and geometric, almost like an aluminum can after it's been squeezed in someone's fist. From what I can tell, it appears to be seven-sided, at least around the upper half of the bottle. The seven sides converge at the middle, where the bottle is narrowest. If I had one complaint about the packaging, it would be that Flava23 is only available in huge 32-ounce bottles. I suppose this is an appropriate quantity for someone participating in sports, but for a simple LeBron nerd like me, it's quite a lot.

The color of the liquid, I have learned, was chosen by LeBron himself to resemble the Cavaliers' wine-colored jerseys. It does resemble the color for the most part, although I doubt that there's much difference between this color and that of regular red Powerade.

Now, about the taste. LeBron supposedly also chose the flavor himself, settling on something called "sourberry". On the one hand, it tastes like regular red Powerade. There is, however, something slightly off about it. I wouldn't call it "sour", per se. It's hard to put my finger on. Perhaps it's the way it lingers in your mouth longer than regular sports drinks. It tastes slightly thicker, and yet it isn't physically any thicker at all. It's odd. As someone who doesn't particularly care for sports drinks, I can't say I would prefer Flava23 to any other kind of Powerade if it weren't for the LeBron aspect. It's not better or worse; it's just different in a miniscule way.

My rating: 6½ LeBrons

LeBron's Lightning Lemonade

The first television appearance of LeBron on Super Bowl Sunday was in a brief, unmemorable commercial for "LeBron's Lightning Lemonade", the newest flavor of Bubblicious chewing gum. While Bubblicious is only now marketing the flavor, saying that it will hit shelves in the near future, I was actually able to locate some several weeks ago inside a "variety pack" with a few other flavors.

During the last few weeks, I have had an interesting relationship with the gum. I am not, by any means, a gum chewer. In fact, I quickly gave away most of the other flavors that came in the variety pack, hoarding only the LeBron flavor. When I first tried it, I thought it was okay, but nothing special. After a few pieces, however, I realized it had grown on me. Before long, I was chewing it wherever I went. I have since lightened up a little, but certainly, I consider it a fine, fine flavor of bubble gum.

The packaging is simple enough. It comes in a yellow wrapper with a very cartoony image of LeBron's head on it. It looks like one of those caricatures they draw for you at Cedar Point. As my friend Laura jokingly pointed out, "It's almost racist. It's a good thing they didn't put his face on the watermelon flavor." Next to LeBron's head are cartoon drawings of lemons and raspberries, and a glass of pink lemonade. A particularly nice touch to the packaging is the way that the B in "LeBron's Lightning Lemonade" is wearing a crown, so as to signify King James.

The gum itself is pink and has a somewhat tart flavor, as you would expect. The tastes of lemon and berry are both unmistakeable, although I wouldn't say it evokes lemonade, per se. The flavor is quite a bit stronger than most Bubblicious varieties, such as strawberry or watermelon. This may be why I had mixed feelings at first. But the strong flavor also means it lasts longer. I am happy to say that LeBron's Lightning Lemonade has fast risen to become my favorite flavor of bubble gum, even though I don't really chew gum.

My rating: 13½ LeBrons

1. If LeBron is on the court, he must touch the ball on every possesion (excluding fast breaks).
2. Drew Gooden "Plenty" is not allowed to shoot anything but layups, dunks, and put-backs.
3. Scott Williams is not allowed to enter a game when either team's lead is less than 20 points.
4. Sasha Pavlovic may not attempt to do anything complicated (zum Beispiel: dribbling behind his back, running a fast break, or dunking in traffic).

Do you have any suggestions?

Happy Groundhog Day!

Sorry for my recent blogging hiatus. We've come to Part 5 in my Jersey Number Extravaganza. Here are the obligatory links to the previous entries:

1. The Jersey Numbers: 0 to 9
2. The Jersey Numbers: 10 to 19
3. The Jersey Numbers: 20 to 29
4. The Jersey Numbers: 30 to 39

The 40's have included some truly great athletes over the years--from all three of our beloved teams. Unfortunately, this is likely to be the last we'll hear of the Cavaliers for the remainder of "Jersey Numbers". Not that #50 through #99 won't have their fair share of legendary players--mostly Browns, with only a couple of Indians left--but until more basketball players take a cue from the Drew Goodens of the world, the great Cavalier numbers will remain clustered in the lower half of the spectrum.

#40 - Erich Barnes

Browns, '65-'71

This was a tough decision. Three different guys can make a case for being the best #40. Erich Barnes gets it, though, by process of elimination. While Dub Jones was probably the more important figure in Browns history, he only wore #40 for four of his eight years. Barnes, at least, wore it for all of his seven. Both made a single Pro Bowl appearance while playing for Cleveland. Barnes' tenure with the Browns came at the end of his career, after he had established himself as a star with the Bears and Giants, but it didn't stop him from becoming one of the best defensive backs in Browns history.

Runners-up: Dub Jones (Browns, '48-'55): was one of Otto Graham's best receiving targets. Bartolo Colon (Indians, '97-'02): was the team's best starting pitcher for just about his entire tenure.

#41 - Charles Nagy

Indians, '90-'02

Charlie Nagy has a pretty easy time running away with this one. I have faith, however, that Victor Martinez will at least make an argument out of it. Ask me again in a few years. Now, pitching was never the Indians' strong suit during Nagy's career, and most of the attention he does get is related to his impressive win totals, which, of course, were entirely thanks to the powerhouse offense the Indians had, so it's easy to forget just how good Nagy was before he started having arm trouble. Between '92 and '96, he frequently appeared on league leaderboards in ERA, strikeouts, K/9IP, BB/9IP, and innings pitched. If only we could have cloned him or something, we could have won those two World Series, and maybe more.

Runners-up: Dick Tidrow (Indians, '72-'74): debuted strong with the Indians before quickly becoming a Yankee. Victor Martinez (Indians, '02-'04): may very well become the greatest #41 someday. Ralph Smith (Browns, '65-'68): was the second tight end for a few years.

#42 - Paul Warfield

Browns, '64-'69, '76-'77

If the Browns hadn't traded Paul Warfield to the Dolphins midway through his remarkable career, we would undoubtedly think of him as the greatest wide receiver in team history, and one of the greatest Browns ever, right up there with Brown, Graham, Groza and Newsome. Alas, "Poetry in Motion" spent many of his best years in Miami, where, most notably, he was the leading reciever on the undefeated '72 team. His six seasons as a Brown, though, were equally impressive, if not more. In his rookie year, he led the team in receiving, as they won the NFL championship. In 1968, he became the first Brown ever to receive for 1,000 yards. Today, his yards per catch remains second-best in franchise history.

Runners-up: Sonny Siebert (Indians, '64-'69): was a superb starting pitcher, but was traded after about five seasons. Tommy James (Browns, '48-'55): like many Browns greats of the 50's, only switched to this number prior to the '52 season. Nate Thurmond (Cavaliers, '76-'77): only played the final season and a half of his Hall of Fame career as a Cavalier, so why the hell did we retire his number?

#43 - Brad Daugherty

Cavaliers, '87-'94

Until LeBron makes it a moot point (any minute now...), we are left to weigh a couple of different candidates for "best Cavalier ever". Brad Daugherty is probably the favorite, with Mark Price right in step. Despite his short career (he retired at age 28), Daugherty is the franchise leader in points scored, and is fourth in scoring average. He's second in field goal percentage, and first in total rebounds by a gigantic margin. Looking at his efficiency stats shows that he really hit an impressive peak in '92, when he was 7th in the NBA in PER (one slot ahead of Price), and was the third-best center (behind only Robinson and Olajuwon). The following season, he was ninth in the NBA in PER (one slot behind Price), and was the fourth-best center (behind the same two plus Shaq). It's no surprise that the '92 and '93 seasons were the best in Cavs history. Stupid fucking Jordan.

Runners-up: Mike Pruitt (Browns, '76-'84): was the bigger and more bruising of the two Pruitts. Rick Sutcliffe (Indians, '82-'84): had a brief tenure, but was one of the best pitchers in the league. Fair Hooker (Browns, '69-'74): was a decent receiver for about four years.

#44 - Leroy Kelly

Browns, '64-'73

What's the best rushing dynasty in NFL history? How about the 1960's Browns, whose underappreiated offensive line not only plowed the way for Jim Brown at his peak, but allowed Leroy Kelly to come out of nowhere to replace him? Kelly is one of the 15 Browns in the Hall of Fame--yet another player who deserves to have his jersey number retired, but doesn't, thanks to stubborn Browns management, I guess. He began as an unheralded eighth-round draft pick, who spent his first two seasons as a superb kick returner. Then Brown shocked everyone with his premature retirement. Kelly stepped in and immediately recorded three straight 1,000-yard seasons. He also immediately made six straight Pro Bowls. When he retired (after yet another surprisingly brief career), he had climbed to fourth on the NFL's all-time rushing list.

Runners-up: Earnest Byner (Browns, '84-'88, '94-'95): is possibly the best pure halfback in Browns history, due to others technically being fullbacks or both. Jim Shofner (Browns, '58-'63): was a solid DB during his six-year career. Richie Sexson (Indians, '97-'00): never got the playing time he deserved as an Indian, and was stupidly traded just before his prime years.

#45 - Paul Assenmacher

Indians, '95-'99

Look, I'm not happy about it either, but this is the way it's going to be. Not to take away from what Paul Assenmacher did accomplish, but the competition at #45 is laughably weak. The major reason for this is that the Browns have no one to offer, due to the fact that they retired this number in honor of a player who died tragically before he could ever play a game in the NFL. The story of Ernie Davis, the "next Jim Brown", is surely sad and tragic, and I'm all for honoring his memory, but I don't think retiring this jersey number is the best way to do it, especially since the Browns have been so stingy with retiring numbers for extremely deserving players. Anyway, Paul Assenmacher, as you all know, was the left-handed specialist in the Indians' bullpen for most of the late-90's glory days. Already at the end of his long career, he was not particularly well liked, if I remember. To his credit, he posted some fine ERA's and strikeout ratios for a 34-to-38 year old. I imagine Alex will be happy to see that both of the men whose autographs grace the walls of his dorm room (Assenmacher and Eric Plunk) are the best Cleveland athletes at their respective jersey numbers, by some coincidence.

Runners-up: Tom Brennan (Indians, '81-'83): was an unimpressive reliever for a couple years. Tom Kelley (Indians, '64-'67): was an even less impressive reliever.

#46 - Lou Groza

Browns, '46-'59, '61-'67

No, we haven't skipped ahead. Lou Groza really did wear #46, albeit only from 1946 to 1951. In fact, most of the Browns changed their jersey numbers between the '51 and '52 seasons. Presumably, the team decided to conform to the NFL numbering system after spending their first two NFL seasons still wearing their old AAFC numbers. Otto Graham, for example, switched from #60 to his familiar #14. Marion Motley switched from #76 to #36. And so on. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't consider the four AAFC years legitimate, so the early Browns are mostly remembered for their post-1951 jersey numbers. Six years of Lou Groza would be enough to trump some pretty impressive athletes--especially since they were years when he was still sharing the roles of kicker and starting left tackle. So this honor is not undeserved. But it doesn't change the fact that #46 offers a fairly weak field. This is probably because, similar to #45, the Browns retired this number in honor of a player who died tragically after only three seasons. Meanwhile, the chances are good that, in a few weeks, I'll honor Groza as the best Cleveland athlete at his other jersey number as well, making him the only man to win twice (Otto Graham had a shot as well, but I gave #14 to Larry Doby, if you recall).

Runners-up: Steve Dunning (Indians, '70-'73): had a few decent years as a starting pitcher before being traded. Don Fleming (Browns, '60-'62): was a promising young cornerback before his tragic death.

#47 - Jesse Orosco

Indians, '89-'91

Okay, so he only pitched out of the Indians bullpen for three seasons, but he is one of the best left-handed relievers of all time. Plus, this is another rather pathetic number in Cleveland history. Orosco was so consistent over the course of his 52-year career, it's kind of hard to say where his Cleveland years fit in among the rest. While he played the closer role for the Mets during his first eight seasons (which were also his best years, not to take away from his later years), he never again recorded many saves, which meant he got little attention (that is, until he started getting "oldest player" attention). As an Indian, his stats were pretty much in line with his career averages. The '89 campaign, in particular, was one of Orosco's very best, when he posted a 2.08 ERA, recorded 9.12 strikeouts per nine, and 3.00 walks per nine.

Runners-up: Ed Farmer (Indians, '71-'73): spent two and a half years as a mediocre Indians reliever. Larry Braziel (Browns, '82-'85): was a back-up cornerback.

#48 - Sam McDowell

Indians, '61-'71

Sam McDowell didn't don #48 until 1964, his fourth season seeing big league action. That just happened to be the year he began his unprecedented run of dominance over American Leage batters. Between '64 and '71, "Sudden Sam" led the league in strikeouts five times. He led the league in strikeouts per nine innings six times, and never finished lower than second. In 1965, he led the league in ERA, but got no support in the Cy Young voting. In 1968, he posted a career-low 1.81 ERA, second in the AL, and still got no support for the Cy Young. He posted an ERA below 3.00 four other times, but never got any Cy Young votes. He did make six All-Star squads as an Indian, at least. It's clear that, for those eight seasons, he was one of the greatest--if not the greatest--strikeout pitchers of all time. Unfortunately, by the end of the '71 season, it was clear that his alcoholism was going to consume him, and the Indians wisely traded him, nabbing Gaylord Perry (!) in the process. McDowell fell from the top very quickly thereafter. I have to confess, before I started doing my research for this article, I didn't know much about McDowell. I knew he was a tragic story, and that he pitched mostly for the Indians, but I had no idea he was one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history. Hey Indians: if #455 deserves retirement, I think you can spare #48. Let Travis pick something else.

Runners-up: Ernie Green (Browns, '62-'68): had success as the backfield partner to both Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. Travis Hafner (Indians, '03-'04): only started wearing #48 last year, but it was arguably the best offensive season in the entire AL. Lawrence Johnson (Browns, '79-'84): was another back-up cornerback in the early 80's.

#49 - Tom Candiotti

Indians, '86-'91, '99

When he joined the Indians' rotation in 1986, Tom Candiotti didn't have much of a track record--six mediocre years in the minors, with only a handful of appearances for the Brewers. Thus, it was a huge surprise when he pitched more than 250 innings with a 3.57 ERA in his first year with the Tribe. Apparently, that was when he decided to try out his now-famous knuckleball. Who doesn't love a good knuckler? Candiotti remained a useful member of the rotation for four and a half more years before the team wisely traded him in the final year of his contract.

Runners-up: Bobby Mitchell (Browns, '58-'61): was Jim Brown's partner in the backfield before being traded to Washington and enjoying a Hall of Fame career. Jose Mesa (Indians, '92-'98): oh, you know.