Cleveland Vintage Blog

Terry Pluto’s book, The Curse of Rocky Colavito, is a must-read that details 60+ years of agony for Cleveland baseball fans, beginning with the ill-fated trade of Rocky Colavito to Detroit for Harvey Kuenn just prior to the 1960 season. The book details the many heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, and pretty much any other cliché you can think of, things Tribe fans had to endure prior to the success of the John Hart era in the mid-nineties that continue to today with an organization that competes for playoff positioning virtually every season. Many old-timers, yours truly included, point to this trail of misery...

Did you know that fifteen states (and Washington D.C.) have an official dinosaur? And did you know that I was ENRAGED to find out that Ohio doesn't have one? Well, at least until I saw the typical criteria for nominating a state dinosaur.  As it goes, the typical process is that a state's official dinosaur is tied to a major discovery that takes place within the state. For instance, the Triceratops horridus was originally found in Wyoming, and therefore it became the state's official dinosaur in 1994. All that being said... who cares? Ohio should just have a state dinosaur...

The year was 1971, and I know the expression is cliché, but I remember it like it was yesterday, when Harold "Gomer" Hodge’s Cleveland baseball legend was built on key, back-to-back pinch-hitting assignments. Let's look at how the legend started. Opening Day — April 6, 1971 This was Hodge’s only season in the big leagues as a utility infielder (and even though he played all infield positions adequately, he always said his best position was "hitting.") On this day in Detroit, Hodge came up against tough Tiger left-hander Mickey Lolich in his first pinch-hitting assignment of the year. The Tribe’s...

For decades — thanks in large part to Ernie Anderson's beloved late-night Ghoulardi character — Parma was the butt of jokes. During his "Parma Place" skits, Ghoulardi and Chuck Schodowski would play stereotypical ethnic Parma residents in a parody of the then-popular prime-time soap opera Peyton Place, mocking pink flamingos, white socks, polka music, and chrome ball lawn ornaments, staples of the fast-growing, middle-class suburb. The pink flamingos really stuck, becoming a ubiquitous symbol of the Parma community, much to the dismay of city officials. The lighthearted jabs might have stuck, but in recent years, Parma has really leaned into the...

The Musicarnival is one of the many long-gone Cleveland rock institutions, a summer tent theater that operated on the grounds of Thistledown Race Track from 1954 to 1975. All types of major rock acts would make their way through the Musicarnival, including Led Zeppelin on one particularly big night for the world. Now, if you're a fan of rock and roll history or Cleveland music history in general I would highly recommend Smoky, Sweaty, Rowdy and Loud: Tales of Cleveland's Legendary Rock & Roll Landmarks by Mike and Janice Olszewski. It's a fantastic, in-depth history of Cleveland's rock and roll scene...