My Dad

Mira took this picture at our house on Christmas. The below article is about my dad.
I was raised on baseball. My dad started taking me to games at a very young age.
My favorite player was Rick Manning. I used to be in his fan club. I used to wait after the games for autographs....I think my dad really wanted the autographs, but he set me up to get them. We used to drive all over the greater Cleveland area to go meet different players at various places. We used to go sit in the bleacher seats for a dollar sometimes and then try to move to the "good" seats behind the plate in the last few innings. Jim Kern, Jim Bibby, Rico Carty, Frank Robinson, Dennis Eckersley, Horace Speed, Larvell Blanks,Ray Fossey, Wayne Garland, Len Barker, Boog Powel, Duane Kuiper, Buddy Bell, Oscar Gamble, Gaylord and Jim Perry, Ron Pruitt, Jim Fisk, John Lowenstein, Jim Keckich, Jack Brohammer, Andre Thorton, and Sid Monge.....those are some of the players that I remember.
My dad takes our kids to the games now. They get to take turns on their Friday night games. He takes them to dinner before the game and they stay after the game for autographs of the players. He has signed Marko up for baseball class and he takes him every Saturday. He buys him candy as a treat if he goes in the batting cages after class. Marko loves his baseball class and time spent with grandpa. Here is where they go...click on the word baseball in light blue...it is Ron Pruitt's baseball center...Baseball
.........I still have Ron Pruitt's baseball card somewhere.
Go Tribe. I don't thinkthe Cleveland Indian's mascot is very respectful of the American Indians.......I think if a group of people are offended, we should listen to them.
I am a tribe fan.. BUT, I feel we should change the logo because others are offended....I told my dad why not call them the Cleveland Senior citizens...they could have a lady with real saggy boobs and a big hair growing out of her mole and saggy nylons for the mascot.He just laughs...he likes things to be "the way they usually are." which means...no change..so anyway, Go Tribe...it is just in my blood!!!!!!!!
February 2007
Vol 15 Number 02


A Winning Streak

Clay Benjamin is a traveler. He has traveled to the Ukraine to help set up physician offices. (See “Anywhere for a Sale,” January 2001 Repertoire.) He and his wife, Fran, have traveled extensively, visiting such places as Liechtenstein, Russia, Chile, Estonia, Monaco, Panama, New Zealand, Australia, Uruguay and Alaska; and they are in the process of planning an African safari and a Far East cruise from Beijing to Bangkok.

But the four trips he took to Arizona and Florida between 1990 and 1998 were perhaps more exotic — certainly, more fantastic — than any of the others. Those were the trips he took back in time — maybe even beyond time — to the Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp.

Small wonder that Benjamin would go to the Indians’ camp. He was born and raised on a farm in Brunswick, Ohio, about 20 miles from downtown Cleveland. He remembers his parents driving him to old Municipal Stadium to watch the Indians play when he was a kid.

As he grew up, Benjamin never lived far from the ballpark. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, about 20 minutes from downtown Cleveland. (Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel is a 1975 graduate of the school.) And today, he and Fran live in Medina, 30 miles from Jacobs Field, the Indians’ home since 1994.

Benjamin started his sales career with Schuemann-Jones, a medical products distributor in Cleveland. He actually got started as a warehouse worker, unloading trucks. “That’s the way it was done then,” he says. “A guy who wanted to get into sales began at the bottom of the business, unloading trucks, filling orders.” But he was undaunted. “I always considered myself a salesman,” he says. “I loved dealing with people, and I used to win sales contests in high school, selling magazines.”

Benjamin worked days at Schuemann-Jones, and attended classes at Baldwin-Wallace at night. That’s why it took 13 years to get his bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in marketing. Schuemann-Jones owner Howard Schuemann sold the company to Boston-based Healthco in 1969. Several years later, Benjamin — then a sales manager — left Healthco and joined Schuemann Surgical Supply, which had been founded by Bob Schuemann. He stayed with Schuemann Surgical for 18 years, leaving in 1992 to join Livonia, Mich.-based Randolph Medical. Three years later, General Medical (now McKesson Medical-Surgical) bought Randolph, and Benjamin has worked for McKesson ever since.

At age 67, he remains active in the business, calling on physicians in central and northeastern Ohio.

Repertoire: Did you play baseball when you were young?

Benjamin: I played some baseball in high school, but I was a much better football player.

Rep: Prior to Jacobs Field, where did the Indians play?

Benjamin: Municipal Stadium. They shared it with the Browns [football team]. It was built in 1930 and held 80,000. It was probably a better football park than baseball park.

Rep: Who were some of the players you enjoyed watching when you were a kid?

Benjamin: Bob Feller [right-handed Hall-of-Fame pitcher, with the Indians from 1936 to 1956] retired when I was in high school. Others were Bob Lemon [right-handed Hall-of-Fame pitcher, with the Indians from 1946 to 1958]; Early Wynn [right-handed pitcher, Hall of Fame, with the Indians from 1949 to 1957, and again in 1963]; and Herb Score [left-handed pitcher who won Rookie of the Year honors in 1955, but was hurt by a line drive in 1957, and never fully recovered].

In 1954, the Indians went to the World Series, but lost [in four games] to the New York Giants after winning 111 games that year. But as I got older, the Indians weren’t very good.

Rep: Name your top five Indians players of all time.

Benjamin: Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Omar Vizquel [right-handed shortstop who played for the Indians from 1994 through 2004], Manny Ramirez [right-handed outfielder who played for the Indians from 1993 through 2000, when he joined the Boston Red Sox], and Travis Hafner [Cleveland’s designated hitter who, in 2006, batted .308 with 42 home runs and 117 runs-batted-in].

Rep: What about Kenny Lofton [left-handed outfield/center fielder who played for the Indians from 1992 through 1996, and 1998 through 2001]?

Benjamin: Kenny Lofton was the sixth man for a Final Four basketball team when he was at the University of Arizona. I saw him jump and catch a ball once — it was one of the best catches I have ever seen.

Rep: Talk about your very first fantasy camp.

Benjamin: My daughter, Michele, won the first one for me in December 1989. One of the Cleveland radio stations had a contest and asked people to nominate someone to go to the fantasy camp the following January. This was the Indians’ first fantasy camp. Her story was so convincing that they chose me the winner. Dwyer Brown — who played Kevin Costner’s father as a young man in Field of Dreams — called in on my behalf. He grew up with my son-in-law.

Rep: What was the first camp like?

Benjamin: It was in Tucson, Ariz., where they were doing spring training. Bob Feller was there. One guy who impressed me was Lou Boudreau [who played for the Indians from 1938 to 1950, and served as player/manager from 1942 to 1950].

Rep: Who else was there?

Benjamin: Terry Francona, Larry Doby, Max Elvis, Mike Hargrove (before he became manager; he was still a coach), Dwayne Kiper, Herb Score, Joe Charbennau (who was Rookie of the Year in 1981), Sam McDowell and Mudcat Grant.

Rep: How are the fantasy camps run?

Benjamin: Like regular spring training. You go out in the morning for calisthenics — stretching, etc. We played two games a day. I was 50, and when I found out I would be attending, I started working out — doing some running and other things. I thought I was in shape, but when I got there, I found out I really wasn’t. I played left field and I got to pitch some. The camp lasted a week.

Rep: When you’re there, do you fraternize with the retired players?

Benjamin: They make themselves available all the time. You’re in the bar with them every night.

Rep: When did you attend your next camps?

Benjamin: In 1996, 1997 and 1998. All of those were in Winter Haven, Fla., where the Indians train now. A lot of the players were the same, though they plugged in a few others too.

Rep: Who attends fantasy camps?

Benjamin: A good share of the people are either physicians, dentists or attorneys. Some of my own accounts were there. One year I roomed with an oral surgeon, who was one of my accounts. A cardiologist from Columbus attended every camp the Indians had – and some camps of other teams too. Many of the people there played high school or college ball. But they like you to be at least 30; they don’t want to see the young guys showing up everybody else.

Rep: Do you still go to Cleveland games?

Benjamin: My wife and I go to the games. We get a 20-game season package, which includes games on Fridays and Sundays. Our tickets are in the mezzanine section, right field, between the upper and lower deck. I get to some other games as well. I usually go to about 25 games a year.

Rep: What are the Indians’ chances in 2007?

Benjamin: The central division of the American League is probably the strongest one. Everyone will be better, except, maybe, for Minnesota, which hasn’t improved itself much. But the Indians and the White Sox will be neck and neck all year.

The Indians have a good farm system. They’ve also spent a lot of money, and it’s paying off. They have a starting rotation I wouldn’t trade — Jake Westbrook, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sauers. They have about seven pitchers who could be in the starting rotation. Joe Borowski might end up being an eighth-inning guy.

The Benjamin File

Raised: Brunswick, Ohio

Age: 67

Company: McKesson Medical-Surgical

Territory: Central and Northeast Ohio

Title: Account manager, primary care

Lives in: Medina, Ohio

Noteworthy: Has attended four Cleveland Indians’ fantasy camps