Just out of Reach
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THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1999 5-G OURCENTURY 1997 ATA GLANCE DNA puts Sheppards back in the news Just Forty-three years after it first dominated the headlines, the murder of Marilyn Shep- pard was back in the news. Sam Reese Shep- pard, the son of Marilyn and Dr. Sam, held a press conference with his attorney, Terry Gil- out of bert, and Dr. Mohammed Tahir, a nationally known DNA expert. They reported that DNA analysis of evi- dence collected at the time of the murder ap- peared to implicate window-washer Richard Eberling. DNA analysis was unknown in 1954. reach They said the report also bolstered their claim that Sam Sheppard had not murdered his wife. Sheppard served 10 years in prison By Fred McGunagle before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his The Plain Dealer called it a “magi- 1954 conviction. At his second trial in 1966, he cal season.” The magic seemed to fol- was acquitted. He died in 1970. low Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. Now his estate was pressing a civil suit to At midseason, he was leading the have him declared officially innocent, not just American League with a .375 batting not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That average and a 30-game hitting streak. would enable the estate to sue for wrongful So when he entered the 1997 All-Star imprisonment and collect damages, possibly Game lineup in the sixth inning, the in the millions of dollars. record Jacobs Field crowd of 44,916 Eberling, who was in prison for another gave him an ovation. murder, denied involvement in Marilyn’s When he came to bat in the seventh death. Prosecutors maintained that the case with the score 2-2 and a runner on was too old to be revived and that the law did second, he got another ovation. The not give an estate the right to sue. When Com- fans rose to their feet as he lashed a mon Pleas Judge Ronald Suster ruled the case line drive toward the gap in left cen- could go forward, they appealed. ter field. They went wild when it car- Meanwhile, the son had Dr. Sam’s body ex- ried into the bleachers to give the humed for further tests that might help prove American League a 4-2 lead. his innocence. It was then reburied alongside The crowd kept cheering as Alomar the body of Marilyn, whose family no longer crossed the plate and headed for the objected. dugout. • In the eighth inning, the crowd The temporarily teamless Cleveland chanted, “MVP! MVP!” When the Browns organization quickly met its target for lead stood up, the writers agreed. selling premium seats in a stadium yet to be They made Alomar the first to win built. That meant the National Football League the most valuable player award for an would lend $48 million to the project, to be re- All-Star Game played in his home paid by an owner yet to be named. park. The new occupant was expected to be an And when on Sept. 23 the Indians existing team, possibly the Indianapolis Colts clinched again — coming back from a or the Minnesota Vikings. As the year wore on, 9-2 deficit against the Yankees — it it began to look as though it would be an ex- was Alomar who singled home the pansion team instead. Bernie Kosar let it be winning run in the ninth inning. known that he wanted to be part of the owner- This was a different team from the ship. Indians of 1995 and 1996. It won only Meanwhile, the Browns Trust, in charge for 86 games, 12 fewer than the Yankees the time being, kept up fan interest with a tail- and 14 fewer than Baltimore. Few gate party and a flag-football game between gave it a chance in the playoffs. Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers alumni. In the opener in New York, the In- The new stadium, originally expected to cost dians scored five runs in the first in- up to $230 million, was now budgeted at $247 ning. But the Yankees hit successive million, but in September Mayor Michael home runs against Orel Hershiser, White said it was already $12.8 million over Eric Plunk and Paul Assenmacher for budget. an 8-6 win. Then 21-year-old Jaret As for the old Stadium, it slept with the Wright outpitched the Yankees’ Andy fishes. The demolition contract called for the Petitte for a 7-5 win. wrecker to dump part of the debris in Lake Back in Cleveland, Paul O’Neill’s Erie, where it could provide a protected grand slam led the Yanks to a 6-1 win. breeding ground for fish. In the eighth inning of Game 4, with the Indians four outs from elimina- • tion, Alomar hit a two-run homer to The Cleveland schools were falling further tie the game. In the ninth, Omar Viz- behind. Gerald Henley, a member of the now- quel singled home Marquis Grissom powerless school board, blamed it on the state, with the winning run. which had been given control by U.S. District That made Game 5 winner-take-all, Judge Robert Krupansky. with the Indians’ season riding on In August, Gov. George Voinovich signed a Wright. The Indians led 4-3 in the bill allowing the mayor to run the schools. It ninth with two out and O’Neill on sec- called for him to appoint a nine-member board ond. With John Adams’ drum pulsing, from 18 candidates nominated by a panel of Jose Mesa got Bernie Williams to fly civic, business and education leaders. A Plain out. The Oct. 27 front page showed Jim Thome who, like Indians’ fans, needed comfort. (Photo by Scott Shaw, Dealer/Gordon Black Corp. poll showed “People jumped, stomped and hol- Plain Dealer photographer.) Clevelanders sharply split: 51 percent said lered,” The Plain Dealer reported. they had little or no confidence that mayoral “They shook hands with people they control would be an improvement. didn’t know. Strangers kissed strang- Meanwhile, court supervision would con- ers. Horns blared from passing cars.” the second time since 1954. tinue. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in The Orioles had ended the Indians’ In Miami, the Florida Marlins got the 24-year-old desegregation suit balked at 1996 season, and things started out to Hershiser for four runs in the the terms of a proposed settlement. the same way in Baltimore. Brady fourth inning and went on to a 7-4 Anderson hit Ogea’s first pitch for a win. The Indians came back behind • home run and later scored on a home Ogea. Their 6-1 win was capped by In 1993, a consensus-building White had run by Robby Alomar, Sandy’s Alomar’s two-run homer. won a second term with only token opposition. brother. Scott Erickson baffled the The teams returned from balmy By 1997, an abrasive White had alienated Indians for a 3-0 Baltimore win. Miami to chilly Jacobs Field. In what many of his supporters. Helen Smith, an 18- The next night, the Orioles led 4-2 Hargrove called “just about the ug- year councilwoman, challenged him. with two out in the eighth, but Gris- liest game you’ll ever see,” the Indi- Despite an underfinanced campaign, she som hit a long three-run homer to ans made six errors — three of them ran a strong second in the primary, with 40 give the Tribe a 5-4 victory. in the ninth, when the Marlins scored percent of the vote to White’s 55 percent. He Game 3 was among the wackiest in seven runs. The Indians scored four stepped up his campaigning and raised his playoff history. With the score 1-1 in in their half, but fell short, 14-11. percentage to 59 in November. the bottom of the 12th, Grissom broke The next night was the coldest in White suffered an embarrassment when it for the plate on a suicide squeeze. turned out the city had inadvertently trans- Omar Vizquel squared to bunt — and World Series history, at 38 degrees. ferred $615,000 to the activist group Black on missed, according to Umpire John But the Indians hitters were hot and Black Crime Inc. in March. The group kept the Hirschbeck. The ball rolled away Wright’s fastball was blazing. The money, spending part of it on personal items. from catcher Lenny Webster and Tribe won, 10-3; Manny Ramirez and At his trial, the organization’s president, Art Grissom scored. Webster argued in Matt Williams hit two-run homers, McKoy, said he thought the money might have vain that Vizquel had tipped it. But it and Alomar drove in three runs, giv- been an anonymous gift from boxer Mike Ty- was scored a passed ball and a 2-1 ing him 15 for the postseason. son or baseball player Albert Belle. Along with win for Cleveland. In Game 5, Alomar drove in three more with a homer, and the Indians Chairman Abdul Rahim Ali Hasan and Black The next game was tied 7-7 in the MIKE LEVY/ PLAIN DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER on Black member Derrick Washington, ninth with two outs when — who else? took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning. McKoy was sentenced to prison. — Sandy Alomar singled home the Then Moises Alou hit a three-run The end: Craig Counsell’s grounder gets by Tony Fernandez in the 11th winning run. The Orioles kept the homer off Hershiser. With the Mar- inning. • tribe from clinching in Cleveland lins leading 8-7 in the ninth and a “Why? Why?I didn’t do anything,” Audrey with a 4-2 victory in Game 5.