New General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen is expected to join the Blue Jackets on Wednesday, just in time for Thursday night’s game in Detroit, and maybe he’ll be able to put the team at ease. Since Kekäläinen’s hire, the Jackets are winless and have scored just six goals. Injuries and slumps have been the theme of the season thus far and the players, and coach Todd Richards, appear to be feeling the pressure of Kekäläinen’s hire.

Since opening the season with a shootout win and a shootout loss, the Blue Jackets have managed just seven out of 28 possible points. With their three-game losing streak, the Jackets are now the worst team in the NHL, one point behind Washington, who has a game in hand. For Jackets fans, the saving grace has been the team’s 3-4-2 home record, where they have played competitively. They have just one win in seven tries on the road, with all six losses in regulation. The Jackets have three road games left on this six-game road trip. Those three games are against Detroit, St. Louis, and Chicago, so the gap in the Central Division standings is likely to grow.

Sixteen games into the season, Fedor Tyutin remains the Jackets’ leading scorer. The Blue Jackets are tied for 22nd in goals scored, yet are 14th in shots on goal. The team simply lacks the forward talent to compete on a nightly basis, an issue that has plagued the team since its inception.

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This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”

“Hey Greg, were Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield really as good as everyone says?”

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This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts on the Boards. And as David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”

After you hear something, and hear it often, you might start to believe it because you have no reason not to.  I can skip the drumroll and all of the suspense to let you know the most obvious pick this series is going to offer, and yes it is sad that Bernie Kosar doesn’t take home the #19 honors, but Robert Feller would likely be in the Top 2 or 3 on a list of Cleveland’s best athletes, period.  The thing about Feller is that he has this reputation for a less than desirable bedside manner.

Ordinarily, we’d dismiss something like that; we did that with Albert Belle.  I mean, honestly, go out there and hit a ton or win a ton on the bump, and you can swear at busses filled with nuns on the Innerbelt.  That’s how it works with us, we leave morality and decency at the door, if it’s the price for doing business with folks who might help erase the current significance of 1964 (or 1948) in our parts of the world.  With Feller, it’s more of a history lesson than anything else, but he was an ambassador of Cleveland Indians baseball, even if the naysayers claimed that his abrasive side made it easy to forget his accomplishments and accolades.

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This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts on the Boards. And as David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”

At number 18, we have another digit that’s been retired by the Cleveland Indians. Starting pitcher Mel Harder wore #18 for (coincidentally) 18 of his 20 seasons with the Indians, having worn #49 for his first season+ with the Tribe. Harder pitched for the Indians from 1928 through 1947, and in his 20 years with the Tribe he never participated in a postseason contest. He broke in with the club after the 1920 World Series victory, and left just one season before the Indians were next world champs in 1948. Along the way, Harder would win 223 games and post a 3.80 ERA in 3426 1/3 career innings pitched, appear in four consecutive all-star games from 1934-1937 and become a Cleveland sports legend. The 20 seasons with the club make Harder the longest-tenured Cleveland Indian in history, and even after he retired as a player Harder remained with the organization as pitching coach. After a one-season stint as their 1B coach, Harder served as the Indians pitching coach from 1949-1963, so if you’re doing the math along with me you’ll see that Harder was a part of the Indians organization for a quarter of a century.

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