The Cleveland Indians, cementing their new-ish nickname the Windians, surged into the World Series after beating the Toronto Blue Jays in five games. The Indians haven’t seen the World Series — if you don’t count the Major League films — since 1997, when they were toppled by the upstart Florida Marlins. Cleveland hasn’t been victorious in the World Series since 1948, when Harry Truman was president.
Here are 10 things that happened in 1948, the year Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau (known as “Handsome Lou”) led the Indians to the crown. (They beat the Boston Braves.)
- For most fans the Indians won on the radio. 1948 marked the first screening of a COLOR newsreel (Pasadena, California.)
- J.D. Salinger published his famous story “A Perfect Day for Banana Fish”
- Baseball commissioner Happy Chandler fined the Phillies, Yankees and Cubs $500 each for signing high school players
- Reginald Weit becomes first African American to play tennis in the U.S. Open
- The Big Bang Theory — the science, not the TV show — was first proposed
- New York City subway fares double — to TEN CENTS
- First Polaroid camera sold in the US
- Babe Ruth died on August 16
- First stored computer program runs (Manchester Mark 1)
- 86,288 people see Game 5 of World Series in Cleveland, a then-record
