15 things that have happened since the Cleveland Indians last won the World Series
Title droughts are common in sports. Some last a few years while others go on for much longer than anticipated. Take a look at professional sports in North America and you will see plenty of teams failing to win the biggest title up for grabs in their respective sports.
In the NFL, there are the Arizona Cardinals who last won the league title in 1947. The Sacramento Kings are their NBA equivalents as the last time they went to the pinnacle was in 1951. The Toronto Maple Leafs used to be a dominant NHL franchised once but their last Stanley Cup triumph was recorded in the year 1967.
This is how it is in sports and MLB is no different. Who can forget the Curse of the Bambino that plagued the Boston Red Sox for over eight and a half decades. The Chicago Cubs snapped a 108 year long World Series drought by winning the title last season. The Texas Rangers have never won the MLB World Series and this has gone for 56 years now. The Houston Astros wait for the World Series stands at 55 years now.
The record for the longest MLB World Series drought however goes to the Cleveland Indians. The last time they went to the top of the MLB was in 1948. They went so close to ending the jinx last season but ended up coming short against the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.
The Cleveland Indians have been to the World Series on four occasions during this title drought but have failed every time. A lot has changed as well since the last time the Cleveland Indians won the World Series. Here we try to take a look at some very important developments that have taken place in the US and around the world as the Indians still try to end their wait for the MLB World Series.
No Polio Vaccination
The Cleveland Indians won their last World Series in the year 1948 and the polio vaccine back then was not available in the market. The vaccine appeared on the world map for the first time in the year 1955 in the form of an inactivated polio vaccine. The oral polio vaccine came even later in the year 1961.
The Super Bowl made its debut
The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons to win the Super Bowl LI on February 5, 2017 at the NRG Stadium. It was the fifty first edition of the biggest game in NFL but the first one was played on January 15, 1967. That is nineteen years after the Cleveland Indians got their hands on the World Series.
Color televisions were just a pipedream
While televisions were available by the time the Cleveland Indians won the World Series in the year 1948, color televisions were still not available for people to buy. They arrived in the 1960s, a good few years after the Indians reached the top of the MLB mountain for the last time.
No rock concerts
There hadn’t been a rock concert held anywhere before 1952. Believe it or not, the Cleveland Indians’ last MLB World Series triumph came in an era that had no rock concerts.
Man went to space
Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. It was a historic moment that changed a lot of things. It sounds like it happened ages ago and well in all honesty, it did but the Cleveland Indians had by then gone 21 years without winning the MLB World Series.
The Internet
The internet arrived and became such an important part of our lives. It has changed the very dynamics of science and technology. It still arrived like 43 years after the Cleveland Indians lifted the World Series for the last time in their history.
14 new MLB teams
The MLB as things stand has thirty teams playing under it. That number wasn’t as big back in the year 1948. Since the last Cleveland Indians’ World Series win, another 14 new MLB teams have joined the league. That is close to 50% of all the teams taking part in the MLB right now.
The end of the Curse of the Bambino
The famous Curse of the Bambino began in 1918 for the Boston Red Sox. It ended after eighty six years in 2004. It began well before the Indians’ last World Series win and ended almost thirteen years ago. The Cleveland Indians however are still waiting to win another World Series title.
No credit cards
No credit cards existed back in the year 1948. Yes, credit cards that we cannot live without right now were nowhere to be seen in 1948 when the Indians won the MLB World Series.
60 teams
The Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cleveland Indians, are the three sides currently representing the city in the three big professional sports leagues in the US. All these sides might not have been based in Cleveland over the years, but all three existed back then. Guess what? A whopping 60 different sides have won their respective championships from these three leagues since 1948. The last NBA side to win the championship? Yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
No NBA team in the city
Back in the year 1948, the NBA had no team in Cleveland. The city had in fact never had a professional basketball team. The current Cleveland Cavaliers were incepted in the year 1970.
There was no Burger King
Burger King is now one of the most famous and popular fast food restaurant chains in the world. That was not the case in 1948 simply because there was no Burger King available in the first place. The first Burger King outlet appeared on the scene in the year 1954.
There were no fifty stars on the US flag
Alaska officially became a US state on January 3, 1959. It was the forty ninth state to become a part of the US. Then Hawaii followed suit a few months later on August 21, 1959. The US now had fifty states and the US flag had fifty stars.
NO CPR
CPR or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was developed for the first time in the year 1960. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which remains a very important part of the CPR was however developed four years earlier in the year 1956. So basically, there was no CPR to be administered in case of an emergency when the Cleveland Indians won the MLB World Series in 1948.
No Cable TV
Although Cable TV was invented in the year 1948 when the Indians won the World Series, it was not very popular. It was something new so a lot of people who wanted to watch the World Series, live had to go to the ballpark to catch the action. Cable TV grew in popularity after 1948 and well no Indians fan has been able to watch their team win the World Series on it yet.
It is a very different world that we live in right now as compared to the one when the Cleveland Indians last won the World Series. The Indians fans will be hoping that their team goes a step further to end what is the longest drought in MLB currently.
