by Regular left fielder, Andre Thorton, was sidelined with an injured knee, giving Joe his shot at the big league club. Playing in front of a huge Cleveland crowd is always special for a ball player; Joe describes his first game in the big leagues at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, “Our first opening day after coming home from the road, we played on a sunny afternoon of 74 degrees and in front of 72,000 people. I thought it was going to be like that every day. The next day it was very cold and we only had 3,000 in the stands. But, Indians fans are great fans and I really enjoyed them. I had a good relationship with them and they treated me really well. It was a great place to play. I wouldn’t have won rookie of the year any place but Cleveland. 1980 would have not worked out like it did if I didn’t play in Cleveland”.
His rookie season became a thing of beauty as he fit in well with his teammates and hit for an impressive .289 average. He also showed signs of serious power, belting 27 homeruns and knocking in 87 RBI. During Joe’s rookie season, the Cleveland Indians fans fell instantly in love with him. There was even a song written about him entitled, “Go Joe Charboneau” that climbed to number 3 on the local record charts. Joe describes how it felt to have all the attention on him, “It was weird, it was really strange having a song out. It was overwhelming because I didn’t expect any of that; I just came to play baseball. I never expected any of that, it was just so different. The cool thing was that a lot of the profits went to charity, so that is why I was okay with it.”
There are several stories about Joe that became almost folk lore. A couple of which state that he used to open up beer bottles with his eye socket, as well as fix a broken nose with pliers and bottle of Jack Daniels. Joe explained how these stories came about, “It was stuff that happened mostly in college. I attended a junior college in California called West Valley Junior College. One of my friends came down to Cleveland one night and told local reporter Dan Coughlin about what had occurred back in college and that’s how some of those crazy stories got out.”
Charboneau was quick to give credit to Cleveland fans for his success. He has been quoted as saying that, “Cleveland was a great place to play.” He believes that it was his relationship with the fans that helped him to achieve his rookie success. The incredible season caught the attention of nationwide sports analysts as he was voted American League Rookie of the Year. He was the first Cleveland Indian to achieve that honor in nine seasons. The last Indian to win the award was Chris Chambliss in 1971. It would not happen again until 1990 with famed catcher, Sandy Alomar, Jr.
The guidance that Joe received from this third base coach, Joe Nossek, brought out the best in his abilities. Charboneau would credit Nossek for keeping him grounded during some tough times during games. He kept him level headed if he was having a bad night at the plate. It was also Nossek who worked with Charboneau in the outfield to further hone his skills.
Nossek wasn’t the only person guiding young Joe that season. Assistant coach, Dave Duncan, took time to work with Joe and help him refine certain skills that were necessary to be a big leaguer. Hitting coach, Tommy McCraw, played a crucial role in developing his swing at the plate and making sure the young rookie was able to adjust to certain pitchers.
It was the preparation of the 1978 and 1979 minor league seasons that helped Joe succeed in his rookie year in Cleveland. Those seasons gave him the confidence that he would need to excel at the professional level. He credits those seasons along with the weight training guidance of his brother, Rick that helped his body develop as well. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, major league clubs didn’t have the techniques and equipment they do now, so it was the extra work put in with Rick that made all the difference.
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