by The big season from Belle was enough for John Hart to offer him a $13.3 million contract extension. John Hart insisted that the home-grown product had finally matured into an outstanding player and teammate.
John Hart explains why starting in 1994, the Indians were able to start signing and resigning key players to help with the forthcoming playoff run. ““I saw generations of fans that were so hungry for a winner because they hadn’t had one. They had been through so many bad years and they were fans that were loyal and connected with their players. I felt the excitement to be a part of a turnaround. I also understood the baggage that the Indians had been carrying with them.
I thought it was a tremendous opportunity and also realized that this was an original American League franchise. There was a rich history of baseball in Cleveland and it gave me the “why not us” approach. We had been struggling through some low win seasons and when I came in we had the chance to strip it bare and make as many good trades as we could.
We wanted to have a development and scouting system in place to strip it and rebuild it. The last piece of this was getting Jacobs Field. I think it gave us the ability to add the pieces to the puzzle. For the first time we had a core of players that were really good that people around baseball were aware of how good they were.
There was an opportunity in Cleveland that we should be considered among the elite because we had a very talented team. Those guys we brought in still had gas in the tank and understood how to win. I think between the new stadium and the energy and excitement around Cleveland helped. People around the league were starting to talk about the energy that we were starting to build.
That was the first year we ever made any of those phone calls to try and bring in veteran talent to go with are core group of young talent. We didn’t even attempt to do it in prior years. We were met with a very positive reception from a lot of those guys where just a year or two before it was a don’t bother sort of a deal.”
