Cleveland Indians: Mike Hargrove Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Former Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove was honored Thursday night for his role as one of the greatest managers in team history.
Cleveland Indians fans adore Terry Francona. He has only been in town for four seasons, but he has brought the Indians back to being one of the best teams in all of baseball. He has them back at a level of success not seen since Mike Hargrove was manager.
Hargrove took a franchise that hadn’t been successful for several decades and made them a perennial contender. He took the Indians to two World Series appearances and five straight division titles from 1995-1999.
The Indians were unable to win a championship with Hargrove at the helm, which may explain why he was let go after the 1999 season, but that doesn’t take away from what he did for the city and the franchise.
His efforts were honored Thursday night when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards.
Congrats Mike Hargrove who is the Lifetime Achievement Award winner! #CLESportsAwards pic.twitter.com/VAKIt9mDfX
— Cleveland Sports (@CLESports) January 27, 2017
Mike Hargrove receiving lifetime achievement award with Jim Thome, Sandy Alomar and Chad Ogea presenting. #Indians pic.twitter.com/D5uGBeDBhF
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) January 27, 2017
The award is well-deserved, as Hargrove remains one of the living legends of Indians baseball. He did not see much success after leaving Cleveland, but he will always be remembered for his accomplishments with the Tribe.
Hargrove finished with 721 regular season wins with the Indians at a time when the team had its first breakout stretch of baseball. Even with the likes of Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Omar Vizquel all on the same team, a great manager was needed to put all the pieces in the right places.
And while it is great to honor those from the past, the goal if for Terry Francona to lead this current team to a World Series championship. If he can do that, you can expect him to receive countless awards of his own for his achievements in the city of Cleveland.
But while fans await the team’s first championship since 1948, we can take some time to look back and remember all the great times had when Hargrove was at the helm.
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