CLEVELAND — This past March, the Guardians announced they would be adding at least one new player to their Hall of Fame for the first time since 2016. We now know that this year's ceremony will include not just one, but two honorees, as the club gets set to induct a pair of the best outfielders in its history.
Former Indians stars Dale Mitchell and Manny Ramirez will both be enshrined in the Guardians Hall of Fame before the Aug. 19 home game against the Detroit Tigers. Mitchell helped the club to its most recent World Series title in 1948, while Ramirez was a key member of the Tribe's beloved 1990s teams.
A proud son of Oklahoma, Mitchell signed with Cleveland out of college in 1946 and made his debut with the Indians later that year, quickly becoming one of the best contact hitters in the American League. He enjoyed perhaps his best season in 1948 with a .336 average and 203 hits, helping the organization to what remains its most recent World Series championship.
Mitchell held down left field in Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the better part of the next decade, leading the league with 203 hits and 23 triples in 1949 while making a pair of AL All-Star teams both that season as well as in 1952. He hit over .300 six times and was also a reserve on the Tribe's 1954 pennant winner before eventually being sent to the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1956 campaign, playing 19 games there before retiring with a .312 lifetime batting average. Mitchell will be inducted into the Guardians Hall of Fame posthumously, having died in 1987 at the age of 65.
Besides playing in a much different era, Ramirez path to Cleveland was much different from Mitchell's, as the Dominican Republic native was a first-round draft pick out of high school in 1991. After hammering his way through the minor leagues, the kid with the sweet swing was called up for good in 1993, finally earning the starting right field spot a year later as the Indians moved into the glistening Jacobs Field.
The new ballpark ushered in a new age for the Tribe, and "Man-Ram" was right in the middle of it, beginning with his first All-Star nod in 1995 as the club made it back to the World Series for the first time since the Mitchell era. Over the course of eight seasons, Ramirez would make a total of four All-Star teams while hitting at least 30 home runs and batting .300 five times each and leading the league in slugging twice. In addition, his 165 RBIs in 1999 remain the most by any player in baseball since 1938, and he finished a close third in that year's AL MVP voting.
Over the course of his Indians career, Ramirez helped lift the team to five division titles and a pair of pennants, and his 236 homers are behind only fellow Guardians Hall of Famers Albert Belle and Jim Thome on the franchise's all-time list. Sadly, nothing lasts forever, and the slugger chose to leave Cleveland after the 2000 season and take a lucrative contract offer from the Boston Red Sox. He would receive mixed to negative receptions from Northeast Ohio fans for the rest of his career every time he returned as an opposing player.
Ramirez's success would continue in Boston with eight more All-Star appearances and a pair of World Series rings, and he also spent time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and Tampa Bay Rays before leaving MLB in 2011 with a .312 lifetime average and 555 home runs. However, his accomplishments were later tainted by multiple positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs, which led to more than 100 games worth of suspensions from the league. His steroid use is seen as the sole reason why he hasn't come close to election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his seven turns on the ballot, although there has been no concrete evidence linking him to illegal substances during his time in Cleveland.
The Indians/Guardians have enshrined 43 players and managers into their Hall of Fame since its inception in 1951, including 23 since 2006 following a 34-year hiatus. The club has also inducted eight executives, broadcasters, and others to its Distinguished Hall of Fame as contributors, most recently superfan drummer John Adams last year just months before his death at age 71.
As part of the Hall of Fame celebration, the first 12,500 fans through the gates at Progressive Field on Aug. 19 will receive a special Manny Ramirez bobblehead doll. Several of the team's past Hall of Fame inductees are also expected to be in attendance for the pregame ceremony, where Mitchell and Ramirez will have their plaques for Heritage park unveiled.