Chapman’s spirit could be guiding Tribe this year

Strange things have happened since his plaque was discovered by the Indians.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Ray Chapman’s spirit could be floating the Cleveland Indians through a season unlike any other in their history.

Strange, unexplainable, improbable, head-scratching events have surrounded this team for months, beginning almost from the moment the Indians rediscovered a lost piece of Chapman’s legacy.

Unexpected snowstorms, thrilling comebacks, unlikely heroes, invading bugs who swarmed the New York Yankees in the playoffs.

It’s been downright eerie for the Indians, who play their home games a few tape-measure home runs from the shores of Lake Erie.

And Chapman, a popular shortstop killed by a pitch that struck him in the head on Aug. 17, 1920, has hung around to witness it all.

In March, when the Indians opened Heritage Park, a walkthrough exhibit beyond the center-field wall at Jacobs Field honoring the club’s storied history, a forgotten plaque of Chapman was unveiled and mounted on a wall facing home plate.

The gorgeous, 175-pound bronze memorial had been stashed away inside a crate when the Indians moved from Municipal Stadium to the Jake in 1994. Workers discovered it while cleaning out a storage room.

Years of neglect had made the plaque’s text illegible, but it was refurbished and placed alongside those honoring Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau and other Cleveland baseball greats.

Chapman’s tragic saga had been reborn.

Things haven’t been the same for the Indians since.

UThe club’s home opener on April 6 was postponed when a freak spring storm dumped more than 2 feet of lake-effect snow on Cleveland, which until that point had been enjoying a rare, mild winter.

UThe Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on April 15 despite getting just one hit — a leadoff double in the first. They became the first team since 1952 to win when its only hit opened the game.

UCleveland played an April 28 game under protest when umpires awarded the Baltimore Orioles a run — three innings after it scored!

UFausto Carmona, ticketed for the minors before injuries to other starters put him in the rotation, began the season 7-1 and finished with 19 wins.

UAnd then came The Bug Game. Last week, millions of tiny insects called “midges,” descended upon the Jake in Game 2 of the playoffs and buzzed Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain, who threw two wild pitches in the eighth inning to help the Indians tie it 1-1 in a game they’d win 2-1 in 11 innings.

Then there’s the unforeseen role of rookie Asdrubal Cabrera in the Indians’ rise.

Called up from the minors in August, Cabrera, a shortstop acquired in a trade last season from Seattle, replaced second baseman Josh Barfield in the starting lineup and sparked Cleveland. The Indians went 28-12 when he started and 24-6 when the 21-year-old batted second.

In 1920, after Chapman was killed by a pitch from New York Yankees submarining right-hander Carl Mays, the Indians brought up a young shortstop, Joe Sewell, whose arrival pushed Cleveland to its first World Series title, a championship the Indians dedicated to Chapman.

Sewell went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

Without Cabrera, there’s no telling what would have happened to the Indians, who were scuffling along before finally pulling away from the Detroit Tigers.

Cleveland didn’t take over first place in the AL Central for good until Aug. 17 — the 87th anniversary of Chapman’s death.