Long before I became an Indians fan and long before I set foot in the 216, there was man who brought a large drum to a baseball game. His name was John Adams. Although he shared a name with the second president of the United States, his legacy was not in politics, but rather at the ball park.
In 1973, John Adams decided to bring a large drum to Municipal Stadium. Whenever the Indians came to bat, he pounded the drum. No matter where you were sitting in the stadium, you could hear it. John wasn't planning on bringing it every game he attended, but the Indians realized how valuable he could be and asked him to return. So he did.
Game after game, John brought that drum. It's steady "thom thom thom" riveting through the ballpark, rallying the boys of summer to make some magic happen. John and his drum were there at many an amazing moment including Len Barker's perfect game in 1981. When the Indians moved to their new home at Jacob's Field in 1994, so did John and his drum. He was there at the heart of it all in the 1995 and 1997 World Series, adding to the already wild atmosphere.
I first heard of John July 9th, 2004. I had lived in Cleveland for barely a year and was attending my first ever Major League Baseball game. I was there with a large summer camp of 1000 people. In the first inning when the Indians were at bat, I heard a "thom thom thom". I assumed it was coming over the PA system. But I was dearly mistaken. Someone pointed John out to me. As I was seated in the nosebleeds in right field, I squinted through the sun over to the bleachers. There at the top, just below the scoreboard was John, pounding his drum. I thought two things in that moment. The first was how cool it was that they let a guy bring in a large drum and the second was I realized what it sounded like. The heartbeat of the stadium.
As time went on, I fell more in love with the game of baseball. As I attended more games, I grew to appreciate that piece of the atmosphere. And since John rarely missed a game, if he and his drum were absent, it felt like something important was missing. I've had so many memorable moments at that ballpark and John was part of nearly every one. One of my most cherished was a game from 2009. October baseball was less than a week away and every game counted. I was sitting in the bleachers, a few rows from where John and his drum held down the fort. The game was against the Baltimore Orioles and it was a slugfest. Late in the game, the Indians were down by one run, but they had something brewing. There some crowd pumpers in the lower section of the bleachers, rallying us to start The Wave. We tried three times and each time it would get a little further, but ultimately die out. As we did, John kept pounding his drum. Then the main pumper encouraged us to attempt The Wave one last time. He counted us down. When he hit zero, we went up, John banged the drum, and The Wave rolled. Right as it reached home plate, and with John's rhythm keeping pace, the Indians smashed the ball to center field, scoring two. The crowd exploded, the heartbeat pumped, and those two runs were enough to win the game. What I witnessed was a magical moment and the stuff of legend.
For nearly five decades, John played that drum. And the incredible thing is that in the 47 seasons he played the drum at the ballpark, he only missed about 45 games. That equates to slightly over 3,800 games that you could hear that wonderful drum at the game! That's truly an incredible feat.
Today, January 30, 2023, John Adams passed away as his health was in decline. Who knew that when one man decided to bring a massive drum to a game, that he would become a beloved Cleveland icon. A man who drum beat for sons and daughters, who became fathers and mothers and brought their sons and daughters, who became grandfathers and grandmothers, who brought their sons and daughters and their grandchildren. John and his drum brought joy and many wonderful memories to thousands of baseball fans who walked through the the gates of both Cleveland Municipal and Jacob's Field. A Clevelander would tell you that Cleveland baseball and John Adams went together like peanut butter and jelly. And while his drum no longer plays at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, it beats on in the memories and hearts of all those who witnessed it in their lifetimes. John Adams, not only a Cleveland fan, but a Cleveland Legend. Rest in peace.
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