Mailbag: Lamenting Tribe's start

My good friend Jeff Brown sent me this e-mail recently:

Not only is the Tribe stinking up the joint in their ill-fated attempts to play baseball so far this season, but [last] week they set a new record -- the lowest single-game attendance for a game at Jacobs Field = 11,408.

Steve, remember the early days of Jacobs Field, when it was difficult to even get a ticket? When they sold out every single game several years running?

Obviously, those days are long, long gone, my friend.

This is beginning to remind me of the old days at Cleveland Municipal Stadium when they drew about 5,000 fans per game in the cavernous 80,000 seat stadium, and you could hear the beer vendors voices echoing off the empty parts of the stadium.

What has become of our beloved Tribe, Steve?

You know, they're not playing badly, except for the bullpen. It's amazing how much that one phase of the game can influence the won-lost record, given that those pitchers generally only pitch one-third or so of the total innings in a season. The offense is slumping a bit right now, though.

That attendance figure is emblematic of the fact that the Indians no longer play in a new ballpark, they are no longer an elite franchise, and with the Cavaliers' ascension and the Browns' continued (albeit pathetic) existence, the demand is no longer there for Indians tickets. Also, we had crappy weather that day. Regardless, I'm sorry to say that what we'll see in the future will probably be closer to those old days at the Stadium than the early days of the Jake, at least in terms of attendance. No, I don't think we'll go four decades between playoff appearances again, if only because there are eight playoff teams now; but we certainly won't be able to afford one of the top-five payrolls any time soon.