The last time the Indians won the World Series
For the first time since 1997, the Cleveland Indians are heading to the World Series.
With their 3-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, the Indians won the American League Championship Series, four games to one.
However, the Indians have not won a World Series since 1948. In 1997, Cleveland lost to the Florida Marlins in seven games and two years earlier, fell to the Atlanta Braves in six games.
Behind the Chicago Cubs 107-year World Series drought, the Indians’ 67-year streak is the second-longest active drought in MLB.
Let’s review what happened in 1948 when the Indians were last World Champions.
US President: Harry Truman
Births: Alice Cooper, James Taylor, Billy Crystal, Bobby Orr, Wolf Blitzer, Cat Stevens, Terry Bradshaw, Samuel L. Jackson.
Deaths: Mahatma Gandhi, Orville Wright, Babe Ruth.
Key dates
February 25: Communist Party takes control of Czechoslovakia.
March 14: Israel is recognized as a country.
April 3: Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which provides Western Europe with over $12 million in relief to recover from World War II.
June 11: The US launches the first monkey into space, Albert I.
July 26: Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which banned racial segregation in the US Armed Forces
August 15: South Korea is established as a country.
October 11: The Indians defeat the Boston Braves 4-3 to take the World Series in six games.
November 2: Truman defeats Thomas Dewey to remain president.
The world has changed mightily in the last 67 years. Perhaps the most significant date above that relates to 2016 is Truman's signing of Executive Order 9981. Though it didn't end segregation in America, it can be looked back at as one of the small steps that eventually led to the current and first African American president, Barrack Obama.
A person in 1948 meeting a time-traveler from 2016 would be stunned that the US had an African American president. However, that old-timer would also be surprised that the Indians have not won the World Series since 1948.
