CLEVELAND -- John Hart is remembered fondly by Cleveland Indians fans as the man behind the most sustained run of excellence in franchise history. He built and maintained rosters that won six of seven American League Central titles from 1995 through 2001. During that stretch, the Tribe captured two pennants, established Jacobs Field as Major League Baseball's "in'' venue and stood side by side with the Atlanta Braves as one of baseball's crown jewels.
Hart moved on to the Texas Rangers 15 years ago and currently works as president of baseball operations in Atlanta, but the old Cleveland ties die hard. While he would prefer to remain a bystander when the Indians and Chicago Cubs meet in the 2016 World Series, sentiment precludes impartiality.
"My heart is still in Cleveland,'' Hart told ESPN.com. "It always has been. I love it. It was the greatest time of my life, my wife's life and our family's life. The fans embraced us. It was just a great spot. We were young and we all believed.
"I want Cleveland to win so bad. You can say 'long-suffering.' The Cubs are the leaders in long-suffering. But Cleveland got hit with the recession. It's been sort of an up-and-down roller coaster economically for the city, but it's a great town and a loyal town. I love Theo Epstein and the Cubs' story, but with every ounce of my body, I'm pulling for the Indians.''
As the Indians prepare for their first World Series appearance in 19 years -- and try to win their first title since 1948 -- they've been relegated to a sidebar in the Cubs-related national media storm. While Bill Murray was crashing a White House news conference in Cubs garb and Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder was keeping score at the National League Championship Series clincher from Theo Epstein's private box, the Indians were beating Toronto in games that started at 4 p.m. ET because they weren't deemed prime-time worthy.
As Cleveland second baseman Jason Kipnis observed after the American League Championship Series clincher, "No one picked us in the last two series, and I've got news for you: No one is picking us in the next series, either.''
Against that backdrop, it's only natural to wonder: Can this unheralded and largely overlooked Cleveland club treat Indians fans to the parade they missed when the 1995 and 1997 clubs fell agonizingly short in the World Series? Can this team redeem the juggernaut Cleveland teams that failed to get over the top against the Braves and Florida Marlins?
To dispel one misperception, the 2016 Indians are a better, more complete team than their low profile suggests. They finished second in the American League with 777 runs scored and fourth in the majors with 36 defensive runs saved. They are a fundamentally sound club with a budding franchise player in shortstop Francisco Lindor, a perennial Cy Young Award candidate in Corey Kluber and a shutdown bullpen led by Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.
But the Indians' biggest distinguishing characteristic this season has been their ability to overcome setbacks. They lost outfielder Michael Brantley, their best all-around player, to a shoulder injury after 11 games and 39 at-bats. They were always perceived as a dangerous team because of their rotation, but the pitching took a seemingly insurmountable hit in September when starters Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar went down with injuries in the span of a week. Until recently, no one could have envisioned rookie Ryan Merritt making the postseason roster, much less throwing 4 1/3 innings of shutout ball in the pennant clincher against Toronto.
The Indians batted .208 as a team and averaged 3.4 runs per game while winning seven of eight games against Boston and Toronto in the American League playoffs. It's a distinctly different Indians club than the offensive dynamos built by Hart and managed by Mike Hargrove and Charlie Manuel in the 1990s and early 2000s.
• The 1995 Cleveland team went 100-44 in a season that began three weeks late because of a player strike. The batting order consisted of Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Baerga, Eddie Murray, Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez (or Ramirez then Thome if a left-hander was pitching), Paul Sorrento and Sandy Alomar Jr. But that mind-numbing array of talent fell short against Tom Glavine and the Braves in the World Series.
• The 1997 Indians were a disappointing 86-75 during the regular season, but they still ranked third in the AL in runs thanks to 131 combined home runs from Thome, Ramirez, Matt Williams and David Justice. After knocking off the Yankees and Orioles in the playoffs, the Indians came within a Jose Mesa blown save of beating the Marlins in a seven-game World Series.
• The 1999 Indians were the first MLB team in 49 years to surpass 1,000 runs during the regular season. They were shut out only three times all year, and Ramirez's 165 RBIs were the most since Jimmie Foxx drove in 175 in 1938. But they imploded after taking a 2-0 lead over Boston in the division series and were outscored 44-18 while dropping the final three games.
Beyond their offensive firepower, the old Cleveland teams played with an attitude and an edge. Hart recalls showing up at the World Series in 1995 and being bombarded with "Hannah Storm questions'' after the perpetually irascible Belle lashed out at the then NBC reporter in the dugout. While Belle's teammates conducted themselves more professionally, they didn't lack for confidence.
"Those teams in the '90s knew they were good, they were happy to tell you they were good, and then they went out and showed you they were good,'' said Tom Hamilton, Cleveland's radio voice since 1990.
"They were almost like the bullies of the American League, and Cleveland adored that, because people were so used to being made fun of. Now, for the first time in 40 years, they could puff their chests out and say, 'Yeah, let's see what you got.' A lot of times, those games literally seemed over before they started. Opposing teams were intimidated, and if they weren't, it was 6-0 by the end of the first inning.
"This team is not that talent level, but the resiliency of this ballclub is unlike anything I've seen in my 27 years. The beauty of this club is, they're just as confident as those teams were. You can tell them, 'You can't overcome all these injuries,' and they're like, 'Really? Watch.'"
The Cleveland teams of the 1990s struck a chord with the fan base through a perfect storm of circumstances. Jacobs Field debuted at the forefront of a whole new wave of "retro'' ballparks. Cleveland's economy and downtown were making a comeback in the mid-1990s, and the Indians had the landscape largely to themselves when the NFL's Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1995. The Indians set a major league record with 455 straight sellouts from 1995 through 2001, and it stood until the Red Sox passed it in 2008 and sold out 820 games in a row.
Although the 2016 Indians registered strong TV ratings and generally drew well on the weekends, they bombed at the gate during the regular season. The Indians finished 28th in the majors in attendance with 1.59 million fans. Only the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays fared worse.
Hamilton theorizes that the city was in the throes of a Cavaliers "hangover'' after LeBron James and friends ended Cleveland's 52-year title drought in June. But even when fans began to take notice of the Indians, they were the kind of team that was best appreciated over time.
"It took a while for people to buy into this team,'' Hamilton said. "Maybe it's because it's not loaded with the star-power names that the other teams here had. And after you've done something once, you can't recapture that feeling.
"To this day, when I introduce our club on Opening Day or in the playoffs, the guy who gets the biggest cheer is Sandy Alomar. That's how much those teams in the '90s meant to Cleveland. I think those teams and the ballpark helped changed the image nationally of Cleveland. The city was no longer the late-night [TV comedy] joke. It was the first time perception changed and gave Cleveland something to be proud of.''
Alomar, Cleveland's first-base coach and a six-time All-Star catcher with the Indians during the 1990s, is one of the most prominent links to the franchise's glory years. He sees a competitive will in this year's roster that makes the Indians an eminently likable team once people get to know them.
"They're very coachable,'' Alomar said. "They're a fun group. Nobody has an ego. It's the perfect team to coach, because everybody is buying into what we bring to the table.''
If the Indians can go the distance and bring the city its first World Series victory in 68 years, they'll write the ultimate happy ending in Cleveland. But they've already done some something special: With their inspirational run through October, they've given baseball fans in the city a reason to believe again.