For once, life imitates the movies

When the Cleveland Indians marketing department made their promotion schedule for this season, they had no idea what Mother Nature had in store. But it was fitting.

Tuesday, April 10 was designated "Wild Thing Rick Vaughn Glasses Night," and all fans in attendance at Jacobs Field were to be given replicas of the nerdy-looking black glasses that Charlie Sheen wore in the 1989 movie "Major League," which depicted the lovable-loser Indians as surprise division winners.

Then a foot of snow fell in Cleveland over the weekend, postponing all four games of a series with Seattle. The next series, against the Los Angeles Angels, was to begin Tuesday and was in jeopardy as well, so Major League Baseball moved the series to Milwaukee's domed Miller Park.

Technically, Tuesday was the first time the Indians had ever played a home game in Milwaukee. But not the fictional Indians. Because guess where were many of the on-field scenes filmed for "Major League?"

Milwaukee's old County Stadium.

So when Indians closer Joe Borowski entered the game on Tuesday nursing a two-run lead, the public address system played The Troggs' hit song "Wild Thing," a tribute to the situation, and some very good memory on the part of the Brewers' music selector. (No glasses for the Milwaukee fans, though: The Indians moved their "Wild Thing" glasses promotion to April 25.) And, with the same result as the movie 18 years ago, the Indians held on, 7-6.

By the way, "Major League" is one of the Top 10 baseball movies of all time. Check out the list.