Jack Torry Informs the Club about the Indians

Jack Torry, author of Endless Summers: The Fall and Rise of the Cleveland Indians, talked to the Club about The Tribe and the baseball season just underway. Jack is a fountain of fascinating information about the city’s major league baseball team.

Jack believes the present team is a contender, though he sees Detroit as a formidable foe. He likes Terry Francona, who he says is a great strategist and can see a season whole. Jack points to other Tribe strong points as a good farm system, good momentum to building a rotation of outstanding starters, and the ability to pick good young players from other teams.

Jack looks favorably on the Cleveland market, saying it is becoming more dynamic. He also points to signs that Cleveland will continue to grow as a baseball city, two major factors being good baseball weather most of the season and an outstanding stadium.

Talk of Politics and The Indians

Jack Torry, Bureau Chief of the Columbus Dispatch, met with the Club at the National Press Club on May 22, mainly to report about an expertise of his, the Cleveland Indians. Torry believes it is one of the best managed teams in professional baseball today and does a particularly good job of working its minor league teams and developing young talent. He dismisses the attendance problems in the early spring to bad weather and predicts total attendance for the year will fall between 1.7 and 2.1 million.

Other strengths he pointed out were lots of statistics research and a very good scouting staff. He says that young talented and aggressive persons wanting to get into baseball management favor coming to Cleveland. On the down side, he believes the present team cannot deal with injuries well and that it needs better offense in some positions. He predicted that Detroit would be the strongest contender in the division.

Turning to politics, Torry said that Ohio was one of nine states that would decide the presidential election in November. This was not because Ohio has been changing but rather that other states have been, taking themselves out of contention in the process (for example, California to the Democrats and Texas to the Republicans). He believes the auto bailout issue is hurting Romney in the state but that overall Ohio tends to the right of center.

Torry said that he believed the Kucinich-Kaptur race was essentially decided on how the new district was drawn, and that he believed the Senate race would likely be very close, tilting to Sherrod Brown depending on how President Obama performs between now and the election.

The “Rust Belt” concept is over, Torry said. Manufacturing is coming back to Cleveland; it is more efficient than it used to be and employs fewer workers but produces as much as several decades ago.

Finally, Torry said that he believes Senator Portman is one of the strong favorites for being picked to be Mitt Romney’s running mate this fall.

Nick Gattozzi Informs Club on Activities in Cleveland

On May 17, the VP of Government Advocacy of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (formerly Greater Cleveland Growth Association), Nick Gattozzi, addressed the Club in the Independence Room of Squire Sanders law firm on 19th Street. Gattozzi used an informative Power Point presentation highlighting a variety of Cleveland organizations, maps, and projects. Some of the groups he reported on were MAGNET, NorTech, BioEnterprise and others working with the Greater Cleveland Partnership.

Gattozzi reported that more and more young professionals have been choosing to live downtown and that as a result more buildings are being built or renovated to accommodate them. In addition, he said that much new work was taking place along East 4th Street, including a comedy club and restaurants, namely Lola (by Iron Chef and Clevelander Michael Symon) and The House of Blues, which includes a Foundation Room. He said that the new casino downtown in the Higbee Building had a very popular opening. He also had reports on redevelopment in the Flats.

Although Gattozzi could not be sanguine about high-speed rail connecting Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, he did say that NorTech has been working with LEEDCo in working to develop wind turbines in Lake Erie (so far off shore as to be barely noticeable).

Gattozzi also showed aerial photographs of the progress of the Medical Mart and Convention Center project along with the vistas to and from the lake that the project would provide. The work is meant to be ready next year.

Gattozzi hosted scores of questions and seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Cleveland environs and lore. Members were energized by his visit and suggested a follow-up next year.

Gattozzi left literature about activities in Cleveland as well as bumper stickers.

Plain Dealer’s Steve Koff Discusses Redistricting Plan

The Club met on October 21 with the Plain Dealer’s Washington Bureau Chief Steve Koff, who gave a talk about the proposed congressional redistricting plan for Ohio that would take effect in next year’s congressional elections. Steve stood in for Columbus Dispatch Bureau Chief Jack Torry, who could not come.

Steve arrived armed with maps of the present and proposed districts. The proposed plan was created and passed by the Ohio House and Senate, both controlled by the Republicans, and approved by Republican Governor Kasich. Ohio loses two seats in the U. S. House, so its 18 districts shrink to 16 (Ohio gained population since the last census but not so fast as in other states). In the 2010 elections, the Republicans picked up five congressional seats in the state, so they were looking for new boundaries that would help them hold those districts, Steve said. In northern Ohio, the plan in some ways was balanced. Steve said that the Republican proposal more or less leaves Democrat Marcia Fudge’s 11th District a strong minority district, which she should be able to hold, though she may face a challenge from new territory her district has picked up in the Akron area. But Democrats Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur may have to square off in a redrawn district that stretches from Toledo to Cleveland’s west side.

Steve believed that Republican Steve LaTourette was safe in his district stretching from Cleveland’s eastern suburbs to the Pennsylvania line. Much of Democratic Betty Sutton’s district is shifted to Republican Jim Renacci’s district south of Cleveland; Steve sees a Sutton-Renacci matchup as very tough on Sutton. Concerning Democrat Tim Ryan, Steve believes Ryan will be safe in his newly drawn district that still holds Youngstown.

At the time of Steve’s talk, the situation was unsettled. Ohio Democrats did not like the way the districts were drawn and had won the right to take the plan to a referendum, but Steve was not sure of the outcome owing to the time restraints on a referendum and its costs. The primary election for U. S. congressional House candidates and presidential candidates will be held on June 12. The primary for the U. S. Senate candidates will be held on March 6.

The Club is very grateful to Steve Koff for making this presentation. Follow the Plain Dealer online at www.cleveland.com.

Recent Club Events

Please read stories about recent Club events in the spring. In April we met with Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who represents Cleveland's east side. In May we met with former mayor Jane Campbell, who is now the chief of staff of Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. In June we met with renowned broadcast journalist Carl Stern, who began his broadcast career in Cleveland in the 1960s. He then moved to NBC in Washington to cover law and the Justice Department. Image Galleries show photographs associated with all these Club events.