Did You Know? Cleveland Edition

This post is inspired by a smarmy comment made on some one else's blog, about a moment in Cleveland history...The piece was written on the infamous 10 cent beer night at the Old Municipal Stadium...10 cent Back was back on June 4, 1974, and things got Out_of_hand...

So then some Uppity Chicago boy says, "That's sooooooooooooo Cleveland." And I'm willing to bet, that he knows just a couple things about Cleveland, and that's what he's basing his comment on...If you've been here before, you know I'm not the great Cleveland defender, but damn it, at least I live here and Know what I'm talking about, and willing to give the good with the bad...

So here we go...Did you know, on average, Cleveland is Windier than the mighty "Windy City" of Chicago? True!

Did you know that it has been a big misconception that The Edmund Fitzgerald Sunk in Lake Erie? It actually sunk in Lake Superior...But that's okay...We made a beer for it!

Did You know there was professional Baseball in Cleveland before the Indians? In 1870 there was the Cleveland Forrest Citys...In 1879 the Cleveland Blues were a member of the National League...1889 came the Cleveland Spiders...A second form of the Blues became the Cleveland Naps, named for their star player and manager Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie...The team became the Indians in 1915...

Did you know, Legendary Hockey Goaltenders Johnny Bower and Gerry Cheevers played in Cleveland? Bower played for the Cleveland Barons from 1946-1953, and again in the '57-'58 season...Cheevers played for the Cleveland Crusaders from 1972-1976, alongside Cleveland High School Hockey coaching legend Bob Whidden...

Did you know the mighty Cuyahoga River caught fire on June 22 1969? Of course you did...Everyone knows that one...But did you know, this was not the first time that the river had caught on fire? Fires had also occurred on the Cuyahoga River in 1868, 1883, 1887, 1912, 1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, and in 1952...The famous pictures they always show of that famous 1969 fire, are actually from the 1952...

The one in '69 was a great deal smaller...It's okay, we made a beer for it!

Did you know that after taking down notorious Chicago crime boss, Al Capone, Eliot Ness came to Cleveland and became the City Safety Director...He was going to clean up the police department, and then move onto the real criminals...Sadly he career ended in Cleveland as he became known as the 13th victim...Ness was put in charge the gruesome "Kingsbury Run Murders"...Also known as "The Torso Murders" Checkout In_the_Wake_of_the_Butcher if you like true crime books...12 decapitated, dismembered bodies, only two victims identified, and no clue who did it...Ness never got past it, and after all those years at the Bureau of Prohibition, Ness became a raging alcoholic...He died in 1957 and his ashes were dumped in a pond, in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery...

Poor bastard...We made a beer for him too!

Did you know that Chef Michael Symon isn't the only f**king Chef in Cleveland? Hell he isn't even the best...Checkout Pete_Joyce...Rocco_Whalen...Marlin_Kaplan...For starters!

Did you know one of Cleveland's big Greek Festivals is going on this weekend, and I'll be there stuffing some lamb in my gob! Oh, and drinking some fine Cleveland Beers!?!

I could go on, but I think I'll save it, and do another one of these...

Later, The Beeze.