Cleveland Indians: 5 times Tribe owned members of 2019 HOF class
2. Selby is God
In baseball, the heroes get remembered, the legends never die, journeymen bounce around and grinders grind fighting to keep their spot on the 25-man roster.
Former Tribe outfielder Bill Selby falls into those final two categories, as the native of Monroeville, Ala. spent 158 of his 198 big-league games wearing an Indians uniform.
Selby’s stats won’t be talked about in the Hall of Fame, but he’ll always have the story of walking off the greatest closer in history, Mariano Rivera.
The 2002 campaign was Selby’s busiest, as he played a career high 65 big-league games. He slashed .214/.278/.396.
In those days, the Tribe had fallen on tough times. The run through the mid-to-late 1990s was over, and following a year in which the team made the postseason, the front office had decided to embark on a dramatic rebuild.
Tribe fans needed something to celebrate as the days of raising division championship pennants up the flag pole was long gone.
It was the bottom of the ninth in what looked like a sure loss with Rivera on the rubber.
The Tribe preserved though, loading the bases.
But with two outs and the Indians trailing 7-6 and Billy Selby at the dish? Well, this was going to be the easiest out of Rivera’s career.
Boom! Selby cracked a shot down the right-field line…foul. Ahh….he got his once chance and it passed him by….
Not so fast. “Selby is God” for a reason.
The journeyman who broke into the big leagues in 1996 came back to the dish and swung again, driving another shot down the line but keeping this one just to the left of the foul pole for a game-winning Grand Slam.
Rivera blew 46 saves en route to the 652 games he finished off, but Selby’s home run has to be considered the most unlikely.
Selby lives on in Indians pop culture thanks to the fan who brought a sign to a game that read: “Selby is God.” A recent podcast at The Athletic, titled “The Selby is Godcast” keep the memory alive reminding us all that anything is possible in baseball.