(Note: With Major League Baseball beginning the second half of the regular season, STN revisited Opening Day 2023 at Progressive Field. The following is an interview with Jim Stamper, the friend of the late John Adam, who was a long-time fan and “drummer” for the Cleveland organization.)
If you’ve followed the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians) over the last few decades (and beyond), you should know the name John Adams, and he wasn’t a player.
But if you don’t know who Adams is, he was the man perched atop Municipal Stadium and Jacobs Field pounding on his bass drum to support the team. Adams had been doing it for almost 50 years. But he passed away in January of 2023 at the age of 71 after battling numerous health issues.
When Adams passed away, he willed his bass drum to the Guardians. The organization sent a pair of his mallets to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
In 2022, the organization inducted Adams into the Cleveland Guardians Distinguished Hall of Fame and a replica bronze drum in his bleacher seat is on display in Heritage Park. It is the area located beyond center field at Progressive Field and it honors the greatest players in the history of the franchise.
On Opening Day of this year at Progressive Field, Adams’ longtime friend, Jim Stamper, paid tribute to his dear friend by bringing his bass drum and playing it, in honor of Adams.
