No longer banging drum, John Adams’ heart for the Cleveland Guardians beats strong

FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio – “It’s all because one day I decided to bring a drum to a game.”

That’s how John Adams began his story. A baseball story. A fan’s story.

And now, a story of courage and faith.

As the Cleveland Guardians were marching to the Central Division title, Adams watched from his room at Fairview Park’s O’Neill Healthcare.

“It has been some of the best medicine for me,” said Adams. “Tito (Terry Francona), what a manager! Can you believe the job he did? Can you believe this team?”

All true.

Most Cleveland baseball fans remember Adams, banging away on his drum in the top row of the bleachers. It could have been at the old Cleveland Stadium, or at Progressive Field. Like the National Anthem, Adams was there for every home Tribe/Guardians game for nearly 50 years.

I spent a few hours with Adams on the day before the Guardians wrapped up the Central Division.

“I won’t lie, I miss it – especially the home games,” said Adams. “I was there for every game. When I went to game with the drum, I made instant friends.”

Adams has not been to a game since the final home game of 2019.

In his room at the nursing home, the walls are filled with pictures and cards from fans. Photo By Terry Pluto / Cleveland.com

AN AVALANCHE OF HEALTH PROBLEMS

In 2020, COVID-19 meant no fans in the park. The team offered to let Adams in, “but I said no. It wasn’t right if I’m there but no fans. I’ve always identified with the fans.”

Adams had no idea what was to come in 2021. He already was on dialysis for kidney failure. Then next was open-heart surgery. And a thyroid problem. And a staph infection in his heel.

“I also broke my hip,” he said. “Right now, I can’t walk. I’m not going to dwell on this.”

And he doesn’t.

“I have my pity parties,” he said. “They last about 10 minutes. Then I remind myself of all the good things that have happened – like what the team has done for me. Look around the room, all the cards fans have sent – from people I don’t even know.”

As Adams spoke, his voice cracked a bit. There were a few tears in his eyes.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “I really mean that. God has been good to me.”

John Adams bangs the drum one last time as security guards clear the bleachers after the baseball game at the old Cleveland Stadium in 1993.

UNIQUE HALL OF FAMER

On Aug. 24, Guardians Vice President Curtis Danburg led a group from the team to O’Neil Healthcare to surprise Adams with some news. He became the 12th member of the team’s Distinguished Hall of Fame. A bronze statue of the drum and his bench from the left field bleachers will be enshrined at Heritage Park at Progressive Field.

A special video honoring Adams will be featured on the scoreboard on Fan Appreciation Day (October 1) at Progressive Field.

Why did the Guardians show up to see Adams on Aug. 24?

“That was the date it all started,” said Adams. “August 24, 1973.”

Then Adams told his unique story.

“Remember those wooden seats at the old Stadium?” he asked. “Fans would bang them up and down when they wanted a rally. I was a seat-banger, too.”

Michael Trabert's office at Skoda, Minotti & Co. is all about baseball. The casual part of the office has stadium seats from the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, baseball stitch marks on the hardwood floor, a bucket of cracker jacks, and a table whose legs are made from Louisville Sluggers. The table is filled with baseball cards. These wooden seats are the kind John Adams and other fans would bang up and down to make noise at games.

HE REALLY IS A TALENTED DRUMMER

Adams also is an accomplished drummer who started playing at the age of 9. Rock. Dixieland. Blue Grass. A little classical. He can play it all. He has jammed with Jimmy Fox of the James Gang and other musical celebrities.

“Instead of banging a seat, why not bring a drum to the game and bang it?” he wondered. He decided to try it. He called the old Tribe front office with the idea. They said as long as he bought a ticket “and didn’t bother anyone,” go for it.

Remember, this was 1973. The Tribe had a 71-91 record. They drew 615,107 fans (7,594 average) for the season – only San Diego had a lower attendance in the Majors that season.

The old joke was a fan called the Cleveland front office and asked, “What time is today’s game?” The guy answering the phone said, “What time can you get here?”

A fan with a drum buying a ticket? Why not? There also were “plenty of good seats available,” as the Tribe broadcasters would say.

He attended that game on Aug. 24, 1973. Cleveland Press baseball writer Bob Sudyk spotted a guy with the drum in the bleachers. It wasn’t hard. The announced crowd that night was 5,736. The Tribe beat Texas, 11-5!

Sudyk interviewed Adams and asked if he planned to come back to the next game with the drum.

Adams said he wasn’t sure.

“Bob wrote, ‘If you want to hear a drummer, come to today’s game,’ " recalled Adams. “Then I knew I had to show up. That started it.”

Former Tribe promotion director Jackie York noticed some fans liked the drum. She asked Adams to come to every game.

From Aug. 24, 1973 until the end of 2019 season. Adams estimates he missed no more than one or two home games a season. Some years, he made them all. When it began, it wasn’t as if Adams was jumping on the bandwagon – he was the leader of his own one-man band.

Early in his drumming days, a fan wrote a letter about Adams to Chuck Heaton, who wrote the “Plain Dealing” note column in the Plain Dealer.

“The fan wanted me fired,” said Adams. “Chuck answered, ‘How can you fire a guy who isn’t paid?’ "

A few years into the endeavor, Adams was given two free season’s tickets – one for him, one for the drum. He had a special spot at the top of the Progressive Field bleachers set aside for him.

Cleveland drummer John Adams has been honored by the Guardians for his faithfulness. Illustration by Chris Morris / Advance local

FANS LOVED IT

Former Tribe broadcaster Herb Score called Adams “Boom! Boom!” or sometimes “Big Chief Boom Boom.”

In 2006, the Tribe had a John Adams Bobblehead game – fans loved it.

“I’ve met fans from every continent except Antartica – and that’s because they don’t let penguins in the game,” said Adams. “I’m serious. People from everywhere have come to up to me.”

They want their pictures taken with Adams. They want to play the drum.

“One beat,” he said. “That’s all they get.”

When outfielder Trot Nixon played for Boston, his wife walked to the bleachers, wanting to meet Adams and take a picture with him. When future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera made his farewell tour, the Yankee star met with people in every ballpark. In Cleveland, he asked, “Where’s the drummer?”

Adams started going to Tribe games as a kid, he and his father.

“I love baseball,” he said. “But I never imagined being a part of it like this – and all because of the drum.”

John Adams carries his bass drum to his bleacher seat at Progressive Field on Thursday, August 22, 2013. Adams was celebrating his 40th anniversary of drumming at Tribe games.

NEARLY 4,000 GAMES

As Adams sat in his bed, we tried to figure out how many Cleveland games he’s attended. We did some math, remembering to add in extra games for the postseason. We figured it was between 3,840 and 3,900 games.

He would like it to be 4,000. If he could drum again in 2023, it would be his 50th year.

Like most fans, baseball is not his job. He worked at AT&T for 42 years “until I was laid off in 2016,” he said. He was 65 at the time, so he decided to retire from the phone company. But he still taught his Cleveland State aquatic class for people with disabilities. He wasn’t paid for that, either. He’s been involved in various charities.

“That’s the hard part, I miss the people,” he said. Adams is divorced and has no children.

He remembered his father John Adams Sr. taking him to games. They took the Number 15 bus down Union Avenue. He lived on East 103rd and Orleans.

“You walk up the ramp at the old Stadium and you’d see the green grass and the lake (Erie),” he said. “I was like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz where everything in black and white suddenly turned to color. I can close my eyes and still see it.”

We talked about faith for a while. Adams calls himself “A Kosher Catholic – my mother was Jewish, my father was Catholic.”

Adams has been in the nursing home for nearly a year. He sometimes thinks about getting out, but the health issues are significant. He prayed and talked to God about it.

“I heard I should do what I do best,” he said. “Talk to people. Encourage them, especially the people working here. Sometimes, you catch them on a bad day. I do best when I’m closer to God, when I make the people around me feel better.”

Before I left, I prayed with Adams. He said he appreciated it. Then a final thought came to him. He recalled the various venues and television shows where his full drumming talents were displayed.

Then he laughed, thinking about drumming in the bleachers.

“I could take a monkey and teach him to play the drums like I do at the games in five minutes,” he said. “And that’s what I’m known for. It all happened because one day I brought a drum to a ballgame.”

WANT TO SEND JOHN ADAMS A NOTE?

John Adams

O’Neill Healthcare Nursing Unit

20770 Lorain Avenue

Fairview Park, Ohio 44126

HEAR ME TALK: I will be speaking at the Uniontown Library on October 4 at 6:30 p.m. I take questions, meet fans and sign books. It’s free!

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