Cleveland Baseball Insider

Longtime Cleveland Guardians Fan Immortalized In Baseball History

John Adams, who drummed at more than 3,700 Cleveland home games, will have his signature drum displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum soon.

Logan Potosky

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For many years, fans attending Cleveland Guardians games would hear the same sound time and time again when the team was rallying at home.

That sound was longtime fan John Adams banging on his signature drum in the Cleveland bleachers.

While this was a well-known ballpark fixture for the Guardians and their fans, baseball fans from around the world will now know his significance to baseball history.

This past Monday, the team shared that Adams’s drum is now at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where it will soon be displayed.

The drum is now officially on display in New York.

Adams passed away earlier this year at the age of 71 due to various health issues, and the Guardians honored him both before and after his passing.

In August of 2022, it was announced that Adams would be inducted into Cleveland’s Distinguished Hall of Fame. The team installed his Progressive Field bleacher seat and a bronze replica of his drum in the stadium’s Heritage Park.

Apr 30, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians fan John Adams beats a drum in center field during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Progressive Field / © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Then, the Guardians wore a commemorative John Adams jersey patch twice this season. First for their home-opener, and then for their August 24th game, which was the 50th anniversary of Adams’s first game drumming for Cleveland.

He began drumming at Cleveland games on August 24th, 1973. 

Eventually, Adams and his drum became a staple at both Cleveland Municipal Stadium and Jacobs/Progressive Field, as he ended up banging his drum at more than 3,700 of the team’s home games.

His legacy will now live on not just in Cleveland’s Hall of Fame, but in the Hall of Fame for the game of baseball itself.

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Logan Potosky
LOGAN POTOSKY

Logan Potosky is an aspiring play-by-play sports broadcaster who, to date, has called approximately 350+ hours of professional, college, and high school sporting events. He is currently the Play-by-Play Broadcaster for the Lake County Captains, the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2023 with a degree in Communication, with a concentration in Digital Media, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.

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