CLEVELAND, Ohio—

A Pennsylvania family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians and several others, on behalf of 54-year-old Doug Johnson, of Greensburg, a city 25 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Johnson died a week after visiting Progressive Field in June of 2010.

“Mr. Johnson was there to look at a tribute to baseball greats on Gateway Plaza, when an inflatable slide fell on top of him,” said Attorney Alan Perer, who represents Doug’s widow, Kimberly Johnson.

According to Mr. Perer, Doug suffered several fractures to his back, when the 25 foot, 400 pound slide fell and pinned him beneath it.

After the accident, Doug was taken to the Cleveland Clinic and treated for his back injuries then released.

He returned home to Greensburg, PA, and approximately a week later, collapsed and died.

“It was a pulmonary embolism, complications caused from his injuries,” said Attorney Perer.

The lawsuit was filed December 23, 2010 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, but the family waited until now to go public with their story.

“Tomorrow is opening day and we thought since no one had reported the story, the public should know and be aware of it,” said Perer.

The family also waited to discuss the lawsuit because Kimberly Johnson was hoping the negligent parties would step up to the plate and help the family with medical and burial expenses.

“I never did hear from the Cleveland Indians after Doug died. I thought as a courtesy they would call to see how myself and the two girls were doing, but there was never any contact from them up until this day…none,” said Kimberly.

“We couldn’t get anywhere with anybody so we had to file the suit and see who’s gonna be responsible and take care of this family,” Perer

Kimberly is now raising their two teenage girls on her own.

One of the girls will be getting married in the not-to-distant future, and is very upset her father will not be there to walk her down the aisle.

“Hard isn’t the word. It’s extremely extremely painful,” said Kimberly.

Five defendants are named in the law suit: The Cleveland Indians, Gateway Economic Development Corp. of Greater Cleveland, National Pastime Sports Inc., Progressive Corp. and Scherba Industries, Inc.

In statement released Thursday, the Indians said the following:

“Mr. Douglas Johnson was on Gateway Plaza June 12 during the Cleveland Indians Kids Fun Day event that preceded the Cleveland Indians baseball game. Mr. Johnson was injured when an inflatable slide fell on him during the event. He received medical attention onsite and was taken to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was released on June 14. Mr. Johnson passed away on June 21 in Pennsylvania. The Cleveland Indians extend their condolences to Mr. Johnson’s family.

On December 23, 2010, a civil lawsuit was filed by Mr. Johnson’s family against a number of parties including the Cleveland Indians, Gateway and Progressive Insurance. It is our position that the Cleveland Indians, Gateway, and Progressive Insurance are not liable for Mr. Johnson’s death and that legal responsibility, if any, rests with other parties to the lawsuit. Since this matter is now the subject of litigation, the Cleveland Indians will have no further comment.”

However, attorney’s for the family think otherwise. The claim and investigation by the Ohio Department of Agriculture found there were safety violations.

“It wasn’t anchored. It was a windy day. People were not trained properly was another issue and there were only supposed to be 2-3 kids on the slide and it had 6-7 kids. It was a combination of errors and safety violations,” said Perer.

The family is seeking an undisclosed amount of money, but they say it’s just as important that safety measures are taken to make sure this does not happen to another family.

“We also want to know steps are taken to make sure these events are safe for the public, and that nobody else has to go through the ordeal the Johnson’s have gone through,” Perer said.

Doug Johnson’s friend is also named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. He was not physically hurt, but says he’s emotionally devastated since the death of his friend.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo does not care what many inside and outside of baseball think.

The day before the Tribe’s season opener, Choo was talking playoffs.

Asked where the Indians would finish in the American League Central Division, he said: “First in our division. Yes, first.”

A popular projection for the Indians is fourth, behind any combination of the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins.

The White Sox are the Tribe’s opponent today. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

When Choo spoke Thursday afternoon, everybody in the division was even. The Tigers were on their way to a loss to the Yankees.

“Our goal is to make the playoffs,” Choo said.

Designated hitter Travis Hafner also expressed high-octane optimism. Asked how good the Tribe can be, Pronk said: “Our goal is to win the division and make the playoffs. We have a lot of development to do, but we feel like we have the talent in the room to do it.”

To qualify for the postseason, the Indians will need to execute quite a turnaround. They went 69-93 last season and finished in fourth, 25 games behind Minnesota. They were 65-97 in 2009.

According to baseball-reference.com, the Indians have not been in first place since May 17, 2008. They spent six days in first that year en route to an 81-81 record.

Closer Chris Perez, informed Choo was thinking (very) big, said: “I wouldn’t go so far as playoffs — but we have a chance to compete. If we stay healthy and get a couple of guys up here when they’re ready, I like our team. We have a lot of energy, a lot of young guys.

“The pieces are there. We just need what every other team needs: to stay healthy and to get a couple of breaks.”

Perez said Opening Day might as well be a holiday, especially for the players, never mind that the players have work to do.

“This is what we prepared for during the whole off-season,” he said. “Everybody’s eager to get started.”

The Tribe and White Sox will play their first games that count since Oct. 3, 2010, when they faced each other at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The White Sox won, 6-5, to finish 88-74 and in second place, six back.

Indians reliever Justin Germano started and gave up five runs on seven hits in two innings. He was the first of seven pitchers to work for the Tribe.

“It stunk to end the year on that note,” Germano said. “I remember they came out hacking. You always remember your previous outing, even if it did come six months ago, so I’m looking forward to getting out there again.”

U.S. Cellular Field provided bookends to both clubs’ 2010 seasons. On April 5, White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle and two relievers held the Tribe to four hits in a 6-0 victory. Buehrle, who beat Jake Westbrook, made the defensive play of the year with a between-the-legs flip from foul territory to first to rob Lou Marson.

Buehrle will face Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona today. Carmona rallied from awful 2008 and 2009 seasons to become the Tribe’s ace last year, going 13-14 with a 3.77 ERA. He periodically pitched in hard luck.

“I can’t wait to see Fausto,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It will be his first Opening Day start; he earned it with his performance last year.”

Acta begins his second season as Tribe manager.

“We’re cold but we’re excited,” Acta said. “We had a very good camp. We had additions to our ballclub that will make us better.”

When Acta spoke with reporters mid-afternoon Thursday, the weather and the Indians’ grounds crew had begun to make tangible progress against snow that had blanketed Progressive Field on Wednesday and into Thursday morning. Indians head groundskeeper Brandon Koehnke said the total was 3-4 inches across the yard.

By 5:45 p.m. Thursday, only traces of snow in left field were visible.

“Based on the forecast and the work we’re doing, I don’t have any reason to believe we can’t be ready by Friday afternoon,” Koehnke said. “It’s going to be a long, painstaking process to get to that point, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Koehnke is not concerned about the outfield being too soggy even after the snow disappears.

“We’ve never worried about wet conditions at this ballpark, and there’s no reason to start now,” he said. “This field drains very well.”

The workouts scheduled for the White Sox and Indians on Thursday were canceled. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, always available with an opinion, delivered good-natured smack during his session with reporters late morning. At the time Guillen spoke, it was cold and snow was everywhere in sight.

“Very stupid to play in Cleveland right now,” Guillen said. “Nothing against Cleveland. We expect that. When you play in Cleveland on Opening Day . . . a couple of years ago they canceled like 30 games here. [But] we are here, and we have to play through snow.”

Perez, usually available with an opinion, fired back.

“Why not open here?” he said. “Like Chicago’s so much better. I don’t see what the big deal is. Baseball is baseball.”

Acta said there are only so many warm-weather cities to go around in March/April.

“There are only a few teams in Florida and a few teams on the West Coast,” he said. “You can’t pile up [openers] in both corners. We have to do what we have to do.”

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dmanoloff@plaind.com, 216-999-4664

CLEVELAND, Ohio – As of early Thursday afternoon, Indians head groundskeeper Brandon Koehnke said he is confident that the Progressive Field surface will be playable by Opening Day’s first pitch Friday afternoon. The Indians are scheduled to play the White Sox.

Koehnke and his crew have been busy clearing 3-4 inches of snow from the field area and foul territory.

“Based on the forecast and the work we’re doing, I don’t have any reason to believe we can’t be ready by Friday afternoon,” Koehnke said. “It’s going to be a long, painstaking process to get to that point, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt.”

Koehnke spoke shortly after his crew had removed the tarp from the infield.

“That was a major accomplishment,” Koehnke said. “We started at about 8:30 this morning. We physically removed the snow, shoveled it off.”

The tarp was moved to left field to expedite the melting of snow there.

“From here on out, we’re looking for the temperatures to rise a bit,” Koehnke said. “That will go a long way to help melt the snow in the outfield. At some point in time, though, we’ll probably need to physically remove the snow.”

Koehnke is not concerned about the outfield being too soggy even after the snow is melted or cleared.

“We’ve never worried about wet conditions at this ballpark, and there’s no reason to start now,” he said. “This field drains very well.”

Koehnke said he was surprised by the amount of snow that fell Wednesday.

“I knew we were supposed to have some flurries, but I didn’t see the accumulation (coming),” he said. “When it did start to snow, it just sat right on top of us for 3 1/2, 4 hours. Obviously, you see the results.”

The Indians’ “Snow Days” promotion in the offseason helped lead to a resodding of the outfield.

“‘Snow Days’ had an effect on the outfield, sure, but it has nothing to do with 3-4 inches of snow we got (Wednesday).”

In April 2007, the Indians moved a series against the Angels to Miller Park in Milwaukee because Progressive Field was unplayable after three days of snow.

Crowe surgery: Indians outfielder Trevor Crowe underwent an arthroscopic debridement of his right shoulder Thursday in New York City. He will return to Cleveland on Saturday and is expected to miss four months.

 

CLEVELAND – Kicked around and given little chance to contend, the Cleveland Indians might be ready to fight back this season.

Manager Manny Acta has heard all the reasons why the Indians, who lost 93 games last season, are supposed to struggle again this year. But there’s not much he can do about the team’s woes: small payroll, dipping attendance.

And there’s not much he can do about his roster. While a few of their American League Central competitors threw money around in free agency this past winter, the Indians were conservative – or cheap, as some of their fans insist.

But the enthusiastic Acta has a positive outlook on life that’s matched by his view for the Indians. He has heard the frightful predictions, and he’s not buying them.

“I expect to win,” he said. “That’s our message. I’m basing that on the second half of last season. We did well, and I’m counting on these young guys not taking a step back. They had enough experience.

“I don’t think that youth or payroll or anything should stop us from winning ballgames.”

The Indians were overrun by key injuries last season, leading to a distant fourth-place finish in the division, 25 games behind the Minnesota Twins. It’s a long climb back to the top, but Acta believes his club is poised to make it.

“We are not rebuilding,” he said. “Just because we weren’t able to land two or three of the most expensive free agents, that doesn’t mean that we’re rebuilding. We have the pieces.”

Last year, the vital pieces were broken.

All-Star center fielder Grady Sizemore, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and catcher Carlos Santana went down with major injuries, a devastating blow that gutted the defense and carved the heart out of the lineup.

The Indians promoted youngsters such as Michael Brantley, Trevor Crowe, Jason Donald, Jayson Nix, Carlos Carrasco and Josh Tomlin, unknown players who had no choice but to take their lumps while learning on the fly.

It was a rough ride, but the Indians’ 35-39 record in the second half was the division’s third best, an improvement that has the club’s front office asking for more.

Winning will be difficult enough, and the task will be tougher because the Indians won’t be whole when the season starts.

Sizemore is still recovering from microfracture left knee surgery, and it might be weeks before he’s back in center field and atop the lineup.

The locals haven’t embraced the latest Indians incarnation. The club drew just 1.3 million at home last season, a major-league low and the fewest fans in Cleveland since 1992. To get them back, the Indians need to win.

The offense has talent. Choo was the only AL player to hit .300 with 20 homers and 20 steals last season. Those numbers could swell hitting in front of Santana, who didn’t flinch when he was tossed into the cleanup spot upon his arrival from the Clippers.

Cleveland’s rotation is top heavy. Fausto Carmona must build off a 13-win season, and the club’s all-right-handed rotation of Justin Masterson, Mitch Talbot, Carrasco and Tomlin has to give Acta big innings. Chris Perez emerged as one of the AL’s top closers.

Acta sees the Indians’ glass as half full. They don’t have many stars, but he thinks they do have enough to win.

“We may have a question mark here and there, but we have some bright spots,” Acta said.

To win, the Indians need the bright spots to shine.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—The Cleveland Indians’ exhibition game against Triple-A affiliate Columbus Clippers was called after 21/2 innings Wednesday because of snow with the score tied at 1.

The temperature was 38 degrees at Huntington Park with a wind chill of 29 and snow was forming on the outfield warning track when Clippers president-general manager Ken Schnacke announced the cancellation.

In the third inning, Clippers right fielder Jordan Brown(notes) lost a flyball because of the snow and overran it before reaching back to make a catch near the wall.

Cleveland played at the ballpark for the first time since making the Clippers their top farm team in 2009.

Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera(notes) (sore right hand) was the only Indians starter not in the lineup.