Former Cleveland outfielder Albert Belle reveals to Chris Rose why he left
Albert Belle said in an interview with Chris Rose on his podcast “The Chris Rose Rotation,” that a leak about contract negotiations may have shortened his career in Cleveland.
Belle told Rose in an hour-long interview that he and his agent negotiated with team management during spring training of 1996 and when no deal materialized, they agreed to keep word of the talks under wraps because he didn’t want to look like the fall guy.
Things did not work out that way, Belle said. The day after they agreed to silence, word got out.
“And I was like, so I ended up looking like the bad guy. I just told John Hart, I was like, let's just go in and play baseball and try to win this year and see what happens,” he said. “So, I wasn't happy about that because they had promised not to leak anything to the media and they did.”
There were other factors in play, however. It didn’t help that he viewed certain roster moves, including the team’s parting with well-respected, power hitting Eddie Murray, whom they traded to the Baltimore Orioles, as disruptors to team chemistry.
In hindsight, it may be difficult to argue against that point given Cleveland bowed out to those same Orioles in American League Division Series 3-1.
After the conclusion of the season, Belle learned of the Chicago White Sox’s interest in him.
Hart, Belle said, didn’t take the news from Belle’s agent Arn Tellem they had a then-whopping five-year, $55 million deal on the table seriously and declined an opportunity to match it.
The next day, Belle was in Chicago signing with the White Sox.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Albert Belle reveals why he really left Cleveland after 1996
