This is the first of a 2-part conversation with Paul Hoynes, who has covered Major League Baseball in Cleveland since 1983. We hit some of the “Hoynsie” greatest hits, including the Hawk Call and the tale of two belts. He tells us about working in hometown, competing (and laughing) on the beat with friends, and riding the rush of deadline. Hoynsie puts us in cavernous Municipal Stadium when the stands were mostly empty and the team was awful in the 1980s. Hear about advice he took from Joe Carter, scuffling with Mel Hall, and sailing the choppy waters around Albert Belle. We even work in a football story: Red Right 88. Sorry, Browns fans.

Part 2 comes out April 24 and that episode will pick up when the Indians, now known as the Guardians, began their glorious run in the 1990s.

Hoynes has been a Guardians/Indians beat writer since 1983 for The News-Herald (1983-84), The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com (1985 to present). His “Hey Hoynsie” column has been a longtime favorite of readers in northeast Ohio. He is past president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and The Press Club of Cleveland inducted Hoynes into the Club’s Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013. Before becoming a baseball writer 41 years ago, he covered the Browns, Cavaliers and high school sports for The Cleveland Press, News-Herald, and Painesville Telegraph. Hoynes was born and raised in Cleveland, and he earned a journalism degree from Marquette University. 

You can follow Paul on X: @hoynsie

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