The Kid from Cleveland
1949 film by Herbert Kline
The Kid from Cleveland is a 1949 sports drama film starring George Brent, Lynn Bari and Russ Tamblyn, directed by Herbert Kline, and released by Republic Pictures.
The real-life Indians had just won the 1948 World Series, and many of the team's players made appearances in the film, as well as owner Bill Veeck, co-owner and former Major League Baseball star Hank Greenberg, and then current coach and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tris Speaker. Also featured were the team's then current and former ballparks, Cleveland Municipal Stadium and League Park. Several Cleveland Indians and Boston Braves players also appear in the film in archive baseball footage segments from the 1948 World Series. Footage of football of the Cleveland Browns and hockey of the Cleveland Barons is also featured.
Plot
A troubled teenaged fan is helped by his favorite baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. The kid attracts the attention of sportscaster Mike Jackson alongside Bill Veeck and Hank Greenberg, who spot him on the field imitating a baseball game after he sneaks into Cleveland Stadium on the eve of Game 5 of the World Series. A curious case of truths and lies follow after the sportscaster takes the kid to his home after he told him that he was an orphan, with the first being that he actually has a stepfather in Carl Novak, one who berates him for his running away stunt, which only helps to make Johnny seep into a life of lying and stealing. Johnny even runs away to the spring training camp of the Indians and says that Carl hit him, which leads to his assistant batboy job going away when Mike tells Carl where Johnny is. A friend lures Johnny into helping to steal a car, but a police raid and a near-stabbing stopped by Johnny leads to leniency in juvenile hall.
The public source identifies “The Kid from Cleveland” as 1949 film by Herbert Kline. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cleveland, film and Herbert.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3521469. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949 and 1948.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Kid from Cleveland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.