CLEVELAND - The Cleveland Indians will miss Albert Belle's enormous presence in the lineup, the tunnel vision, the gladiator's body that never got hurt.
But GM John Hart says he's not looking back. To help fill the void, he's going after 1996 NL Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz and won't stop there.
''I can't emphasize it enough,'' Hart said. ''We have turned the page. We are not going to blink. We are not going to look back.
''They have been our chief competitor at least long as I've been here,'' Hart said of the White Sox. ''We caught them, we passed them and we're going to stay ahead of them. If the acquisition of Albert Belle and stepping up to pay 10 million bucks helps them, then that's the decision they've made.''
Indians catcher Sandy Alomar said there was no time to pout over Belle's departure.
''He wanted his money, he got it,'' Alomar said. ''I'm not going to feel sorry about him leaving because he doesn't feel sorry about leaving us.''
Some Indians fans who loved Belle can hardly wait for him to retun as a White Sox.
''He'll be booed right out of the stadium,'' Indians fan Al VanValkenberg said after hearing the news. ''The first time he comes up, they ought to check his bat.''
The White Sox confiscated Belle's bat during a game in 1994, setting off a scene straight out of ''Mission Impossible.'' Someone broke into the umpire's locker and replaced Belle's confiscated bat with one that belonged to Paul Sorrento.
Baseball officials didn't believe it, and Belle served a seven-game suspension, one of five in his pro career. It was one of many distractions that at times overshadowed Belle's tremendous production.
By now, Cleveland is used to watching its favorite players - even an entire team, like the NFL's Browns - leave town. Belle, who has said in recent interviews that he wanted to play his whole career in Cleveland, was filmed by television cameras leaving his suburban home Tuesday and getting on a plane.
They know the drill in Cleveland.
''I know I am more angry, more jaded,'' said Diane Elting of Shaker Heights. ''It's getting to the point where I don't care anymore. If the individuals who play on a team change every year, how can you have any loyalty? You don't even know who's out there anymore.''
Published Nov. 20, 1996.
