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In 2004, Mike Hargrove threw out the first pitch at the Indians' home opener. He'll do it again this season. But will he be modeling Chief Wahoo?

(Chuck Crow / The Plain Dealer)

Will he or won’t he?

Will Mike Hargrove don one of his old Chief Wahoo caps when he throws out the ceremonial first pitch to Sandy Alomar this afternoon at Progressive Field? Or will the “Human Rain Delay” play it safe and go with the neutered block C?

Will the former skipper take a position on the raging politics of a hat, and an image, simply by sporting Wahoo atop his still fairly impressive mane?

Or will he be part of the steadily rising drumbeat to divorce Wahoo from the tradition of all things Tribe and its regalia?

Would Vegas even take odds on this proposition?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Kevin Rhomberg, sometimes called the most superstitious athlete ever to play the game and who last suited up for the Indians in 1984, was talking about Wahoo at breakfast Thursday morning. He laughed when the question came up about Wahoo and whether Hargrove would walk to the mound with the chief on his dome.

“I honestly don’t know,” said Rhomberg, who briefly played with Hargrove in the early 1980s.

“Mike is not really political. He’ll probably wear whatever they (management) ask him to wear, whatever brand they’re trying to promote. But it’s a good question.”

The Wahoo question, according to Rhomberg, is occasionally broached in conversations among former players. And when it comes up, most players are still loyal to the chief even though they appear to have reconciled themselves to the fact that they are watching the systematic dismantling of the image of a brand.

“I guess I understand both sides of the argument," Rhomberg said. "But if I were a Native American, I think I would be proud to be associated with a major league brand, a name that is recognized all over the world.”

“But I’m not Native American, so it’s a tricky question.

"What I do know is that it has become harder and harder to know and understand what is or is not socially acceptable anymore.

“I’m not trying to be funny, but at what point will we take, 'In God we Trust' off our money?

“Where does all of this stop? We are in a strange place culturally. And it will be interesting to see how history records and remembers us.”

Rhomberg received the infamous nickname “Touch me, Touch me” by Hargrove, because of the utility player's well-known aversion to being touched. If someone tapped him, he had to tap him back. He approached the plate the same way each time, like many players. But more than most, he craved extreme consistency in the way he lived his life and went about his work.

But what some interpreted as superstitions or perhaps behavioral disorders, Rhomberg considered practiced and focused discipline.

Now the owner of Super Joe’s Baseball and Softball Academy in Painesville Township, as well as the Lorain County Ironman Baseball Club (for collegiate baseball players), Rhomberg believes he recognizes this kind of discipline in this year’s version of the Cleveland Indians.

“They’re building a culture of winners over there, and it starts at the top with the owners and with the coaching. They’re definitely going to be competitors. Anything can happen.”

Other than his children and grandchildren, there are few things that Rhomberg says he enjoys more than teaching a kid how to confront his weakness at the plate. He enjoys teaching and coaching a young player how to create a disciplined approach to hitting a curve ball or an inside fastball.

“Successful baseball is a lot like successful life. It all boils down to consistency which results from repetition of good and productive patterns.”

Which somehow leads us back to Wahoo.

Like Rhomberg, I think the chief is an unfortunate anachronism caught in an avalanche of shallow political correctness. He’s definitely fading before our very eyes. But if we’re going to kill him, it would be fitting to see a beloved former Indian like Hargrove (player and manager) offer a silent tribute to Wahoo from the mound this afternoon.

What about it Skipper?

Care to send Wahoo off with a perfect strike down the middle of the plate?

At least one of your old teammates is hoping you do.