CLEVELAND: As a drummer in the Black Keys, Patrick Carney is accustomed to playing in front of large crowds with singer, guitarist and friend Dan Auerbach.
The Akron natives are award-winning musicians and bona fide rock stars who have played all over the world.
On Tuesday afternoon, Carney stood in front of a different audience at Progressive Field. The Indians selected him to throw the ceremonial first pitch to open the 2016 season, and with the temperature at 34 degrees and the wind chill at 26, the wiry 6-4 right-hander took to the mound wearing a jacket, jeans and a block “C” Indians hat. He looked toward former Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. and quickly tossed a ball off the plate.
The Indians, who lost 6-2 to the Boston Red Sox, announced it as the coldest season opener in the team’s history.
“I was nervous,” Carney said. “I have been practicing, though. I dislocated and broke my shoulder last year and we had to cancel some tours. The first time after that that I threw a baseball was last summer on tour. Dan and I threw for about an hour. We take our gloves on the road.”
Carney, 35, said his arm didn’t feel too good last year after his injury, but he’s been preparing for his ceremonial first pitch by playing catch with his girlfriend, singer Michelle Branch, and his stepfather, Barry Stormer.
Branch and Stormer were in attendance along with Patrick’s mother, Mary Stormer, and Patrick’s father, former Beacon Journal reporter Jim Carney. Patrick’s stepmother, Beacon Journal reporter Katie Byard, was out of town.
“I am just happy that I kept the ball in the air,” Patrick Carney said. “It wasn’t over the plate, but it was in the air. It didn’t bounce. Yesterday before the game got canceled, Sandy Alomar told me just not to get the ball into the dirt.”
Carney, a 1998 Firestone High School graduate, was scheduled to throw the first pitch Monday, but the Indians moved the season opener to Tuesday because of cold temperatures and inclement weather.
Before Tuesday, the Indians’ previous record low for a season opener was 36 degrees in 1907.
“It is amazing to get asked to do something like that,” Carney said. “It was cool that my dad got to see it because my dad took me to my first Indians game and got me into the Indians. He is obsessed with the Indians and baseball.”
Carney grew up in Akron and played a variety of positions, including pitcher, in the West Akron Baseball League as a youth. He left Cleveland on Tuesday with a Sandy Alomar signature on a baseball and a photograph of the two of them on the field.
“It was very, very cool to see Patrick throw out the first pitch,” Jim Carney said. “I told him on the way up my dad [Bill Carney], who passed in 2010, would be dying knowing that his grandson tossed out the first pitch at an Indians game.
“This is a very sweet day for Patrick and our family.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.