At almost every Cleveland Indians home game since August 25, 1973, a man named John Adams has played a bass drum in the last row of the left field bleachers. That summer, a 21-year-old Adams brought his drum to Cleveland Stadium because he wanted to participate in the tradition of banging on seats to make noise during the game, but he preferred to sit in the bleachers, where there are no seat backs to bang. A local reporter noticed Adams with his drum and asked whether he’d be back to drum at the next game. As the story goes, Adams said no, but the reporter wrote that Adams would indeed be back. So out of a sense of obligation, Adams returned for the next game, and then the next, and then the next. He’s kept it up for nearly half a century, missing only about 45 games in the past 48 years.