Denied the first pitch, Sheen's Ricky Vaughn may be at Game 7 for Indians-Cubs

CLEVELAND, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Before the World Series started, actor Charlie Sheen sparked an enormous social media campaign when he said he'd be honored to toss out a ceremonial first pitch as a nod to one of his most popular cinematic characters -- Cleveland Indians ace reliever Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn from the Major League movies.

The franchise turned to someone else for the honorary duty for games one, two and six. The team gave that job to former Indians slugger Jim Thome for Wednesday's deciding Game 7, but it appears Sheen will also be there.

The actor, 51, delivered the news on his Twitter page Wednesday.

"FEAR NOT, "BELIEVE"LAND!! My bag is packed, and help is on the way!!" he tweeted, with the hash #GetMeVaughn," a quote from the first film.

It wasn't immediately clear what role, if any, other than perhaps simply attending the game Sheen might have. it also wasn't clear whether the team plans to acknowledge him in some way during the game.

The comic Major League films -- which chronicled the ups and downs of a lowly Indians franchise -- were each box office successes upon their respective releases in 1989 and 1994.

Sheen is primarily a Cincinnati Reds fan but has also adopted the Indians as a personal favorite, owing to his role as the hard-throwing, heavy metal-inspired Vaughn.

Last week, Sheen posted a video to Twitter that showed him watching a clip from the first film and standing up, in full Rick Vaughn attire, and saying, "go Tribe!"

Ever since Sheen was declined a first pitch, many fans of the Cleveland Indians and the Major League films have been campaigning for the actor's inclusion in some way. After Wednesday's news, some were grateful simply to have a counterweight to the attention paid to Cubs megafan Bill Murray, who led the crowd in the ceremonial singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field in Game 4.

"Could you please punch Bill Murray in the face? Thanks," one person joked in his Twitter reply.

Game 7, the last of Major League Baseball's championship series, will begin at 8:08 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Progressive Field in Cleveland, and be broadcast nationally by Fox.