CLEVELAND (AP) — Shane Bieber's homecoming at Progressive Field gave him all the warm and fuzzy feelings he had hoped. It was perfect — except for one thing.
He didn't get to pitch.
“I was definitely looking forward to that,” Bieber said Tuesday. "But it will happen. I trust it will happen at the right time.”
Bieber, who won the AL Cy Young while pitching for Cleveland in 2020, made his first trip back to face the Guardians since the club traded him to Toronto last season. The 31-year-old said it felt “odd” walking up the steps into the visitor's dugout and he was certain that watching the game from the other side would be different.
But Bieber, who's currently on the injured list with an elbow issue, was savoring the chance to catch up with former teammates, coaches and others. He spent nearly an hour on the field holding court behind the batting cage, sharing hugs, laughs and long embraces with friends he considers family.
“It’s a great place to come back to," Bieber said. "It’s odd thinking that it’s only been a year and it’s odd to thinking that it’s already been a year. But I’m happy to be back. It’s been awesome. A lot of great memories and the support from 2018 to 2025 was very special and that I cherish.
"It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time.”
He had also been looking forward to getting back on the same mound where he was selected the All-Star Game MVP in 2019. But after shutting down Tampa on Aug. 20, Bieber was placed on the IL with elbow inflammation.
It has been a familiar theme over the past few years for Bieber, who went 62-32 in 134 starts for Cleveland. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024. With his free agency pending, the Guardians traded him to the Jays last season for pitching prospect Khal Stephen.
Bieber said memories of his time with the Guardians came flooding back.
“There’s too many,” he said when asked if one stood out. "Any playoff game. Any playoff push. The draw throughout the summer. The drum beat. The special crowds. The All-Star Game here in 2019 is very special and I hold that one near and dear to my heart. If you asked me to rank them, I’d have a real hard time but that one would be toward the top.”
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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
MADRID (AP) — In crowded subway cars and sun-drenched plazas, an old-fashioned accessory in Spain has been everywhere thanks to the blistering summer heat.
Small enough to fit into a purse, the traditional Spanish folding hand fan, or abanico, snaps open into a semicircle. With little more than a flick of the wrist, it creates a surprisingly strong breeze.
As successive heat waves in Western Europe pushed temperatures this summer to punishing levels, the accessory has become essential, embraced by the young and old from Spain and elsewhere. Women — and a growing number of men — unfurl them on public transport, at concerts and at music festivals. In July, rainbow-colored abanicos were everywhere during Madrid’s raucous Pride celebrations.
On a recent August day, 20-year-old Ana Feliu blocked the sun with a paper abanico she was gifted during a Valencian festival. She carries it everywhere in the summer, she said.
“This one is my favorite because it's the biggest, but I have many more,” she told The Associated Press near Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square. Later in the week, temperatures in the Spanish capital were expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).
Also fanning himself was David González, whose abanico featured pinks, purples and reds.
“At first, I felt a little self-conscious, because it’s something that’s mainly associated with women, but I have to admit it serves a purpose — and it brightens my day,” said González, 53.
Historians believe the folding fan reached Europe through Portuguese maritime trade with Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries.
As early as the mid-17th century, the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez made his enigmatic "The Lady with a Fan," in which a woman, possibly French, poses with what appears to be a delicate wooden abanico.
As they grew fashionable in European courts, Spain developed a taste and industry of its own. Madrid became an important center of production, and by the 18th century, Valencia had emerged as the Spanish fan-making capital.
“During the 18th century, the printing industry really took off. And printing meant that the leaves of fans could be produced quite cheaply,” said Mary Kitson, curatorial consultant to The Fan Museum in London.
So embedded was the abanico in Spanish aristocratic society by the 1800s that women used them to discreetly express flirtation, interest or disapproval through what was called “the language of the fan.”
From Spain, the hand fan traveled to Latin America. In the 19th century, flamenco dancers began using the abanico as an expressive prop, as Cuban song and dance styles such as the guajira influenced the dance form. Over time, the fan’s association with flamenco helped turn it into a quintessential Spanish symbol.
“The fan is a perfect element because, on the one hand, it evokes the heat and humidity of Cuba — that heavy, oppressive feeling,” said Carmen Torres, a 44-year-old flamenco dancer in southern Spain. “And at the same time, it gives us a way to bring out the seductive, coquettish quality.”
For more than a century and a half, Javier Llerandi’s family has sold abanicos out of Casa de Diego, a wood-paneled shop in Madrid.
“We live from the heat,” Llerandi told the AP.
The fans at Casa de Diego are made in Spain and range from simple two-tone wooden ones to elaborate, hand-painted items crafted from mother-of-pearl with intricate floral patterns. They start at around 30 euros ($35), while others range from 200 to 500 euros (up to $580), with some high-end pieces reaching 6,000 euros (nearly $7,000). The price depends on the materials used, but even more so on the craftsmanship involved, he said.
As Madrid has grown into a tourist hot spot, foreign visitors are also snatching up his fans, which Llerandi notes are more reliable than their portable, electric counterparts.
“Battery-run items eventually run out of power, and always at the worst possible moment,” Llerandi said, adding with a smile: “Without a doubt, heat waves are good for this business.”
And for the less discerning customer, plastic fans with printed designs are sold for a few euros at souvenir kiosks, including one a couple hundred meters from Llerandi's store. There, too, a salesperson reported strong sales this summer.
Outside a towering bullfighting ring in Madrid, Juani Duran sells wooden hand fans with traditional floral designs for five euros apiece at a stall. Bullfights take place in open-air stadiums, and spectators traditionally dress up to attend them, making the elegant fans a fitting accessory.
“You’ll usually find a hand fan in any woman’s pocket — and in some men’s, too,” Duran said before a late-August bullfight.
“They're not the best quality,” she said, pointing at her stock, "but they'll get you through the summer."
Associated Press photographer Laura León in Seville, Spain, contributed to this report.
A man uses a fan to cool off during the La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Malaga at the Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Mass-produced fans featuring tourist images of Seville are displayed in a shop window in Seville, Spain, on Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Leon)
Carmen Torres, a professional flamenco dancer, rehearses a guajira, a flamenco style that traditionally incorporates the use of a fan, in Seville, Spain, on Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Leon)
Fans are displayed at Casa Diego, a fan shop in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A street vendor sells fans near the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A woman uses a fan to cool herself on the subway in Madrid, Spain, on Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
