The afternoon game — in which 47 players took part — lasted 6 hours and 36 minutes. The Indians’ previous time record was 6 hours and 30 minutes in a game against Boston that lasted 19 innings on Opening Day on April 11, 1992. Minnesota’s previous record was 6 hours and 17 minutes against Cleveland on August 31, 1993, in the Twins’ Metrodome. That game lasted 22 innings, which was also the longest by innings in the Indians’ history.1

Both teams scored freely during the first eight innings, which ended with a 9-9 tie. And then the game went scoreless for the next eight innings before the Indians scored in the bottom of the 17th.

The Twins’ Kevin Tapani and the Indians’ Dennis Martinez were the starting pitchers for the contest. Forty-year-old Martinez had won his first two games of the season, holding opponents to two earned runs in 13 innings pitched, while Tapani had one losing decision in his two starts and had yielded six earned runs in 13 innings.

The Indians scored first in the bottom of the first inning when Kenny Lofton led off with a double and Eddie Murray drove him home with a single. In the top of the second, Martinez served up a two-out solo home run to Bernardo Brito to tie the score.

The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third as Alex Cole singled to score Pat Mears, who had tripled. In the bottom half of the inning, the Indians wreaked havoc on Tapani with five runs on an RBI single by Carlos Baerga, a double by Albert Belle, a three-run home run by Murray, and a solo home run by Manny Ramirez (his fifth of the young season). The homer chased Tapani from the game.

Behind 6-2, the Twins tried to mount a rally in the top of the fourth. Martinez gave up two doubles and hit two batters, but managed to escape with only one run scored on Scott Leius’s double. The Twins had the bases loaded when Martinez retired the side with the score 6-3.

Martinez continued to struggle in the fifth inning, yielding two singles before being replaced by reliever Dennis Cook. Cook walked Dave McCarty to load the bases. Jason Grimsley replaced Cook and struck out two batters to retire the side.

Eddie Guardado, who had relieved Tapani in the third, kept the Indians from scoring in the fourth and fifth innings. But he ran into trouble in the sixth and was replaced by Kevin Campbell after the first two batters reached base. (Omar Vizquel singled and Baerga walked.) Belle’s single scored Vizquel, and Ramirez followed with a single to score Belle. The Indians now led 8-3.

The Twins weren’t packing their bat bags just yet, as they rebounded with their own five-run inning in the top of the seventh. Cole led off the inning with a single to center field. Kirby Puckett followed with his second homer of the year. Marty Cordova walked and McCarty smacked a two-bagger. A two-out double by Matt Walbeck resulted in two more runs. Right-hander Julian Tavarez relieved Grimsley and gave up a run-scoring single to Pat Meares. The inning ended in an 8-8 tie.

In the top of the eighth, Cordova broke the tie with a two-out solo home run to deep left field. The Indians came back in the bottom of the inning with their own solo home run by Murray off Dave Stevens.

Eric Plunk, the Indians’ sixth pitcher, who had entered the game in the eighth inning, retired the Twins in order in the top of the ninth, and Stevens got the Indians out in their half allowing only one hit.

The Twins squandered a chance in the 10th inning when Marty Cordova struck out to end the inning with two men on base. In the top of the 13th, the Twins mounted a threat on a hit and two walks, but were unable to push across a run when third baseman Jim Thome and first baseman Paul Sorrento made great fielding plays.2

Indians reliever Jim Poole entered the game in the top of the 14th inning and struck out the side, then went three more innings and held the Twins to one hit.

Mark Guthrie, making his seventh relief appearance of the season, came into the game in the 16th as the Twins’ ninth pitcher. He held the Indians scoreless, and Poole retired the Twins in order in the top of the 17th inning. In the bottom of the inning, Guthrie gave up a single to Ramirez. He struck out Alvaro Espinoza, and Ramirez stole second base on Guthrie’s first pitch to Jesse Levis. On the next pitch Levis cued a roller off the end of his bat. Twins third baseman Leius fielded it cleanly but Levis beat out his throw to first, as Ramirez advanced to third. The Twins’ infielders moved up for a possible play at the plate, but on Guthrie’s first pitch to Kenny Lofton, in the center fielder’s 10th at-bat, Lofton hit Guthrie’s fastball up the middle against a to score Ramirez with the walk-off tally of the 10-9 game. Afterward, Lofton said about his game-winning hit, “When I got the hit, I felt relief. I was so tired, I didn’t even want to run to first.”3

Twins manager Tom Kelly lamented the loss: “Those games aren’t good for anybody, or anything. People say they’re good for the fans, or good for the game, but they’re just awful. The hitters lose their focus and the game just falls apart.”4

Poole got credit for his first win of the season, while Guthrie took his first loss. The teams used a total of 17 pitchers. They collected 44 hits and 14 walks between them, and left 39 runners on base. The Twins tied a team record by having four batters hit by pitches.5 The Twins were led by Cordova with four hits and Cole with three. Lofton, Murray, and Belle each had four hits for the Indians, while Baerga and Ramirez each had three.

Murray’s two homers gave him 462 for his career, one behind teammate Dave Winfield, who was 19th on the all-time home-run list.6

Four days later, when the Indians defeated the Baltimore Orioles, they moved into first place in in the AL Central Division and never relinquished the lead the rest of the season. The Indians wound up winning the division by 30 games over the Royals. They swept the Boston Red Sox in the Division Series and defeated the Seattle Mariners in six games to take their first American League pennant since 1954. The Indians lost to the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.

Sources

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author also consulted:

Baseball-Reference.com: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE199505070.shtml

Retrosheet.org: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B05070CLE1995.htm

1996 Cleveland Indians Media Guide.

1996 Minnesota Twins Media Guide.

Notes

1 Dennis Manoloff, “Long Day’s Journey Ends in Win,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 8, 1995: 1D.

2 Jim Souhan, “The Longest Day: Twins Lose in 17,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 8, 1995: 5C.

3 Manoloff.

4 Souhan, 1C.

5 Ibid.

6 Manoloff.

Cleveland and Toronto split the first two games of the three-game set at Jacobs Field. Al Leiter shut out the Indians, 5-0. Dennis Martinez came back the next day to raise his record to 5-0, shutting out the Jays, 3-0.

Toeing the rubber for the visitors in the third game was David Cone, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in 1994. Pitching for his hometown team, the Royals, Cone posted a 16-5 record with a 2.94 ERA in the strike-shortened season. But on April 6, 1995, just after the strike was settled, Cone was dealt north to the Blue Jays. Moving Cone and his $5 million salary was not a surprise. The Royals were dumping high salaries; a day before trading Cone, they sent center fielder Brian McRae to the Chicago Cubs. The Cone deal was a lopsided one for sure, as it brought utilityman Chris Stynes and two players who never made it to the big leagues to K.C. The change in scenery did not deter Cone, who was 4-3 with a 3.12 ERA in the rather young season.

Cleveland countered with Jason Grimsley. Grimsley, who was from, of all places, Cleveland, Texas, was a spot starter who had bounced between the Indians and their affiliates over the last few years. Grimsley might be best known for deception, and not while he was on the mound. On July 15, 1994, White Sox manager Gene Lamont was tipped off that Indians slugger Albert Belle was using a corked bat. In the first inning, plate umpire Dave Phillips confiscated Belle’s bat and it was placed in Phillips’ locker in the umpires’ dressing room. Since all of Belle’s bats had cork in them, Grimsley grabbed a Paul Sorrento model, doctored it some and crawled his way above the ceiling tile from the Indians’ clubhouse to the umpires’ room. Grimsley crawled around the cinder block, through a maze of air-conditioning units, and wires using a flashlight to make the switch. It took him over an hour and a half and 5½ innings to make the round trip. The break-in and the heist were immediately detected by the White Sox officials. Eventually, the Indians handed Belle’s bat over to the umpires. Belle’s bat was taken, x-rayed, cut open, and cork was found. Belle was suspended seven games for his actions. Grimsley was not fined or suspended, and it was five years before his caper came to light.

Toronto, which had won back-to-back world championships in 1992 and 1993, was indeed a formidable outfit. The 41,688 folks who crammed into Jacobs Field that day were believers from the get-go. Grimsley walked the first three Blue Jays he faced in the first inning and Toronto sent 11 men to the plate, scoring seven runs. Former Indian Joe Carter drove in a pair and Shawn Green followed with a three-run round-tripper. Grimsley lasted a mere third of an inning as the Jays kicked sand in the Indians’ faces. “If I had gone around and taken a poll with Cone on the mound for the Blue Jays, I would’ve said the game was over,” said Tribe skipper Mike Hargrove.1

Chad Ogea relieved Grimsley. The teams each scored a run in the third inning, and Toronto led 8-1. The tally by the Jays was the only blemish on Ogea’s stat line for the afternoon.

The Tribe started to mount a comeback in the fourth and fifth innings. Kenny Lofton singled home two runs in the fourth, while Eddie Murray hit a two-run homer, his seventh of the season, in the fifth.

Belle singled home another run in the sixth, and with the score 8-6, Cone was done for the day. He was relieved by Tony Castillo, who shut the Tribe down over the next 2⅔ innings. “I just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” said Cone. “There were a couple of turning points to the game. Lofton’s two-out hit and Murray’s two-run homer got them back in the game. I couldn’t really negotiate my split-finger, and I threw a lot in the dirt. … It’s a shame to waste that lead.”2

Toronto’s 8-6 lead held until the bottom of the ninth, when Carlos Baerga led off for Cleveland. He was thrown out on a bunt attempt by Castillo. Jays skipper Cito Gaston then summoned right-hander Darren Hall into the game. Hall had led the Blue Jays in saves with 17 in 1994, and he was expected to pick up where Castillo had left off. It was not to be.

Belle singled and took third base on Murray’s hit to right field. Alvaro Espinoza ran for Murray, but was erased on a fielder’s choice, Belle scoring on the grounder by Jim Thome. On a first-pitch fastball by Hall, Paul Sorrento smacked a home run to right field, the baseball landing several rows deep. The Indians dugout emptied out on to the field in celebration. It was Sorrento’s 12th home run of the season and capped the comeback by the Tribe, their seventh such victory so far in the season. “Someday, the comebacks are going to stop,” said Hargrove. “But this has been going on for a year and a half.”3

Sorrento was the hero of the hour, but it was Ogea holding the Blue Jays at bay for 6⅔ innings that allowed the Indians to creep back into the game. He was followed by Julian Tavarez, who pitched two innings of one-hit ball to claim the win. “When I first hit it, I thought it was way out,” said Sorrento. “But the wind kind of swirls. It’s kind of weird. I looked out, and I had to start running a bit.”4  

The win catapulted the Indians to win their next five games, and nine of their next ten. They were on their way.  

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho. To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Notes    

1 Amy Rosewater, “Deep Hole, Long Climb, Sorrento’s Home Run Caps 9-Run Comeback,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 5, 1995: 1D. 

2 Amy Rosewater, “Cone Lets Big Lead Get Away,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 5, 1995: 5D.

3 Rosewater, “Deep Hole.”

4 Ibid.

Hershiser’s career was at a crossroads in 1995. Two years after winning 23 games, tossing a big-league-record 59 scoreless innings, and leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series championship in 1988, Hershiser underwent rotator-cuff surgery on his right shoulder in late April 1990. His road to recovery was agonizingly slow. After four mediocre seasons and no longer being considered one of the NL’s elite starters, Hershiser became a free agent after the strike-shortened 1994 season, in which he won just six times. Only the San Francisco Giants and the Cleveland Indians showed interest in the 36-year-old former Cy Young Award recipient with 134 career victories. “I looked at Cleveland’s roster,” Hershiser recalled in an interview with sportswriter Terry Pluto, “and it looked like those guys would score seven runs a game. And they had a good bullpen.”2 Less than three weeks before Opening Day, Hershiser signed with the Indians, on April 8, 1995, for about half his salary from the previous year; however, little was expected of the free-agent acquisition.

When the Indians and Detroit Tigers headed to Cleveland’s Jacobs Field to play the first contest of a three-game series, on Monday, June 6, the teams were going in opposite directions.  Skipper Mike Hargrove’s Tribe had won seven of its last eight games and was firmly ensconced in first place (24-10), five games in front of the Kansas City Royals.  Sparky Anderson, in his 16th and final campaign as Detroit’s pilot, had his club in second place, but the Tigers had lost six of their last eight games, and had fallen to 16-20.

The pitching matchup featured age versus experience. Hershiser, who had been slated as a possible fourth or fifth starter, revived his career in 1995. The 13-year veteran with 310 career starts had won his last four decisions in May.  “[My] shoulder is doing more naturally what I want it to do,” he said in an attempt to explain his unexpected success.3 Rugged, 6-foot-4 right-hander Sean Bergman, in his first full season in the majors, was making his 18th career start for the Tigers.

On a warm, 71-degree evening, the “Jake” held 34,615 spectators, about 7,000 fewer than capacity. The three-game set with the Tigers marked the last time fans could casually buy tickets at the ballpark’s box office for a long time. Beginning on June 12, 1995, Cleveland sold out every game until April 4, 2001. Hershiser, nicknamed “Bulldog,” set the tone of the game by striking out the side in the first inning. His competitive mound presence belied his tall and lanky, altar-boyish appearance.  In a scoreless game, the potent Indians offense erupted in the bottom of the third inning. Center fielder Kenny Lofton led off by blasting a home run to deep right field. After a two-out walk to cleanup slugger/left fielder Albert Belle, 39-year-old DH Eddie Murray, who began the game just 24 hits shy of 3,000, smashed the 466th round-tripper of his career to make it 3-0. With runners on first and third, first baseman Paul Sorrento singled to deep center field, driving in Jim Thome. Lofton increased Cleveland’s lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning with his second home run.

Relying on pinpoint control and ball movement, Hershiser rekindled memories of 1988. He used an assortment of sinking fastballs, cutters, curves, sliders, and changeups to keep Tigers hitters guessing, whiffing 10 batters for the first time since 1989. (It was the sixth and final time he reached double figures in K’s in his career.)  “[D]ifferent locations, different speeds and slightly different arm angles on all those pitches gave me a pretty wide palette of choice,” Hershiser once said about his varied pitching arsenal.4 He surrendered just six hits, did not issue a walk, and was never in trouble.  Detroit managed two baserunners in an inning only once, when Bobby Higginson connected for his third hit followed by Danny Bautista’s single with two outs in the seventh. With runners on the corners, Hershiser induced Chris Gomez to fly out to Lofton.

The Indians tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning off John Doherty, who had relieved Bergman the previous inning and hurled the final four frames of the game. Demonstrating that they could also play small ball, Cleveland had two doubles, two singles, and a walk. Shortstop Omar Vizquel, second sacker Carlos Baerga, and Belle each drove in a run.

Hershiser set down the side in order in both the eighth and ninth innings to record his first shutout in two years and the 25th and last in his career. “The last four or five outings, there hasn’t been much difference [from 1988],” he said after the game. “Maybe a mile or two an hour on the fastball. But the movement is almost completely back, and the breaking ball is almost completely back.”5 He threw 107 pitches, including 72 strikes, and finished the game in 2 hours and 43 minutes.

The victory was a team effort, with seven of the nine starters (everyone except Baerga and catcher Tony Pena) recording at least one hit; six players drove in at least one run. The Indians improved their record to 25-10, marking their best start since 1966. “It was like being on one big hot streak,” reminisced Hershiser about the Indians’ pennant-winning season and 100 victories in 144 games.6

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho. To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources included in the Notes, the author also relied on Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU198610150.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B10150HOU1986.htm

Notes

1 Terry Pluto, “Cleveland Indians Still Special to Orel Hershiser, Who Remembers a Rock Star Baseball Team,” Cleveland.Com, May 2, 2014. https://cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2014/05/cleveland_indians_still_mean_a.html.

2 Ibid.

3 “Indians Win Behind Hershiser’s Shutout,” Washington Post, June 6, 1995.

4 Quoted from Bill James and Rob Neyer, Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (New York: Fireside, 2004), 241.

5 “Indians Win.”

6 Pluto.

Murray was as accomplished a player as there was in major-league history. Beginning in 1977, when he was named AL Rookie of Year while with Baltimore, Murray was the epitome of both greatness and class in his 17-year career before joining the Cleveland Indians in 1994. His defense was flawless; he won the Gold Glove Award three years in a row (1982-1984). Murray’s durability was his calling card: He played in more games at first base (2,413) than any other player in the major leagues. He was recognized twice by The Sporting News as its first baseman on their postseason All-Star Teams (1983, 1990). Murray was the power that drove the Baltimore Orioles to a world championship in 1983. He led the team in homers (33) and RBIs (111). You won’t find his name among the yearly league leaders in offensive categories too often. Yet, when Murray retired after the 1997 season, he was second all-time to Pete Rose in hits (3,255) by a switch-hitter, and one of only three players to total 500 home runs and 3,000 RBIs (Willie Mays, Hank Aaron).  

But he was a leader between the lines and in the clubhouse. The Indians signed Murray and his former Baltimore teammate, pitcher Dennis Martinez, in late 1993 to instill some leadership in the young Tribe players. In 1995 they signed Dave Winfield and Orel Hershiser, again emphasizing what it takes to win from two more proven stars.          

For the Cleveland Indians, they were enjoying life in the penthouse. They sported a 19-7 record in the month of May and coming into the last day of June, they were 19-8 for the month. They led the majors with a 40-17 record and led the Kansas City Royals by nine games in the American League Central Division. There were no serious contenders to challenge them for the division title. The Indians were playing downhill on most evenings, surely a different sight for Cleveland fans.

As the countdown began to the magical number of 3,000, the Indians were catching the fever. Murray, who had little to say to the media, did not comment on the streak as it built to a climax. That didn’t stop his teammates from marveling at his accomplishment. “This is exciting,” said Charles Nagy. “It’s something you’ll remember being a part of for a long time. With the exception of Dave Winfield, probably none of us have seen this. And it’s neat because Eddie is such a good guy, and a good team guy.”1 

As Cleveland and Minnesota got ready to tangle in the second game of a four-game set at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the focus naturally shifted to Murray. The Indians’ designated hitter for the evening was sitting at 2,999 hits. It was only a matter of time before he joined two Indians legends who had each attained their 3,000th hit in an Indians uniform, Nap Lajoie (1914) and Tris Speaker (1925).

Cleveland and Minnesota each scored a run in the third inning. Martinez, the Cleveland starter, was off to a great start in the season with a record of 6-0. Minnesota starter Mike Trombley was at the opposite end of the spectrum; he came into the game with a 0-2 record. But both pitchers battled to a 1-1 tie through five innings.

Albert Belle led off the sixth inning with a double to left field. Into the batter’s box stepped Murray. He had walked and lined out to center field in two previous plate appearances. On a 0-and-1 fastball from Trombley, Murray lined a single between first and second base into right field. He had his 3,000th hit. The Indians dugout emptied as Murray’s teammates rushed to first base to congratulate him. The Metrodome scoreboard showed a video of his career. Murray tipped his batting helmet and cap to the crowd of 27,416, who cheered wildly.

When the game resumed, Jim Thome struck out. Manny Ramirez’s grounder forced Murray at second base, but Belle scored on the play for a 2-1 lead. Wayne Kirby added a run with his first home run of the season in the seventh inning and Cleveland won, 4-1. Martinez raised his record to 7-0, striking out seven in eight innings. José Mesa came on in the ninth to save his 20th game in as many opportunities.

“I enjoyed it,” said Murray. “We’ve had a lot of fun in Cleveland. This is the wildest group of guys I’ve ever played with. The music in the locker room, the jokes we play on each other, the reporters who come into our locker room must think we’re crazy.”2  

Murray met with the media after the game. When he returned to the locker room, most of the players were on the bus waiting to return to the hotel. “I’m happy for him,” said Omar Vizquel. “I think it was a lot of pressure on him. I think all this publicity bothered him a little bit and I’m pretty sure he wanted to have that over.”3

The Indians went on to win the Central Division and snap a 41-year postseason drought. They marched through the AL playoffs but lost to Atlanta in the World Series.

Eddie Murray played two more seasons. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. “He was the best clutch hitter during the decade that we played together, not only on our team, but in all of baseball,” said Mike Flanagan.4

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho. To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Notes

1 Paul Hoynes, “2,999 … And Counting. Murray Has Two Hits as Tribe Wins,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 30, 1995: 1D.

2 Paul Hoynes, “3,000! Murray Hits Milestone in Victory,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 1, 1995: 1D.

3 Tim Warsinskey, “Murray Is Calm in Spotlight,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 1, 1995: 1D.

4 National Baseball Hall of Fame website, player page, accessed June 18, 2016.

Going into the first game of a three-game series at Oakland, Cleveland had a 53-22 record and a 14½-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Indians had been in sole possession of first place in their division since May 12, while the A’s were currently in last place in the West Division.

The right-handed Martinez, who had pitched two innings in the All-Star Game on July 11, was making his 16th start of the season. To date, he had a 2.47 ERA and had walked only 17 batters in 102 innings pitched. 

The Indians featured a potent offense led by 1995 All-Stars Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Baerga, and Kenny Lofton. The team also included veteran stars Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Tony Peña, as well as up-and-coming players Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel.

The A’s countered with Todd Stottlemyre as their starter. He was the leader of the A’s staff, having posted an 8-2 record and an ERA of 3.72. The righty had pitched five games with double-digit strikeouts in his 16 starts, including 15 in a game on June 16 against the Kansas City Royals. The A’s lineup was without first baseman Mark McGwire and outfielder Rickey Henderson, who were nursing nagging injuries, while outfielder Ruben Sierra was on the disabled list.1

The Indians’ Belle got the scoring started in the top of the second inning when he hit a solo home run at the 400-foot mark in center field. It was his 17th of the season and fifth in the last 20 games.

Retiring seven of the next eight batters, Stottlemyre held the Indians in check until he faced Belle again in the fourth inning. Belle and Thome both singled before the 23-year-old Ramirez cleared the bases with his 22nd home run of the season. Ramirez picked up where he left off the week before, when he homered three times in the Indians’ four-game sweep of the A’s.

Meanwhile, Martinez held the A’s scoreless until the fourth. That’s when Geronimo Berroa singled to lead off the home half of the inning and Mike Aldrete doubled off the fence in right. Brent Gates then hit a fly to deep right-center field which Ramirez caught, but it scored Berroa from third to make the score 4-1. After walking Mike Bordick, Martinez retired Stan Javier, who represented the tying run at the plate, on a groundout.

In the top of the fifth inning, Cleveland extended its lead when Stottlemyre served up his third homer, to Peña, making the score 5-1.

The Indians scored their final run in the sixth on Herbert Perry’s single that scored Thome, who had singled and advanced on a wild pitch.

Don Wengert replaced Stottlemyre in the top of the seventh and threw three perfect innings. Martinez retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced, yielding only a double to Scott Brosius.

Martinez picked up his ninth win while hurling his third complete game of the season. He yielded six hits, struck out six and walked three. He had not lost a game since July 31, 1994. Indians GM John Hart commented, “For two years he’s been the anchor of our staff. He’s been as good as anybody in the league since May of last year.”2

Stottlemyre was tagged with his third loss, giving up all six runs on six hits and two walks.

The Indians’ three homers put them at 118 for the season in 76 games played. The Plain Dealer noted that the Indians were on pace to belt 224 in the 144-game strike-shortened season, which would easily surpass their club record of 187 in 1987.3 The Indians wound up breaking their record with 207 home runs.

Belle finished the season with 50 home runs, the most in the American League. He led the league in runs (121), doubles (52), RBIs (tied with 126), and slugging (.690). He was the first major leaguer to collect 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a season and just the eighth to get 100 or more extra-base hits in a season (and the first since Stan Musial in 1948).4

Martinez was the first Indians pitcher since Barry Latman in 1961 to start a season 9-0. Johnny Allen held the franchise record by starting the 1937 season with a 15-0 record.5 Martinez’s streak was broken when he took the loss in his next outing, on July 26, against the California Angels. In his 12 games from July 26 to the end of the season, Martinez wasn’t nearly as effective as he was in his earlier nine-game winning streak: He posted a 3-5 record and 4.14 ERA. However, he had an excellent outing in the deciding sixth game of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners.

Martinez, the first Nicaraguan to play in the major leagues, played three more seasons in the majors. In his 23 seasons, he compiled a 245-193 record and a 3.70 ERA, and was selected to four All-Star teams.

The Indians maintained their winning ways for the remainder of the year to win the Central Division by 30 games and beat Seattle to end a 41-year drought for an AL pennant, only to lose in the World Series to Atlanta.

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho. To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author also consulted:

https://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B07210OAK1995.htm.

https://baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK199507210.shtml.

Notes

1 Paul Hoynes, “Bang by the Bay. Tribe Rides Homer Power, Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 22, 1995: 1D.

2 Sheldon Ocker, “A.L. Central: Cleveland Indians,” The Sporting News, August 21, 1995: 30.

3 Hoynes.

4 1996 Cleveland Indians Media Guide, 247. Other players to have 100 or more extra-base hits in a season were Babe Ruth (1921), Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930), Chuck Klein (1930, 1932), Hank Greenberg (1937), Jimmie Foxx (1932), and Rogers Hornsby (1922).

5 Hoynes.

The Indians visited Detroit seven days later for a four-game Labor Day weekend series. The Tigers, in Sparky Anderson’s final year as manager, were last in the AL East. Cleveland won the opener on September 1, 14-4, extending its winning streak to nine games. Detroit ended Cleveland’s streak the next day with a 3-2 win.

The Tigers were annoyed with Omar Vizquel. They accused Cleveland’s shortstop of trying to show up Cecil Fielder in each of the first two games. In Friday’s game they claimed he “lollypopped” his throw to first to get the slow-running Fielder.2 On Saturday, with a runner at first and two outs, Fielder hit a groundball to short. Vizquel, instead of tossing to second for an easy force play, delayed before throwing to first for the out.3

Vizquel denied intentionally trying to embarrass Fielder on Friday, saying, “I knew who was running. I never throw the ball hard if I don’t have to. I don’t want to risk throwing it away.” Regarding Saturday’s play, he noted that second baseman Carlos Baerga was slow covering the base and he had to wait until second-base umpire Ken Kaiser ducked before throwing to first.4

A large contingent of Indians fans, making the three-hour drive from Cleveland on I-90 west to I-75 north, were among the 25,393 spectators attending Sunday afternoon’s game on September 3.5 It didn’t take the Indians long to give their fans something to cheer about. Leading off the top of the first inning, Kenny Lofton reached on a fielding error by first baseman Tony Clark, who was making his major-league debut. Lofton stole second. Vizquel walked. Baerga singled, scoring Lofton, with Vizquel holding at second. Both runners scored on Albert Belle’s 44th double of the season, giving Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

Eddie Murray grounded out to first, moving Belle to third. Belle scored the fourth run of the inning on Jim Thome’s single to right. After a wild pitch and a hit batsman, Tigers starter Sean Bergman was relieved by Ben Blomdahl, who retired the Indians on Herbert Perry’s groundball double play.

Cleveland starter Albie Lopez held Detroit scoreless through the first three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced, and the Indians added a run in the third inning. Thome walked with two outs and took third on Manny Ramirez’s double to right field. Perry’s infield single to the hole between short and third scored Thome, increasing Cleveland’s advantage to 5-0.

Chad Curtis became the Tigers’ first baserunner when he walked to start the bottom of the fourth. Travis Fryman’s one-out single to left put runners at first and second for Fielder. The Tigers cleanup hitter connected on his 28th home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-3. His blast to deep left field was his first home run against the Indians in 74 at-bats during 1994 and 1995. Fielder had been 11-for-73 (.151) against Cleveland during this period, with only three RBIs, before hitting his three-run homer.6

Leading off the top of the fifth, Belle answered Fielder’s homer with a shot to deep right for his 35th home run of the season.7 The score remained 6-3 through seven innings.

With one out in the top of the eighth, Perry singled on a slow roller to third and scored on a double by Tony Peña to deep left-center field. Brian Bohanon came in to pitch and retired Lofton on a grounder to short, with Peña advancing to third. Vizquel’s double drove in the second run of the inning for an 8-3 Cleveland advantage.

Detroit got one of the runs back when Phil Nevin led off the bottom of the eighth with a line drive into the seats in deep right. It was the first career home run for the 24-year-old Nevin, selected first overall in the June 1992 draft by the Houston Astros and traded to the Tigers on August 15 for reliever Mike Henneman. Lopez hit the next batter, but struck out pinch-hitter Franklin Stubbs. Curtis singled to right, and Julian Tavarez relieved with runners at first and second. He struck out Chris Gomez, but walked Fryman to load the bases. Fielder ended the Tigers threat by grounding to third for the final out of the inning, with the Indians leading 8-4.

The Indians did not score in their half of the ninth. Tavarez remained on the mound as the Tigers came to bat, down by four runs at 8-4. Clark singled to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a groundout to first, and took third on a passed ball on an 0-and-2 pitch to Nevin, who eventually walked. Tavarez walked Milt Cuyler on four pitches to load the bases, and was relieved by Jose Mesa.

Mesa had converted 38 saves in 38 chances to set a major-league record for consecutive saves in a season.8 The streak was broken on August 25 when he gave up a ninth-inning solo homer to Detroit’s Curtis, tying a game the Indians eventually won in extra innings.

Usually relieving at the start of the ninth inning in save situations, Mesa hadn’t come in with the bases loaded all season.9 The first batter he faced was reserve catcher Ron Tingley, who entered the game after the starting catcher, John Flaherty, had been removed for a pinch hitter in the eighth. With the count 0-and-1, Tingley sliced a fastball 330 feet into the right-field lower deck for a home run, tying the score at 8-8. “I just happened to get the bat head out and hit it,” said Tingley, a lifetime .196 hitter, describing his first big-league grand slam.10

After Tingley’s slam, singles by Curtis and Gomez put Tigers on first and third. Fryman was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Fielder grounded a 3-and-2 pitch to Thome at third, who threw to Baerga at second. He avoided the hard-sliding Fryman and made the throw to first for an inning-ending double play. “I know he’s coming down to try and kill me to get the winning run home,” said Baerga. “I’d do the same thing.”11

Asked after the game about his decision to walk Fryman with Fielder on deck, Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said, “Cecil doesn’t run well. I knew if he hit a ball anywhere on the ground, we’d have a chance to turn two.”12

The game moved to extra innings. Ramirez started the top of the 10th with a double off Joe Boever, Detroit’s seventh pitcher of the game. Wayne Kirby ran for Ramirez. Perry’s sacrifice moved Kirby to third. Sandy Alomar pinch-hit for Peña and flied out to center, with Kirby holding at third.

Lofton was intentionally walked to pitch to Vizquel. Behind in the count 1-and-2, the Cleveland shortstop slapped the next pitch into left field for a single, scoring Kirby to put the Indians ahead, 9-8. “He had thrown me a couple of nasty palm balls or curve balls or whatever it is that he throws,” said Vizquel of his hit off Boever. “At that point, all I wanted to do was get the bat on the ball.”13

Mesa stayed in the game to pitch the bottom of the 10th. The first two Tigers batters, Clark and Bobby Higginson, singled. With runners at first and second, Nevin struck out. Juan Samuel hit a grounder deep in the hole between short and third. Vizquel made a backhanded stop and jumped in the air to make the throw to second. Baerga’s relay to first completed the game-ending double play.

“It was kind of tough to get to the ball,” Vizquel said of the play that sealed Cleveland’s 9-8 win, “but once I did and threw it over to Carlos, he did the rest.”14

“I don’t know how many shortstops in the league could have done what Omar did,” said Hargrove. “Then again, I don’t know how many second basemen would have hung in there like Carlos did to complete the play.”15

Baerga said of his teammate, “Omar can do anything in the field.”16

Postscript

Cleveland won its first pennant since 1954 by sweeping the Boston Red Sox in the Division Series (3-0) and defeating the Seattle Mariners in the League Championship Series (4-2). The Atlanta Braves beat the Indians in the World Series (4-2).

After his two blown saves against the Tigers, Mesa recorded eight straight saves to finish the season with 46, tops in the big leagues. He added another two saves in the postseason and was the winning pitcher in Game Three of the World Series, hurling three scoreless innings in Cleveland’s 7-6 extra-inning victory, the first World Series game won by the Indians since 1948.

Sources

The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. for box scores/play-by-play information, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other data:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET199509030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B09030DET1995.htm

Notes

1 Paul Hoynes, “Indians Can Print Playoff Tickets,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 26, 1995: 5D. The Indians did not officially clinch the Central Division title until their 3-2 victory over Baltimore on September 8. For an account of that game, see Joseph Wancho’s SABR article “Indians End 41-Year Postseason Drought, Clinch AL Central Title.”

2 Paul Dickson in the Dickson Baseball Dictionary (New York: Facts on File, 1989), 248, describes a lollipop or lollypop as “a soft hit or weak throw.”

3 Burt Graeff, “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 4 1995: 3D.

4 Burt Graeff, “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers.”

5 Gene Guidi, “Sparky Rips, Tigers Rally, but Indians Win in 10th,” Detroit Free Press, September 4 1995: 15. Anderson estimated that Indians fans at the game outnumbered Tigers fans 3 to 1.

6 Paul Hoynes, “Lopez Looks to Next Year’s Options,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 4 1995: 3D.

7 This was Belle’s second home run of the series. He would hit 15 more in September. His 17 homers for the month matched Babe Ruth’s 1927 record for the number of home runs hit in September. In addition to Belle’s major-league-leading total of 50 homers, he hit 52 doubles, the only player to reach both milestones in a season.

8 Paul Hoynes, “Tribe Wins in 10, Grand Slam off Mesa Ties Game in Ninth,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 4 1995: 1D.

9 Paul Hoynes, “Tribe Wins in 10.”

10 “Tribe Wins in 10.”

11 “Tribe Wins in 10.”

12 “Tribe Wins in 10.”

13 Burt Graeff, “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers.”

14 “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers.”

15 “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers.”

16 “Vizquel Vexing to Fielder, Tigers.”

But Tribe fans could care less what the level of playoffs were ahead. It was only a matter of time before their team clinched one of the four spots in postseason play. They had opened up a 22½-game lead on the Kansas City Royals, and had been coasting for some time. They had been playing before sellouts since June, and baseball was at a fever pitch in Cleveland.

There was another attraction present at the ballyard that evening. Cal Ripken was baseball’s new ironman, having eclipsed Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. Ripken set the new record of 2,131 on September 6, and the next day a parade was held through the streets of Baltimore in his honor. “After having gone through the parade and everything I can’t ever remember being this tired,” said Ripken. “Mentally it has been draining and physically exhausting. But there is a certain sense of relief.”1 

The sellout crowd of 41,656 at Jacobs Field gave Ripken a standing ovation at the beginning of the game, and in the bottom of the fifth inning, when consecutive game 2,132 became official. Each time, the classy Ripken acknowledged the crowd by doffing his cap.

The starters for the game were two right-handers. Orel Hershiser in his debut season for the Indians was as advertised. “Bulldog” provided veteran leadership and together with Dennis Martinez, Charles Nagy, and Ken Hill made up a formidable rotation for the Tribe. He was 12-6 so far and answered the call even though his 37th birthday was just a handful of days away.

Hershiser’s opposition was Kevin Brown, a hard-throwing, oft-injured pitcher who had led the AL in wins (21) in 1992. But he was 7-8 for the Orioles, and at season’s end would depart the Charm City for the Florida Marlins.

The Indians broke through first in the bottom of the third inning. The big hit was a two-out single by Eddie Murray that plated two runs. The Indians were up 3-0 after three.

The Orioles answered with a single tally in the top of the fourth when Curtis Goodwin scored on a double-play ball hit by Bobby Bonilla. They scored again in the seventh on doubles by Harold Baines and Jeff Huson, chasing Hershiser from the game. Cleveland’s lead was sliced to 3-2. 

But the Indians bullpen held the Orioles the rest of the way. In the ninth inning, José Mesa came on to earn his 40th save. Mesa walked Chris Hoiles with two outs, and the crowd grew a bit anxious. It was not until third baseman Jim Thome caught a pop fly off Huson’s bat that delirium set in. Hershiser got the win to raise his record to 13-6, while Brown was tagged with the loss, his record on the year dropping to 7-9.

The team headed out as one to center field, wearing AL Central Division Champion shirts and caps to raise the banner that proclaimed their first championship of any kind since 1954. “I cried watching it go up,” said Sandy Alomar Jr. “That’s the first banner we’ve had here. I never saw the one in 1954. I wasn’t born yet.”2

As the banner was being raised, the song “The Dance,” by Garth Brooks, was blaring from the ballpark’s speakers. The song was in remembrance of Indians pitcher Steve Olin, who had died two years earlier with fellow pitcher Tim Crews in a spring-training boating accident. It was Olin’s favorite song. Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove requested that the song be played over the public-address system. “I thought it would mean a lot to anyone who was there (with the Indians at the time of the accident in 1993),” said Hargrove. “For those who weren’t there, it had no significance, but it was still a good song. It was a tribute to those guys, to their families. It was part of our promise to never forget them. We didn’t tell anyone that we were going to do it. For those who knew, there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen. I saw Charlie Nagy, tears rolling down his face.”3

It would not be until October 4 that the Indians would play their first playoff game. The wait for the postseason to begin was nearly unbearable as the Indians played out the rest of the season without consequence. It was to be a memorable playoff run at that. As former Indians President Gabe Paul once said, “Cleveland is a sleeping giant. Give the fans a winning team and they’ll flock to the stadium as they did in the past.”4

Fittingly, Gabe Paul was able to see his proclamation come true in 1995. 

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho.

Notes

1 L.C. Johnson, “Ripken Wants Hoopla to Wind Down,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1995: 4C.

2 Paul Hoynes, “The Wait Is Over: Indians Are Champions for the First Time Since 1954,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1995: 1D.

3 Tim Kurkjian, ESPN.com, March 21, 2003.

4 Russell Schneider, Tales from the Tribe Dugout (New York: Sports Publishing LLC, 2002), 173.   

Taking the mound for the Indians was 28-year-old right-hander Charles Nagy, practitioner of sinkers, slow curves, and split-fingered fastballs. A six-year veteran who came up through the Indians organization, Nagy had won nine of his last 10 decisions to improve his record to 13-5 and move over the .500 mark for his career (54-48). His opponent was the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, 32-year-old David Cone, whom the Yankees had acquired about six weeks earlier in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 10-year veteran, with 126 wins to his credit, had won five of six decisions for the Yankees, but had been roughed up in his last three starts, surrendering seven home runs and 16 earned runs in just 22⅓ innings. “Cone had one of the best repertoires I’ve ever seen a pitcher possess,” said former Indians knuckleballer Tom Candiotti.1 Cone’s legitimate six-pitch arsenal included a fastball, splitter, slider, overhand curve, side-arm curve, and changeup.

The game, delayed 77 minutes by rain, finally got underway at 8:52 P.M. on a warm, 68-degree and humid night on Lake Erie. Despite the weather, a sellout crowd of 41,707 packed Jacobs Field for the 46th consecutive game since the streak started on June 12. (The streak ended on April 4, 2001, after a then big-league record 455 games.)

The last time Nagy faced the Yankees, in the second game of a doubleheader on August 10 in the Bronx, he was roughed up for 11 hits and seven runs in just 5⅔ innings, but avoided the loss when the Indians scored five runs in the ninth to win, 10-9. Nagy crafted a different narrative in this game, one of the best in his career. He erased Yankees leadoff hitter Wade Boggs, who was hitting .398 (37-for-93) in his last 24 games, on a weak grounder to second baseman Carlos Baerga. In his only rough stretch the entire game, Nagy walked two of the next three batters before ending the inning by striking out outfielder Daryl Strawberry. Nagy tossed 23 pitches, and allowed two baserunners in one inning for the only time in the game.

The Indians struck quickly in the first inning. All-Star center fielder Kenny Lofton, who had taken Rickey Henderson’s mantle as arguably the game’s most dangerous and disruptive leadoff hitter, drew a walk, stole second and third, and then scored on shortstop Omar Vizquel’s double to right field. Cone retired third baseman Jim Thome (whose grounder moved Vizquel to third) and left fielder Albert Belle before walking DH Eddie Murray on four pitches. With runners on the corners, right fielder Manny Ramirez singled to drive in Vizquel for a 2-0 lead. By the time Cone induced first sacker Paul Sorrento ground out to his counterpart, Don Mattingly, for the third out, he had thrown 34 pitches.

Nagy cruised in the second and third innings, needing only 16 pitches to register six outs. Right fielder Paul O’Neil led off the fourth inning with the Yankees’ first hit of the game, a seeing-eye single between Baerga and Vizquel. Undeterred, Nagy set down the next three hitters to end the inning. In the fifth frame, he surrendered another leadoff single, to left fielder Dion James. The next batter, shortstop Tony Fernandez, hit a grounder back to the mound which Nagy fielded to start the Indians’ only double play (1-6-3) in the game.

Cone labored to hold the Indians scoreless in the second through fourth innings. In the second,  he yielded a one-out double to catcher Tony Peña, who moved to third on Lofton’s single. En route to leading the AL in stolen bases for the fourth of five consecutive seasons, Lofton swiped second. Cone got out of the jam by striking out Vizquel and Thome swinging on full counts. The Indians threatened again in the fourth when Peña connected for a two-out single and then stole second (it was his 80th and final swipe in his 18-year big-league career). Lofton walked to reach base for the third consecutive time before Vizquel grounded out.

Albert Belle, who led the AL in homers (50) and RBIs (126) in 1995, ended a six-game homerless streak by launching, in the words of Jack Curry of the New York Times, “a prodigious” home run to deep right-center field.2 It was his 37th blast of the season and marked the beginning of one of the biggest power surges in Cleveland’s history: In his last 16 games, Belle walloped 14 round-trippers and drove in 21 runs. Seemingly in trouble every inning, Cone surrendered three consecutive hits in the sixth, but only one run (on Vizquel’s single, driving in Peña) to make it 5-0.

In total command of his pitches, Nagy retired 12 of 13 batters from the sixth inning through the ninth. His only blemish was Don Mattingly’s double in the seventh. The game ended after 2 hours and 29 minutes when Nagy struck out catcher Mike Stanley swinging.

Nagy threw 115 pitches and fanned five to register his first shutout since his only career one-hitter, a 6-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on August 8, 1992, and recorded his fifth of sixth career shutouts. Both the Indians and Yankees finished the strike-shortened season strongly and ended long playoff droughts. While Cleveland won 12 of its last 17 games to finish 100-44 and capture the AL Central crown, New York went 13-4 to secure the wild-card spot and secure their first postseason berth since 1981.

This article was published in “1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes” (SABR, 2019), edited by Joseph Wancho. To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author also relied on Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, SABR.org, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE199509130.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B09130CLE1995.htm

Notes

1 Quoted from Bill James and Rob Neyer, The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers (New York: Fireside, 2004), 169.

2 Jack Curry, “Yankees Bash and Jacobs Field Finally Is Broken Up,” New York Times, September 14, 1995: B17.