What most Cleveland fans regard as the beginning of the end of the Golden Era of Indians baseball can be traced to Easter Sunday, April 17, 1960. The Indians, who had finished second to the Chicago White Sox in 1959, were playing the American League champions in an exhibition game in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cleveland’s right fielder and 1959 AL homer champ Rocky Colavito homered over the left field wall in his first at-bat that day. In his next at-bat, in the fourth inning, he reached first base on a fielder’s choice and was removed from the game for a pinch runner. Upon returning to the dugout, he was informed by Indian manager Joe Gordon that he had been traded to Detroit for 1959 AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn.

Thus was launched the bombshell that immediately angered Cleveland fans, many of whom still regard the deal as the end of the glory days for the Tribe. The main players in this melodrama, from the Cleveland point of view:

FRANK LANE, aka “Trader Lane” and “Frantic Frank,” Cleveland General Manager. Had been a general manager with the Cardinals and White Sox before replacing Hank Greenberg in Cleveland after the 1957 season. Trades were his first love, and his claim to fame was that every team he had worked for improved in the succeeding years’ standings. Before Lane would leave the Indians just after the 1960 season, he was to make 95 deals. Lane was so proud of his trading ability that the 1960 Indians Sketchbook listed each of his transactions since joining the team. And Lane’s contract with the Indians contained a clause that promised him a bonus based on the team’s profitability. Attendance had been only 663,805 in 1958, but grew to 1,497,976 in 1959.

ROCCO DOMENICO “ROCKY” COLAVITO, 26-year-old right fielder. Arrived on the scene in 1955, and earned a starting role with the Indians in 1956. Known as an average hitter with good power, Colavito hit 129 home runs in his four seasons as a starter, leading the league with 42 round trippers in 1959, and his 111 RBI were just one fewer than Boston’s Jackie Jensen. Over the 1958 and ‘59 seasons, Colavito’s homer and RBI totals (83 and 224) outclassed those of both Willie Mays (63 and 200) and Mickey Mantle (73 and 172). Colavito achieved notoriety during the 1959 season by hitting four home runs in a single game at Baltimore. The handsome outfielder was a favorite with the fans and was popular with his teammates. He was rated as an average fielder, although his rifle arm was respected throughout the league (he was once a pitcher and appeared on a handful of occasions as a reliever in the majors during his career). He was regarded as a liability on the bases, and, like most power hitters, was prone to strike out. A 1959 September batting slump, during the Indian pennant drive, was an albatross that was used in part by Lane to justify the trade.

HARVEY EDWARD KUENN, 29-year-old center fielder. Kuenn arrived with the Tigers in 1952, became the team’s starting shortstop in 1953 and led the team with a .308 average. He followed that with .306 marks in 1954 and 1955. He led the league with 196 hits in 1956, batted .332 and had a career-high 88 RBI. His average dipped below .300 for the first time in 1957, to .277. His greatest year came in 1959, when he led the league in hits (198), average (.353) and doubles (42). He was rated as an excellent fielder, and had above-average speed. Through his eight seasons, he had hit only 53 home runs, with a high of 12 in 1956. The knocks on Kuenn in Detroit were that he couldn’t drive in runs and that he was injury-prone.

Before making the Colavito trade. Lane was naturally busy at work making other trades, virtually breaking up a team that had missed out on the 1959 AL flag by only five games. Two of the biggest deals were made before 1959 was even over.

Lane  traded  the  team’s  second-leading RBI man,  Minnie Minoso, along with catcher Dick Brown and pitchers Don Ferrarese and Jake Striker, to the White Sox, for catcher Johnny Romano, third baseman Bubba Phillips, and unknown first baseman Norm Cash. Minoso was deemed expendable because of the emergence of Tito Francona, acquired from Detroit during the 1959 season. Ironically, Francona had a higher batting average than Kuenn in 1959 (.363) and might have won the batting title but for a lack of at-bats. Because Lane had slick-fielding Vic Power to play first, Cash was sent off to Detroit for third baseman Steve Demeter just five days before the Colavito trade.

In addition. Lane traded second baseman Billy Martin, who had failed to provide the team leadership Lane wanted in 1959, along with the 19-game winner Cal McLish and young first baseman Gordy Coleman to the Reds for second baseman Johnny Temple.

Meanwhile, Colavito proved to be difficult to sign, holding out for a contract befitting a home run champion. He eventually signed for $35,000. But, not one to let Colavito forget his shortcomings. Lane included a $ 1,000 bonus in the contract that would kick in only if Colavito hit less than 40 home runs, the idea being that Colavito was to cut down on his swing, reduce his strikeout totals and improve his average.

As the 1960 training camp convened, the Indian starting eight appeared to be set: Power, 1B; Temple, 2B; Woodie Held, SS; Phillips, 3B; Colavito, RF; Piersall, CF; Tito Francona, LF. But the emergence of a rookie outfielder from Class A, Walter Bond, turned the heads of both Lane and manager Joe Gordon. Invited to camp because of an off-season injury to backup outfielder Chuck Tanner, Bond batted .400 for the spring, with five home runs, and led the team in RBI. Despite his lack of experience, both Lane and Gordon were convinced that Bond was the real thing. Even The Sporting News picked Bond as the AL’s top rookie prospect as the season was about to begin.

This set the Lane trading machine back into motion. He had been talking about the possibility of Colavito-for-Kuenn with Detroit general manager Bill DeWitt since February, when both players were holding out Before swinging the deal. Lane met with Gordon and the Cleveland coaching staff, none of whom were against the move. Bond would provide the power, along with Woodie Held, and play right field; Kuenn would be the table-setter and play center field.

When the trade was announced in Cleveland, all hell broke loose. The team was returning to Cleveland following the Easter Sunday exhibition game for its Tuesday home opener—ironically, against the Tigers. A crowd of 300 met the team at the airport to show support for Colavito, who checked out of his Cleveland hotel and moved to another to meet his new Tiger teammates.

Lane defended the deal by citing Colavito’s September slump, saying that it had cost the team the pennant. He also was quoted as saying that the home run was overrated, citing the fact that Washington had led the league in home runs in 1959 but finished last (in fact, Cleveland had led the league in home runs with 167; Washington was second with 163). He summed it up by saying that the team had a better chance to win the pennant with Kuenn. He calculated that the team had given up 40 home runs for 40 doubles, added 50 singles and eliminated 50 strikeouts. Gordon echoed his support, adding that Kuenn was an all-around player.

Cleveland Plain Dealer sports editor Gordon Cobbledick weighed the pros and cons of each player and asked that the fans reserve judgment, while allowing for the fact that Colavito was probably one of the most popular players in team history. He concluded that “Kuenn may take the Rock’s place in the lineup and fill it with distinction, but he cannot ever take the Rock’s place in the hearts of the people—particularly the young people, who will be tomorrow’s cash customers. If the team wins, the fans will applaud. But they’ll be slow to forgive Lane for trading the Rock.”

Reaction in Detroit was not nearly as negative. One newspaper headline summarized the trade in this way: “140 singles for 42 home runs.”

On the Monday between the trade and the Opener, Lane made another deal, sending Colavito’s best friend and roommate Herb Score to the White Sox for pitcher Barry Latman. With this trade, only two players—Russ Nixon and George Strickland—remained from the team that started the 1958 season, and Lane had actually traded Nixon to the Red Sox earlier in spring training in a deal that was cancelled by the Commissioner because catcher Sammy White chose to retire rather than report to the Indians.

Opening Day in Cleveland saw a crowd of 52,756 turn out, most of them to cheer for Colavito. Many fans carried banners supporting the Rock, while others hung Lane in effigy outside the stadium. Others simply boycotted the game in protest. Colavito went hitless in six at-bats, including four strikeouts—Lane later bought pitchers Gary Bell and Jim Grant a new hat for each strikeout they recorded against Colavito. True to his reputation for injury, Kuenn pulled a muscle legging out a base hit in the extra-inning affair eventually won by Detroit, 4-2. Colavito got his revenge the next day, slugging a three-run home run, Detroit winning again.

Trades, of course, are measured over time, but the notoriety of this one led fans to compare the players throughout the season. It certainly appeared as though Cleveland had the early edge as Kuenn led the team in hitting throughout the early going, keeping his average at or near .300, with the expected low power and RBI output Colavito suffered through a slow start and slumped throughout June. The Sporting News gave the edge to Cleveland in a July 6 article, running a chart showing Kuenn leading Colavito in eight offensive statistics—notably in average (.314 to .226), hits (70 to 44) and even RBI (31 to 26). Colavito led in only one significant category—home runs (11 to 4), and had 32 strikeouts to Kuenn’s six.

The Indians were in contention, shuffling between the league’s top three spots, while the Tigers foundered in the middle of the pack, struggling to reach .500. Frank Lane looked like a genius. But was he? Walter Bond had mysteriously shown that he could not hit big league pitching and was back on the bench by the end of May with a .217 average and just three home runs. By mid-season, he was back in the minors, spending the majority of the year at Vancouver. He was replaced by Jimmy Piersall, no power hitter himself. And Woodie Held, the team’s “other” power hitter, went down for six weeks with a broken finger. An unnamed American League pitcher was quoted July 27 in The Sporting News:

“Nobody in the Cleveland lineup scares you. The Yankees and White Sox have home run hitters, and one pitch can kill you. Cleveland has a bunch of singles hitters.”

Worse for Lane (and his pocketbook), attendance was off despite the team’s remaining in contention, and Colavito came out of his slump in July, registering a .256 average with 19 home runs and 50 RBI through the end of the month.

In the second week of August, Lane and his Detroit cousin DeWitt pulled a trade just as notorious as their outfielder swap by trading managers—Joe Gordon went to the Tigers, Jimmy Dykes to the Indians. At the time of the trade, Cleveland was in fourth place, seven games out, while Detroit was in sixth, twelve and a half games out Gordon was reunited with his outfielder that struck out too much, and Lane, asked if he would still make the trade of outfielders, said, “No comment.”

Kuenn continued to contend for the American League batting crown until he suffered a hand injury in early September and broke his foot after being hit by a foul tip in mid-September, finishing him for the season. He ended the year with a .308 average, but with just 474 at-bats, nine home runs and 54 RBI. The Indians finished fourth, 21 games behind New York. Attendance dropped dramatically, and Lane’s bonus for 1960 was substantially lower than the $35,000 he had received in 1959.

Colavito finished the year with a .249 mark, 35 home runs and 87 RBI as the Tigers finished sixth. General manager Bill DeWitt encouraged Colavito to swing for the fences by paying him the $1,000 bonus in early September. Still, the season was considered to be an “off-year” for The Rock. He came back to slug 45 home runs in 1961, leading Detroit with 140 RBI as the team finished second to New York. He hit 37 round-trippers in 1962, 22 in 1963, and was traded to Kansas City, where he hit 34 in 1964. Walter Bond, unfairly projected as the next Willie Mays, finished the 1960 season with just five home runs, 18 RBI and .221 average in 40 games. He never did play regularly for Cleveland, but shone briefly as the starting first baseman for Houston in 1965 and 1966, before dying of leukemia at age 30 in 1967.

And in Frank Lane’s final trade as General Manager of the Cleveland Indians, he sent Harvey Kuenn to the San Francisco Giants on December 3, 1960, for 30-year-old pitcher John Antonelli and 26-year-old outfielder Willie Kirkland, a promising slugger. Lane cited the fact that the team needed a) a veteran pitcher to head up its young starting staff and b) some power, plus the fact that Kuenn was injury-prone.

Kuenn went on to have a couple of productive years in San Francisco, setting the table for power hitters such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda. Antonelli was a bust with Cleveland, going 0-4 before being sold to Milwaukee in midseason. Kirkland played for Cleveland through 1963; his best season was 1961, when he hit 27 home runs for 95 RBI and a .259 average.

He was traded to Baltimore before the 1964 season began for Al Smith, who was released before midseason. This left the Indians with nothing to show for the Colavito deal.

Lacking an identity, the Indians foundered in the middle of the pack through 1964, and fan support dwindled. Talk of moving the team to Seattle became a real possibility. In a final effort to spark fan interest and keep the team in Cleveland, General Manager Gabe Paul brought Rocky Colavito home in a three-way deal with the White Sox and Athletics on January 20, 1965. The price to bring Colavito home was steep—starting catcher Johnny Romano, plus the organization’s two brightest prospects, pitcher Tommy John and outfielder Tommy Agee.

The 31-year-old Colavito returned to Cleveland a hero, and responded with a 26-homer, league-leading 108 RBI season. The fans responded, and baseball was most likely saved in Cleveland as a result. Colavito had one good year left with the Tribe, but was traded again in 1967 for journeyman Jim King. He retired after the 1968 season after spending time with the White Sox, Dodgers and Yankees.

It is left to conjecture as to what the Tribe would have accomplished had Colavito never been traded. He was the last legitimate “star” produced by the Indians’ organization, and it took his return to bring attendance back to where it was in 1959. His trade in 1960—and the name of Frank Lane—have been vilified in Cleveland baseball lore ever since.

The Indians that year were regarded as being a good team but a definite longshot for the pennant. The Yankees were prohibitive favorites (one prominent bookie gave 7 to 20 odds), and while some pundits favored Boston, most picked the Tribe for third. The Indian lineup had veterans Hal Trosky at first, Ken Keltner at third, Jeff Heath in left, Roy Weatherly in center, Ben Chapman in right, and Rollie Hemsley catching. Much depended however, on the young keystone combination, Lou Boudreau and Ray Mack, who were playing their first full major league season. The bench consisted of infielders Rusty Peters and Odell Hale and outfielder Beau Bell, who had been obtained from the Tigers for Bruce Campbell. Catching depth was questionable, as Frankie Pytlak felt that a $3,500 pay cut was reason enough to hold out. The pitching staff was led by the phenomenal 21-year-old Bob Feller, who had won 24 games the previous year. The supporting cast included Mel Harder, Johnny Allen, Willis Hudlin, and lefty Al Milnar, while another lefty, Al Smith, was returning to the majors after a 16-2 year at Buffalo.

The Indians trained at Fort Myers, Florida. An acknowledgement of the European situation was a spring all-star game for the Finnish relief fund. Keltner, Trosky, Hemsley, and Feller played, as the American League lost to the National, 2-1. On March 19 Boudreau broke a small bone in his ankle, but he managed to recover by the start of the season. The Tribe toured with the New York Giants, the highlight of which was a 1-0 win by Feller over Carl Hubbell. The record against the Giants was 5-7, in addition to 4-2 vs. other major league teams.

The season opener was April 17 at Comiskey Park, with Feller facing Eddie Smith. Supposedly, the Van Meter fireballer didn’t have his curve, but it didn’t matter as he pitched a no-hitter, striking out eight and walking five in a 1-0 victory. Ray Mack saved the gem, knocking down a smash by Taft Wright and throwing him out to end the game. The Indians got another shutout in the home opener two days later, by Johnny Allen, who blanked the Tigers, 4-0. Although Feller was shelled, 12-2, by the Tigers in his second start, the Tribe was in first place after five games. They went to Detroit,. Where on April27 Boudreau hit his first two career home runs to beat 18-year-old Hal Newhouser.
The following day they blew a 9-3 lead in the ninth but won in the tenth on Trosky’s homer.

On May 4 Boston pushed the Indians down to second. Pytlak finally signed, but in the May 15 roster cuts Willis Hudlin, veteran of 14 years with the Tribe, was released. Beside those mentioned above, others on the 25-man roster were infielder Oscar Grimes, outfielder Clarence Campbell, catcher Hank Helf, and pitchers Harry Eisenstat, Joe Dobson, Johnny Humphries, Bill Zuber and 6-foot-8 rookie Mike Naymick. The Indians’ 23-13 record at the end of May kept them a shade behind the Red Sox. The Yankees, having gotten off to a terrible start, were nowhere to be found, but the Detroit Tigers stayed in contention.

In early June Al Milnar shut out the A’s, got a save against Washington, and then blanked the Yankees on two hits. The Indians managed to tie for the lead, but two losses at Fenway knocked them back into a second place tie with Detroit. At this point there occurred the “Vitt Affair”. On June 13 a delegation of 11 players went to club President Alva Bradley, asking that manager Oscar Vitt be replaced by Luke Sewell. Its seems that Vitt was a nervous, irascible type whose constant fidgeting was irritating and whose cutting remarks were deemed intolerable. His insults of opposing players stirred them to greater efforts against the Tribe. About 12 veterans were the leaders of the rebellion (with Feller and Trosky suggested as ringleaders); several of the younger players did not participate. After considering the matter for a couple of days Bradley seems to have talked the players into withdrawing their demands, as a statement to that effect was signed by 21 team members on June 16.

From this distant vantage point it is difficult to say who was in the right. A manager who doesn’t have the respect of his players isn’t worth much. But at the time a manager was regarded as having authority like that of a ship’s captain. Hence the players’ action was generally viewed as mutinous, as is indicated by the following comment by Jim Schlemmer of the Akron Beacon Journal: “To permit a group of high-priced players to throw out their manager is to give in to a revolutionary move which can only hurt all baseball.” FeIler’s salary, incidentally, was $26,000. Most of the other Indians made considerably less than that.

There is no evidence that the strife hurt the team in the short run. After the agreement, the Indians ran off eight home wins in a row to take over first place. The streak ended on June 23, when the Red Sox took the second half of a double header to salvage a win in a four-game series. But the Red Sox had dropped to third, three back, and were never again in serious contention. The threat now came from the Tigers, who managed to grab a half-game lead at the All-Star break. The Indians had a 45-29 record. Three starters, Feller (13-5), Milnar (11-3), and Smith (9-2), were pitching superbly. Ray Mack was hitting .330, and Hal Trosky had 17 home runs.

No Indian started in the All-Star Game, but Keltncr, Boudreau, Mack, and Hemsley played as the AL lost, 4-0. Feller, expected to start, instead was used for the last two innings. After beating the A’s on July 11 the Indians reclaimed the lead. During late July and early August the lead changed hands several times. Then after gaining a tie on August 11, the Indians made their move. The following day Feller beat Detroit, 8-5, for his 20th win. They completed a two-game sweep over the Tigers the next day. After taking two of three at Boston they were ahead by 5 1/2 on August 21, reaching their peak with a 71-46 record. But they were then swept in three by the Yankees, the last game being ominous, as Feller lost after pitching 7-1/3 no hit innings.

On Labor Day the Indians dropped a doubleheader at home to the Browns. In Europe the Germans were blitzing London; in America the Indians were beginning to wilt. They went up to Detroit for three and were routed, 7-2, 11-3, and 10-5. This put the Tigers only a game back, while the seemingly-hibernating Yankees won 21 of 25 to move within two games of the Tribe. The Tigers gained a first place tie on September 7 when the Indians lost to Chicago for their sixth straight, and by September 9 the Indians were in second for the first time in a month.

As their situation deteriorated, the Indian players began meeting and planning strategy without Vitt. Bradley gave Vitt a free hand to deal with matters as he saw fit, but, probably wisely, he took no action. Hal Trosky missed several games due to a pulled muscle, while Feller was being overworked, pitching on two days rest as well as working in relief. Yet the Indians battled back to gain a tie with the Tigers on September 19. There were eight games left, six with the Tigers. The first three were at Detroit. In the series opener the Tigers scored five runs in the eighth to win, 6-5. Feller was called in to save the game but gave up three hits to get the loss. On September 21 Schoolboy Rowe pitched a 5-0 shutout over the Tribe. Feller then won the finale to leave the Indians a game down.

The Indians split two with the Browns, so they entered the final series — three games at home against the Tigers — two games behind. A tie was impossible; the Indians needed a sweep to win. For the September 27 opener Feller would be going for the Indians. Tiger manager Del Baker decided to save Rowe and sent out a surprise starter, 30-year old rookie Floyd Giebell (whose record was 1.0). The Indians got six hits off Giebell but were unable to score. Ben Chapman fanned three times with men in scoring position. In the fourth inning, with Gehringer on, a Rudy York drive barely cleared the left field fence at the 320-foot mark. The Tribe could not score, and the 2-0 victory gave the Tigers the pennant. Behind Harder and Milnar the Indians won the last two games to beat out the Yankees for second, ending officially only one game out of first.

Since the Indians led for so long, with a seemingly comfortable lead, it was generally thought that they had blown it. The players of course were the scapegoats; if they had stayed loyal and followed the manager’s instructions, the team would have hung together. However, a better hypothesis is that the Tigers won because they were the best team, and the Indians did well to get as close as they did. Detroit had the better hitting team; they outhit Cleveland by 21 points (.286to.265) and outslugged them by 44 points (.442 to .398). Greenberg and York each hit more homers than Trosky, the Tribe leader with 25, and they combined for 284 RBI, as compared with 194 for Boudreau and Trosky.

The Tigers scored 888 runs, the Indians 710. The Tigers also had strong years from Barney McCosky (.340) and Charlie Gehringer (.313), while the leading Indian hitter was Weatherly at .303. The Indians had a weaker bench; injuries kept Jeff Heath out for a third of the season, and Vitt did not use his reserves much, so the regulars were probably tired in September.

The Indians, playing in a better pitcher’s park, could be said to have had the edge in pitching. They allowed fewer runs, 637 to 710. This was largely due to Feller, league leader in wins (27, against 11 losses), ERA (2.62), and strikeouts (261). Milnar (18-10) and Smith (15-7) had excellent years, but alter Harder (12-11) and Allen (9-8) there was no pitching depth. Those five accounted for 81 of 89 wins and 14 of 22 saves. The Tigers were led by Bobo Newsom (21-5) and Schoolboy Rowe (16-3), while Al Benton, used exclusively in relief, had 17 saves. Manager Baker was less reluctant to use his second line pitchers than Vitt; his greater confidence in them paid off with the Giebell performance.

Using Bill James’ Pythagorean projection measure, one calculates a .605 percentage for the Tigers, or 93 wins. The projection for the Indians is .554, or 85 wins. Since the Tigers won 90 and the Indians 89, it is arguable that the Indians played slightly over their heads. In that event their performance was hardly shameful, and the alleged psychological effect of the dispute with the manager was negligible. In the course of a season things tend to balance out, and alas, the first all-Ohio World Series was not to be.

Among the many prominent people buried at Lake View, several were major league baseball players. The most famous ballplayer interred there is Raymond Johnson Chapman (1891-1920), the only major league player to die as a result of being hit by a pitched ball. Bill James, noted baseball analyst, wrote of Chapman in his Historical Baseball Abstract (1985): “Chapman was a tremendous offensive and defensive player, probably destined for the Flail of Fame had he lived.” Mike Sowell’s gripping 1989 book The Pitch That Killed describes the arguments that resulted in Chapman being buried at Lake View Cemetery.

Peter James (Monkey) Hotaling (1856-1928) was a nineteenth-century star outfielder in the `70s and `80s. He compiled a .267 average in his years with several teams. Noted as a good fielder and speedy runner, Hotaling played five years for Cleveland teams in the National League and American Association.

Edward William McFarland (1874-1959) was a major league catcher for 14 seasons from 1896-1908, principally with Philadelphia in the National League and Chicago in the American. He played in 887 games and compiled a .275 lifetime batting average. He had one unsuccessful World Series pinch-hit at-bat in 1906. The fact that McFarland played major league baseball was not mentioned in his obituaries.

Charles “Heinie” Berger (l882-1954) pitched for the Cleveland Naps between 1907 and 1910, winning 32 and losing 29 games. Berger hurled for the Columbus Redbirds during their pennant-winning years of 1905, 1906 and 1907. In 1906 he led the American Association pitchers with a record of 28 and 13. A spitball pitcher, Berger’s best Cleveland year was 1908 when he won 13 and lost 8 with a 2.12 ERA. After he left the Naps, Berger pitched for Cleveland amateur teams on the sandlots.

Although his real name was Wilbur Arlington Tarbert (1904-1946), the gravestone at Lake View simply reads Arlie Tarbert. A star baseball and basketball player at Ohio State University, Tarbert was with the Boston Red Sox during parts of the 1927 and 1928 seasons. An outfielder, Tarbert played in 39 games with a batting average of .186.

A prominent person in the history of Cleveland baseball, Alva Bradley (1884 -1953) is also buried at Lake View Cemetery. From a successful lake shipping and Cleveland downtown real estate family, Bradley and other Cleveland businessmen purchased the Indians in 1927 and sold then) to a Bill Veeck-led group in 1946. During Bradley’s tenure, the Indians frequently finished in the first division and in 1940 lost out to the Tigers by one game. Several great players were secured by Bradley during this period including Earl Averill, Wes Ferrell, Bob Feller, Mel Harder, Bob Lemon and Hal Trosky. One of his major decisions was to name the 24-year-old Lou Boudreau manager for the 1942
season.

The Yankees, after all, shared the Gotham entertainment market with two other major league clubs plus a multitude of other diversions in a world city. The Indians commanded the undivided attention of the northern half of Ohio, western Pennsylvania and New York state, West Virginia, and parts of Ontario. Combine this with the fact that they regularly filled the largest stadium in professional baseball, and you begin to get the picture of a city in which baseball is king. In fact, the now familiar Chief Wahoo logo was often pictured with a crown jauntily cocked on his head next to his single feather.

All those fans weren’t just flocking to The Stadium (they regularly broke their own single game, series, and season attendance records) just because they were tired of Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, and Dumont Pro Wrestling on TV. The Tribe was what was happening.

During those seven seasons, under Hall-of-Famers Lou Boudreau and Al Lopez the Indians won two league championships, were thrice runners up, and placed third and fourth. Even the latter (a 92-62 season in 1950) was done with a record which would have won a divisional title in the 1970s or `80s. Sportswriters didn’t use the word “superstar” in those days, but if they had, many of the players they would have so labeled wore Cleveland uniforms.

The two managers, as already mentioned, have plaques at Cooperstown. Boudreau is in there as much for his playing accomplishments as managing. The man was a standout (and perennial All-Star) at shortstop, a lifetime295 hitter. He won the AL batting crown in the mid-’40’sand finished runner-up to Ted Williams with a .355 average (!) in that golden year of 1948.

Hall-of-Famers Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, and Bob Feller were regular pitchers on those teams while another enshrinee named Satchel Paige made a contribution to the 1948 World’s Championship. Having Lemon, Wynn, and Feller on the same staff for that span of time would be the equivalent of having Roger Clemens, Orel Hershiser, and Mike Scott on the same team today. Throw in Mike Garcia, and it would be like having Saberhagen too!

In 1954 when the Tribe won a league record 111 games (out of 154) eclipsing the mark of the legendary 1927 Yankees, every single AL individual performance category was won by an Indian:

• Wins: Bob Lemon 23, Early Wynn 23
• ERA: Mike Garcia, 2.64 (the Tribe’s 2.78 team ERA was the lowest by any team in history up to then)
• Shutouts: Mike Garcia, 5
• Batting Avg.: Bobby Avila, .341
• Home Runs: Larry Doby, 32
• RBIs: Larry Doby, 126

So it wasn’t just pitching, either. Nor was it just guys presently in the Hall of Fame. Guys like Doby, Avila, Rosen, Keltner, and Hegan (remember, we’re talking 1948 through 1954 here) are never going to make the Hall of Fame, but were universally recognized as All-Stars in their day. This period, arguably the Golden Age of major league baseball, is surely the Golden Age of the Cleveland franchise.

Remarkably, only Doby and Hegan held starting lineup positions with both pennant winners, while only Lemon and Feller were on the pitching staffs of both. Al Rosen, who’d had a brief cup of coffee with the `48 champs became a bona fide superstar third-sacker by 1954. Moving in the opposite direction was Dale Mitchell. While he saw action for the Indians in both the 48 and `54 Fall Classics, he was the regular left fielder in the former and basically a pinch-hitting specialist in the latter. Yet in many ways, he embodies the solid, but less-remembered competence of those Cleveland teams.

Dale Mitchell spent 11 seasons in the major leagues with a lifetime batting average of .312. He was the Indians’ regular left fielder from 1947 through 1953. Hanging on as a pinch-hitter and spot player, he stayed with he Tribe until halfway through the 1956 season when he was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers to add bench strength to their pennant drive. And that he did, getting into the 1956 Series with the Bums for his third Fall Classic.

Ironically, baseball seems to remember Dale more for a single pinch-hitting appearance in the 1956 World Series than for his stellar career (and two World Series) with the Indians. He became part of World Series history as he watched a third strike from Yankee hurler Don Larsen end the only perfect game that has ever been pitched in post-season play.

It is even more ironic when one considers that Mitchell was always known as a very difficult strikeout with an extremely accurate batting eye. He struck out only a total of 119 times in his 11-year major league career. Fellow Oklahoman Mickey Mantle logged that many Ks in a single season more often than not. To put this in perspective, over his lifetime 3984 at bats, Mitchell’s 119 strikeouts give him a ratio of 1 strikeout per 33 times at bat. Mantle fanned once every 4.7 times at bat.

Remembering that it was a called third strike, there has always been a nagging unstated doubt as to whether the “taking” of that pitch was based on sentiment rather than judgment. There are those who viewed it as a sportingly passive contribution by an old pro to the masterpiece of his younger opponent. Those who subscribe to this theory hold that the Dodgers would have profited little (game-wise) from a base hit in this situation, while Larsen’s accomplishment dwarfed even the Yankees’ winning of the game and ultimately the Series.

There is no doubt however, that Mitchell’s hitting, fielding, and base running skills helped the Cleveland Indians to win two of the three AL pennants in the clubs history. It is for that reason that he is being remembered here. He was a consistent hitter, batting over .300 in all but four of his eleven major league seasons. His lifetime mark of .312 puts him in front of several of his better known contemporaries including Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, and Ralph Kiner.

Though he smashed one in the 1948 World Series, he had only 41 homers lifetime and was not known as a home run hitter. In fact, as a fleet-footed leadoff batter, his job was to get on base. This meant more emphasis on getting a safe hit of any kind than on the more dramatic four-bagger. It also meant he couldn’t afford to gamble the K against the “HR” like a Babe Ruth or a Reggie Jackson. His batting eye and difficulty to strike out have already been noted.

While neither home run blaster nor whiff wizard (see Jackson reference above), Dale was certainly not a “Punch and Judy” hitter. A large proportion of his hits (he exceeded 200 hits a season more than once) were for extra bases. His hitting ability, combined with speed and a good baseball brain got him many doubles and triples. His league leading 23 triples in l949 were the most since Hall-of-Famer Sam Crawford’s 26 in 1914! Mitchell thus not only got on base, he often got into scoring position as a leadoff man.

A natural athlete, Mitchell was a state high school sprint champion in Oklahoma. He twice led all AL outfielders in fielding average, and was among the leaders in other seasons. With Dale patrolling the green space alongside Larry Doby, very little got by them. This may have been an overlooked contributory factor as to why the Cleveland pitching staff of the day was so successful in producing no-hitters and one-hitters.

Plaques at Cooperstown will insure the immortality of Feller, Lemon, Wynn, Boudreau, Lopez, and Paige. But organizations like SABR and publications like this one will insure that posterity remembers the contributions of the Ken Keltners, Gene Beardens, Larry Dobys, Jim Hegans, Bobby Avilas, Al Rosens, and Dale Mitchells.

Why did the heavily favored Indians, who didn’t have to face the banned Black Sox, fail to repeat as champions in 1921? Why were the 1926 Indians able to give the Yankees a close race to the flag after finishing in the second division the previous two seasons?

Although the 1921 Indians improved their team batting average five points to .308 and runs scored from 857 to 925, their pitching ERA went from 3.41 to 3.90 while their errors increased by 19 and their team fielding average dropped from .971 to .967.

Thirty-one-game winner Jim Bagby won 17 fewer games in 1921 while 1920 20-game winner Ray Caldwell was only 6 and 6 the next season. Speaker finally suspended “Slim” on September 5 for failure to stay in shape. Stan Coveleski was the ace of the staff with 23 victories, George Uhle chipped in 16 and Duster Mails came through with 14 wins. Veteran Allan Sothoron, obtained from the Red Sox, was a pleasant surprise with a 12-4, 3.23 ERA year.

Speaker led the regulars with a .362 batting average and a league-leading 52 doubles. Third baseman Larry Gardner repeated his success of 1920 by hitting at a .319 clip and driving in 115 runs. Every regular hit .285 or better and substitutes Smoky Joe Wood’s .366, Les Nunamaker’s .359 and George Burns’ .361 batting averages were most impressive.

The key factors that kept the Tribe from repeating in 1921 were injuries to Speaker and catcher Steve O’Neill and an awesome new York attack led by Babe Ruth’s mind-boggling 59 home runs, 171 runs batted in and a slugging percentage of .846. Bob Meusel added 24 home runs and 135 runs batted in as the Yankees hit 134 home runs to 42 for the Indians.

In spite of playing the last 23 games of the season on the road, the Indians were in first place as late as September 16 when George Uhle’s four-hitter beat Washington 2-0. Injuries hurt, too: the Tribe lost their ace Coveleski for two turns with strained ligaments in his side and Speaker’s injured knee on September 11 kept him our of the regular lineup for the rest of the season. Performances like Elmer Smith’s seven consecutive extra-base hits in a doubleheader against the Browns on September 5 kept the gritty Tribe in the race. For the next ten days the Yankees and Indians were tied or the Indians were within one game of first place. Then back-to-back losses to the Yankees on September 25 and 26 gave New York the lead for the rest of the season. How right was the Cleveland Press bard Wampus when he wrote on September 27:

“Here ye this fact / My song is not truthless / How soft hearted those Yanks would be / If they were but Ruthless.”

During the four games with the Yankees in which the Indians lost three, Ruth hit .727 with eight hits in 11 at-bats for 18 bases, including two home runs. He was walked five times and scored seven runs. Westbrook Pegler concluded: “How come anyone thinks Babe Ruth didn’t break the hearts of Cleveland?”

Five years later the Indians seemed to be going nowhere as the 1926 Spring Training camps were about to open. Their gloom was heightened when the players were in a train wreck on their way to Lakeland, Florida. Fortunately the car the Indian players were riding in stayed on the tracks and no player suffered more than a few bruises. George Uhle, the only pitcher left from the 1921 team, slept through the accident. After two straight subpar seasons, Uhle had paid an offseason visit to famed Youngstown Doctor “Bonesetter” Reese who fixed his arm for one more great year. Hurling 318 innings, the Bull completed 32 out of 36 games, winning 27 and losing 11 and had a true Cy Young year with a 2.83 earned run average. His magnificent pitching largely contributed to a drop of the 1925 team ERA of 4.49 to 3.40 in 1926.

Emil “Dutch” Levsen, after two mediocre seasons, came through with a 16-13 season topped by doubleheader four-hit complete game victories over the Red Sox on August 28. Veterans Joe Shaute and Sherry Smith won 14 and 11 games respectively while huge southpaw Garland Buckeye had the fifth lowest ERA in the league with 3.09.

At 33, George Burns had a career year at first base with a .358 batting average, 114 runs batted in and record setting 61 doubles. As a reporter noted, Burns hit a “daily double” on his way to being chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the American League for 1926.

While Cleveland hit .289 for the season, opposing managers pointed to better defense for the 18-game improvement over the previous year’s sixth-place finish at 70-84. Eddie Collins thought Freddie Spurgeon’s brilliant play at second base — leading the league in assists and double plays — was the key, while Connie Mack pointed to Luke Sewell’s catching for the success of the 1926 Indians. The three holdovers from the 1920 World Champions, Tris Speaker, Joe Sewell and Charley Jamieson, had commendable years. Speaker rapped 52 doubles and combined with Sewell to drive in 171 runs while Jamieson scored 89 runs.

Early on, the Tribe was far behind in the race. On July 10 they were 42-40, in fifth place, ten games out. Eighteen days later they were 55 and 44 and in second place, but still ten games behind in the lost column to the Yankees. No longer was Wampus’ 1921 evaluation of the Yankees true, “Eight guys and Ruth go out each day/And so the Yankee team they play/ The eight line up, but tell the truth/ The Yankee team is all Babe Ruth.”

Young Lou Gehrig had arrived and in his second full season hit .313 and drove in 105 runs. Trailing the Yankees by ten games on August 24, the Tribe began to win and the Yanks started to level off. By winning nine straight games between August 25 and 31 (including consecutive doubleheader wins over the Red Sox), the Tribe trailed the Yankees at the beginning of September by 5-1/2 games. Winning seven and losing five in the rust two weeks of September, the Indians were still 5-1/2 games behind but had a chance to take the lead as a six-game series with the Yankees began at Dunn Field on September 15.

Sadly, the Yanks drove their nemesis George Uhle from the box to win 6-4, but the Indians won a doubleheader the next day as Levsen and Buckeye both twirled two-hitters. Buckeye’s whitewash game was unusual with ten walks, including four straight to Ruth. Shaute and Uhle won the next two games (the Bull’s sixth victory of the year over the Yankees) and the Yankees led by only 2-1/2 games. To start the concluding game, Speaker chose righthander Levsen, who was far from his best. Several Indians had suggested to Spoke that he pitch a southpaw, either Buckeye or Jake Miller. With a white-shirted overflow crowd standing in front of the right field wall, Gehrig hit three doubles and, along with Ruth, a home run in an 8-3 victory. The 29,736 fans, the second largest crowd in Dunn Field history, saw the Tribe hopes fade.

Yankee doubleheader wins over the Browns on September 25 clinched the pennant for New York. Tris Speaker predicted “the World Series will be played on this ball diamond next year.” Little did Spoke and the Tribe fans know that there would be no more near misses and close races for the flag until 1940.

Four teams — Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis — remained in contention for most of the season. In the final six weeks, two no-hitters and a perfect game were pitched by contending teams. Three teams went into their final series of games with a chance at the pennant. The league champion was not decided until the Tigers beat the White Sox at Chicago in their final game of the season. While the pressure-packed pennant race did not result in a league president committing suicide, under slightly different circumstances it might well have resulted in the murder of an umpire!

Underway

The Naps lost their opener 2-1 in ten innings to St. Louis. Two days later, they dropped their second straight ten-inning encounter 6-2. Glenn Liebhardt, Naps hard-luck loser, had a no-hitter through seven innings. The loss of these opening two games in effect cost the Naps the 1908 pennant as they eventually lost out by only one-half game. The Naps finally won their first game by spoiling Detroit’s home opener 12-8 in eleven innings.

In late April, Dusty Rhoades pitched Cleveland temporarily into first place by defeating St. Louis 6-3 with the help of a slow ball that ought to have been “pinched for loitering.” Dusty probably also used his “merry widow” curve — “it’s a beauty, a fooler and a teaser.” Dusty’s roommate, Addie Joss, had five of Cleveland’s first nine victories.

Back and Forth

Despite having dropped to fifth place with a 19-18 record in early June, the naps put together a three-game winning streak that moved them all the way back into first place — indicative of the closeness of the race.

But the White Sox were hot also and they gained first place with the help of a 13-game winning streak. On June 24, Cleveland opened an important four-game series with Chicago. Addie Joss won the opener 6-0. The next day Glenn Liebhardt defeated Nick Altrock 3-2. The naps won the third game of the series 4-2 as Dusty Rhoades defeated Ed Walsh.

Charlie Check won the fourth game for the naps 6-3. But despite starting in second place and sweeping the first place Chisox, Cleveland did not move into first as St. Louis won more games in the same time period.

After losing two 3-2 games at new York, the naps dropped back to fourth but were still only three games behind St. Louis and Detroit. After a game was lost to rain, Cleveland swept a doubleheader from the Yankees 16-1 and 3-2. Detroit’s bats were also booming. Two days after Cleveland’s 16-1 win, the first place Tigers beat the A’s 21-1 while collecting 25 hits.

The Naps then fell into their biggest slump of the season, winning seven and losing twelve through July 27. It was this stretch of games that really cost them the pennant.

On August 6 it was announced that Wilbur Goode, a hard hitting outfielder, had been acquired by the naps from Akron where he was hitting .372. Goode broke into the lineup in the ninth inning of a 7-2 loss to Boston. He delivered a pinch hit single off the old master, Cy Young. Two days later, Goode misplayed two grounders in the outfield in a 8-7 loss to the A’s.

After losing a double header to Washington, the Naps faced a crucial series with the first-place Tigers. Rhoades won the first game of the series 9-1, and Chech won the next 7-3, while Goode had a home run, a stolen base and scored twice.

Addie’s Tune-Up and Rhoades’ No-Hitter

On September 1, Addie Joss pitched the fifth one-hitter of his career, to win 1-0 over George Winter of Detroit. Ty Cobb delivered the Tigers only hit in the first inning. Cleveland’s run was the result of a single by Birmingham. Joe had been sick in bed all morning with a high fever and at noon there was even a discussion about allowing him to return to Cleveland. As good as this performance was, Addie was just warming up for a game versus Chicago a month later.

On September 18, Dusty Rhoades pitched a no-hitter, but the Naps had to rally to beat Boston 2-1. Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. In Boston’s fourth, Speaker was safe on Bradley’s error. Gessler was safe on a fielder’s choice and Heinie Wagner walked to load the bases. But Rhoades managed to get out of it. One Cleveland paper attributed his good luck to a $2 Egyptian amulet Rhoades had purchased the night before and had in his pocket while pitching. Wilbur Goode singled in the eighth and eventually scored the winning run on a passed ball.

Two days after Rhoades’ no-hitter, Frank Smith of Chicago pitched a 1-0 no-hitter over Ed Plank and the Philadelphia Athletics. The winning run scored in the ninth inning.

On September 22, headlines proclaimed “Best Work Ever” as “Plucky Fighting Puts Naps at Top.” ‘Cleveland had regained first place by defeating New York 5-3 while Detroit was losing to Boston 4-3.

Joss kept the Naps in first with a 7-0 shutout of New York. The game was tied 0-0 after five. Deacon McGuire took over coaching at first base in the sixth and Cleveland went on to score five runs in the inning.

The Naps won their next game over New York 9-3. The game was tied 1-1 until the sixth inning when the fans clamored for McGuire to take the coaching lines. He did and the Naps promptly scored two runs and six more in the seventh.

Detroit declared itself back in the race as they regained second with a double-header sweep of Philadelphia 7-2 and 1-0. While the Naps were idle, Detroit went back into first place with a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia.

On September 29, all four contenders swept double-headers from second division opponents.

Perfection

On October 2, 1908, Addie Joss pitched a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox in what is arguably the greatest clutch pitching performance of all time. Pitching for Chicago that day was Ed Walsh, who struck out fifteen Cleveland batters (in eight innings) and surrendered only four hits and one unearned run himself.

Walsh’s statistics for the 1908 season were amazing: 66 games, 49 starts, 42 complete games, 464 innings pitched, 269 strikeouts, 40 wins against only 15 losses, twelve shutouts and a 1.42 ERA. Walsh came into his confrontation with Joss having just defeated Boston three times within 48 hours. Boston managed only one run in the three games. (In the last nine games the Sox played in 1908, Walsh pitched seven times and won six.)

But on October 2, Big Ed me this match in Addie Joss. Chisox manager Fielder Jones summed it up best when he said, “The only kind of pitching that would have beaten Ed Walsh today was exactly the kind of pitching that Addie Joss showed us.”

How great of a pitcher was Joss? Consider these facts: Forty-five of his lifetime 160 wins were shutouts. His lifetime ERA of1.88 is the second best of all time. His nine lifetime low hit games (two no-hitters and seven one-hitters) is exceeded by only Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan.

Addie’s perfect game still left the Naps in second place, one-half game behind the Tigers who beat St. Louis 7-6.

The following day Ed Walsh got his revenge. The Naps were playing their final home game of the season before a huge crowd of 20,000 people. Walsh came on in relief in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and only one out. After getting Hinchman to ground into a forceout, Walsh struck out Napoleon Lajoie to retire the side. He then went onto wrap up a 3-2 victory.

Concluding Games

On Sunday, October 4, the Naps were in St. Louis for a key series with the Browns that would seal their fate in the race. Umpire Jack Egan was 20 minutes late in reaching the ball park for the first game. Had he remained away altogether, the Naps might have won the game. Dusty Rhoades started for Cleveland and gave up three runs in the first four innings. Once again, it was left to Addle Joss to keep the Naps alive. After walking the bases full, Joss fanned Bobby Wallace to end the threat. The game finally ended an eleven-inning 3-3 tie. Joss pitched the final six and 2/3 innings and allowed only two hits.

But the real story of the game was Cleveland’s ninth inning and Umpire Egan’s decision. Joss was on third base and Bill Bradley was on second and two were out. Bill Hinchman hit one out over second base for what looked like the lead runs. But shortstop Bobby Wallace somehow got to it, knocked it down and threw to first. Joss had already scored and Bradley had rounded third base. The St. Louis players immediately tried to run Bradley down between home and third. After Bradley had slid back to third, Egan “surprised everybody” by announcing he had declared Hinchman out.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s respected sports reporter Henry P. Edwards called it “the most raw decision by an umpire I have ever witnessed.”

The following day Bill Dinneen officially eliminated the Naps from the race with a four-hit 3-1 victory. Umpire Egan quickly reminded the Naps he was still in charge. Hanzell of St. Louis had singled and stolen second base. Hofman singled to left but Hinchman made a “grand return” of the ball and Bemis had Hartzell “blocked off the plate by yards” Egan called him safe and “the Naps seemed to go completely in the air.”

Meanwhile, on October 4 and 5, the White Sox were winning two straight from Detroit in a last-ditch attempt to win the race themselves. On the 4th, Chicago scored three times in the first inning and held on to win 3-1. Chicago won this game despite only getting one hit. The next thy Ed Walsh stopped Detroit 6-1.

On October 6, Detroit clinched the pennant in their last game of the regular season with a7-0 two-hit shutout of the White Sox by Wild Bill Donovan. The game was played at Chicago and a Sox victory would have given them the pennant.

Cleveland finished second by defeating St. Louis 5-1. Hughie Jennings, the manager of the pennant-winning Tigers, put Cleveland’s season in the proper perspective when he said: “The Naps have made one of the grandest fights in the history of the game.” His comment is still valid today, long after their grand fight has been forgotten.

The memorable and haunting lines of John Greenleaf Whittier express regret as well as any ever written, and they could have been written for Cleveland baseball over the last thirty years. The demise in the fortunes of the Indians seems centered on the era in the late 1950s, and included their last brush with history in 1959. So much of what has happened began, either in factor in our imagination, in that season in which the Tribe made a gallant but failed run at the American League flag. The bare facts of the pennant chase dramatic and exciting though they were, tell only a partial tale of the broken dream, and what almost was the death of the franchise.

A seesaw battle most of the season, the 1959 pennant race is generally remembered as a battle of the hitting power of Cleveland against the pitching and defense of the White Sox, skippered by former Cleveland manager Al Lopez. Although in the basic sense this was true, the issue was actually more complicated. Chicago’s hitting was better than it looked on paper because of the run-scarce spaces of Comiskey Park. Cleveland’s much denigrated pitching featured two outstanding performers in Cal McLish and rookie Jim Perry, and Gary Bell and Mudcat Grant were inconsistent but had as many good moments as bad.

Unremembered is the fact that Cleveland’s defense was the league’s best through the first two months of the season, with brilliant work by magic-gloved Vic Power at first, veteran Billy Martin at second, and the outfield of Minnie Minoso, Jim Piersall and Rocky Colavito. Woodie Held, a converted outfielder, began the year at third, was switched to fill a desperately needed shortstop hole and did not make his first error at either position until June 7. Added to timely hitting, the club jumped out to a 9-1 start for second-year manager Joe Gordon. But for all their remembered power, through early June the Indians had only outscored the rival Sox 209 to 206, It was not until an early-season acquisition, one John Patsy (Tito) Francona, got into the lineup that the Indians’ attack truly went on the warpath.

Ostensibly picked up as lefthanded bench strength, Francona took a few tips on his swing from Gordon and, for two-thirds of one blindingly brilliant season, found out what it must be like to tie Stan Musial. In his first doubleheader start, he slammed six hits in eight at bats. He kept it up, finishing with a .363 average, .419 on-base percentage and a .566 slugging average. His first homer was a bottom-of-the-ninth shot against the Yankees and typified the dramatics that surrounded most of the twenty round trippers he hit, in only 399 at bats.

After the hot start, the Tribe quickly settled into a slot usually a game to a game and a half back of the Pale Hose, who were playing the most consistent baseball in the league. However, a surprising Baltimore team, led by aging Gene Woodling and Bob Nieman, and the slugging of Gus Triandos, made things interesting through early June. The pitching-rich Orioles even tied for first for a couple of days before succumbing to injuries and a lack of depth. Even the brilliance of Hoyt Wilhelm couldn’t prevent their slide.

Wilhelm is a very sore point in Cleveland’s history and may well be the key in the club’s inability to nail down the pennant in `59. His departure from the wigwam late in 1958 is a quintessential example of the poor moves that cost the team its future. The great knuckleballer had been acquired by the Indians prior to the`58 season for needed bullpen strength in a straight cash deal. He was doing his job, although only 2-7 in the won-lost column, he had a fine 2.49 ERA, with excellent hit-inning and strikeout-walk ratios. In one of his few starts, he lost a complete game, 1-0. Any good baseball man could see he was pitching well. Nevertheless, on August 23, he was sold to the Orioles for $75,000. The reason? In a game against Kansas City on August 27, one of his hard-to-handle knucklers escaped catcher Russ Nixon, allowing a winning unearned run to score. In a fit of rage, the Cleveland general manager stormed into the team clubhouse and, during a general tirade, said that that type of loss would not happen again. The following day, Wilhelm was gone.

The engineer of this wondrous move was Frank Lane. It has become axiomatic in Cleveland baseball lore to say that Lane’s hyper mania for roster moves sold the club’s future down the drain. It is not an overstatement. In a twenty-month span between 1957 and 1959, Lane made an astonishing 55 transactions involving more than eighty players — nearly three deals per month! One Cleveland veteran remarked on his way to another team, “When you play for Lane, you keep your bags packed.”

Most of the trades were shockingly detrimental to the club’s future. Within weeks of his arrival in Baltimore, Wilhelm pitched a no-hitter against the world champion Yankees, and followed in 1959 by leading the majors in ERA at 2.19 en route to a 15-11 record with a losing team. The acquisition of Martin to fill the gap at second base came at the expense of lefty Don Mossi, who promptly became the best southpaw starter in the league over the next three seasons, except for Whitey Ford. And let’s be honest, it’s not as though no one knew Mossi could pitch. With Herb Score injured and the team short of pitching — lefthanded pitching in particular — this was not a wise move.

But the most incredible of all Lane’s deals is long forgotten, primarily because it involved no big names. Trading 30-year-old veteran backup catcher Hal Naraagon, a lefty hitter, to the Washington Senators, he threw in the club’s lone southpaw relief pitcher, Hal Woodeshick, who had posted a respectable rookie year in `58, 6-6, 3.64. In return, the Frantic one received the services of a 35-year, righthanded hitting reserve catcher, Ed Fitzgerald. With a team nearly bereft of lefty hitting and pitching, the two bench men were not unimportant. Woodeshick later became a fine reliever; Naragon hit .302 two years after Fitzgerald’s last game in the bigs. After catching 46 games for the Tribe, Fitz broke a finger and never played again. Incredible.

The 1959 White Sox were not a great ream. MVP Nellie Fox had a typical season, not his best, and the club was probably better a couple of times in the previous six years. Teamed with super glove Luis Aparicio, the Sox had the best middle infield in the league. Cy Young Award winner Early Wynn (22-10, 3.17) Bob Shaw (18-6, 2.69) and catcher Sherm Lollar (22 HRs) all had great years. But the Pale Hose also had gaping holes at first base and right field, and a journeyman at third base. Al Smith in left was a good player having one of his poorest seasons. Landis in center was a great defensive performer, but no more so than Piersall.

For all the Sox’ strengths, Cleveland usually had a strength to match — except one. Ironically, the forgotten ingredient of the White Sox success that year was a forerunner of baseball to come. Turk Lawn and Gerry Staley formed the best bullpen in the majors that year, choking off rally after rally, insuring win after win. Cleveland had nothing remotely like them.

On June 10, the Indians found themselves in third place, 1-1/2 games behind Chicago and surprising Baltimore. In Baltimore, the Tribe faced rookie Jerry Walker, having a fine season. After walking in the first inning, Rocky Colavito drilled a line-drive homer off Walker in the third. Arnie Portocarrero faced Rocky in his third time at bat, and a slider went 410 feet to left. Against Portocarrero again, Colavito drove a low sinking fastball 430 feet to left-center. In the ninth inning, after acknowledging polite applause from the 16,000 Orioles throng, Rocky sent an Ernie Johnson fastball to the same general area as his third homer, and into the history books. The final score was 11-8, Colavito totaling seven runs. But Baltimore was still a half game upon the Indians. The following day, a long Colavito double in the eighth inning scored Held from first to break a 1-1 tie, and only the Sox remained in the way.

With Francona delivering clutch hits in demonic fashion through June, July and August, the Tribe stayed close to the increasingly dominant Chicago pitching. In late August, the Tribe had a crucial two game set with the resurgent Yankees. The Bronx bombers had dug a hole early that they could not extricate themselves from, having fallen into last place at the end of May. But now they were hot, and the White Sox were due in for a four game series after the Yanks. Colavito beat Whitey Ford with a pair of homers in the first game, and crashed a bottom-of-the-ninth job the next night off stopper Ryne Duren with the score tied, and the stage was set for the showdown with the Sox. It was to be Cleveland’s Waterloo.

The White Sox annihilated the Tribe in the four games, outscoring them 24 to 20, and dropping Cleveland 5-1/2 games back. Surprisingly, they stayed even with the Sox through September, but even wasn’t good enough. They finished five back.

Was there a pennant to be had in Cleveland in 1959? Almost beyond doubt. Had Lane held onto any one of the pitchers he squandered away — Wilhelm, Mossi, Bud Daley, Wynn himself — the outcome would likely have been different. In the months that followed the season, Lane continued the carnage. He yielded the team’s top starter, McLish, to Cincinnati for Johnny Temple, who was on the downslide. Oh yes. He threw in our second baseman, Martin, and promising young slugger Gordy Coleman — a lefty, of course. There was the infamous Cash for Demeter deal, and the emotional shocker, Colavito for Kuenn. In justifying his ludicrous deal, lane referred to The Rock as an “incomplete player” — a label that was somehow supposed to make us not notice that Kuenn had no power, a poor arm, and a reputation for not taking care of himself. We noticed. The grandstanding, ego-strutting Lane was suckered badly by Detroit — twice.

We may not know exactly why the malaise that has followed the Tribe for three decades seems to cling like an iron glove, but it is clear where it began.

I. The Teams

Leroy “Satchel” Paige is remembered by long-time Cleveland baseball fans for his role in the Indians’ 1948 World Championship season. However, the Tribe was not the first major league team Paige pitched for in the lakefront city. In 1931, already a five-year veteran of the black major leagues, he hurled for the Negro National League Cleveland Cubs.

The NNL operated from 1920 through 1931 with clubs located in the midwest and south. Cleveland was an occasional entry under a variety of names. The city’s five initial NNL teams: the 1922 Tate Stars1 (17-29), 1924 Browns (15-34), 1926 Elites(6-38), 1927 Hornets (14-38) and 1928 Tigers (19-53), all wound up in the league basement. The 1931 Cubs (24-22) posted Cleveland’s best NNL record.2

In 1932 the East-West League was loaned as a major black circuit but failed to survive the season. Standings published prior to the EWL’s demise saw Cleveland’s Stars (8-16) standing sixth in a seven-club chase.

A second Negro National League was formed in 1933 with teams located primarily in the east. Cleveland competed as the 1933 Giants3 and 1934 Red Sox (4-25).

The Negro American League was organized in 1937 encompassing cities in the midwest and south. Cleveland initially participated in the new circuit as the Bears in 1939 (9-9/first half) and 1940 (10-10), leading the NAL in the early going of the 1939 campaign.

Cleveland’s most successful black major league team, the Buckeyes came from Cincinnati to the shores of Lake Erie during the 1942 season. By 1945, under the ownership of Ernest Wright Sr.4 the Cleveland Buckeyes (53-16) ruled the league and all of black baseball with a four game Black World Series sweep of the NNL Homestead Grays. After a relapse in 1946, the 1947 Buckeyes (51-22) recaptured the NAL pennant but lost the Series to the NNL New York Cubans, 4 games to 1.

In 1948, Cleveland was 31-21 in the first half, but faded to a 10-21 second half. The Buckeyes transferred to Louisville in 1949 but relocated in Cleveland by the season’s end. 1950 saw the Clevelanders win but three of 36 first-half contests and withdraw from the black majors for good. The Buckeyes had represented Cleveland well in the NAL but a new era had dawned.

II. The Managers

James (Candy) Taylor piloted the 1922 and 1926 NNL entries. He also managed the 1923 NNL Toledo Tigers who withdrew from the league and reappeared as the resurrected Cleveland Tate Stars later that summer. Taylor went on to lead the 1928 St. Louis Stars and 1943 and 1944 Homestead Grays to NNL championships. The Grays added Black World Series triumphs both years.

Taylor, a third baseman, began playing in 1904. Available data reveals a .295 batting average for the 1926 Elites and a .291 NNL average from 1920 through 1931. He was one of four brothers to succeed in professional baseball.

Sol White managed the 1924 Browns in the twilight of a career launched in 1887. An infielder, he starred in Organized Baseball prior to racial discrimination and posted a .360 batting average in 152 OB contests. White piloted the Philadelphia Giants to the top of black baseball from 1904 through 1907 and authored The History of Colored Baseball in 1907.

Pete Duncan5 guided the 1928 Tigers. He had gained acclaim as an outfielder for Rube Foster’s early Chicago American Giants powerhouses.

Parnell Woods replaced Walter Burch6 as the Buckeye field general in 1942 and held the post until releasing the reins to Quincy Trouppe in 1945. Woods remained as the clubs third baseman and was a vital cog in their 1945 title drive. His career, initiated in 1933, ended in 1949 in the Pacific Coast League. Available data reveals a .319 batting average the final six years of Wood’s professional career. He played in four Black East-West All-Star Games, starting three.

Trouppe led the Buckeyes through 1947. Available figures show a .300 batting average in black major league play with a high of .352 for the 1947 Buckeyes. He was in five East-West All-Star Games, being a starting catcher in four of them. In 1952 Trouppe appeared in six games for the Cleveland Indians.

Alonzo Boone was the NAL Buckeyes’ last manager. He had appeared as a pitcher for the 1931 Cubs and was reportedly a member of the NNL Cleveland Bears. He was also on the 1942 Buckeyes. Boone pitched for two NAL pennant winners: the 1944 Birmingham Black Barons and then returned to the Buckeyes to post a 5-1 record for the 1947 titleist.

III. The Players

Cleveland’s black major league teams provided some outstanding individual performers.

The 1924 Browns featured a fine outfield of Vic Harris, Orville Singe and Wilson Redus. Harris later played in six East-West All- Star Games and gained fame as the manager of eight championship clubs for the Homestead Grays. Singer also played for the city’s 1928 and 1931 NNL entries and the 1932 EWL Stars. Redus went on to patrol the outer pastures for the St. Louis Stars’ 1928, 1930 and 1931 NNL pennant winners. He then returned to Cleveland with the 1932 EWL Stars, 1933 NNL Bears and 1934 NNL Red Sox and appeared in the 1936 and 1937 East-West All-Star Games.

The 1926 Elites displayed another line outfielder in Tack Summers. Summers was also a member of the 1927 and 1928 clubs. John Wesley Johnson pitched for the Elites as well as the 1924 Browns and 1928 Tigers.

The 1927 Hornets had Edgar Wesley at first base hitting at a .400-plus pace. Wesley had topped the NNL in both batting average (.440) and home runs (18) with the 1925 Detroit Stars.

Nelson Dean came to Cleveland to pitch for the 1927 Hornets and 1928 Tigers and had a tough time notching victories. But after leading NNL pitchers with an 8-3 mark for the 1931 Detroit Stars, Dean was back in Cleveland with the 1932 EWL Stars.

Satchel Paige was joined on a fine 1931 Cub pitching staff by Sam Streeter. Streeter later pitched in the 1933 East-West All-Star Game and for the 1935 NNL Champion Pittsburgh Crawfords. Paige hurled for Kansas City’s 1940,1941, 1942 and 1946 NAL flag winners and in five East-West All-Star Games.

1933 saw second baseman Leroy Morney capture the NNL batting crown with .419 and represent Cleveland as a starter in the East-West All-Star Game. Red Sox infielder Pat Patterson played in the 1934 East-West All-Star contest. The lone Bears East-West All-Star was Parnell Woods in 1939.

Many outstanding players performed for the Buckeyes, twelve representing them in East-West All-Star Games: pitchers Eugene Bremmer (1942, 44, 45), Chet Brewer (1947) and Theolic Smith (1943), catcher Quincy Trouppe (1945, 46, 47), first baseman Archie Ware (1944, 45, 46), third basemen Parnell Woods (1942) and Leon Kellman (1949), and outfielders Buddy Armour (1944), Lloyd Davenport (1945), Willie Grace (1946), Dave Hoskins (1949) and Sam Jethroe (1942, 44, 46, 47). Ware led the NAL in 1945 with 39 RBIs, in 1947 with 99 hits and in 1948 with 23 doubles. Kellman topped the NAL with 54 RBIs in 1947. Outfielder Joe Atkins led the Buckeyes and NAL with ten roundtrippers in 1947. Pitcher George Jefferson (11-1) paced the 1945 NAL with a .917 winning percentage while posting a 1.75 ERA for the Buckeyes. However, George’s brother Willie, also a Buckeye pitcher, led the 1945 NAL in ERA with 1.57 while ringing up a 10-1 record.

Sam Jethroe, the Buckeyes fleet center fielder, spearheaded the club’s rise to the top of the NAL. Nicknamed Jet, he fashioned a .340 NAL batting average from 1944 through 1948 while topping the league in stolen bases in 1944 (18), 1945 (21), 1947 (50) and 1948 (29), in runs scored in 1944 (55), 1945 (61) and 1947 (90), in hits in 1944 (97), in doubles in 1944 (14) and 1947 (9), in triples in 1945 (30) and 1947 (9), in total bases in 1944 (121), 1945 (123) and 1947 (162), and in at-bats in 1944 (275). Jethroe captured the batting crown with .353 in 1944 and .393 in 1945. He hit .333 in the 1945 Black World Series.

Jethroe left the Buckeyes to join Montreal of the International League midway through the 1948 season. He was an immediate sensation, hitting .322 as the Royals went on to win the Junior World Series. In 1949 Jethroe hit .326 for Montreal and topped the IL in runs (154), hits (207), total bases (330), triples (19) and stolen bases (89). The next year he joined the Boston Braves and became an instant star in the National League, earning Rookie-of-the-Year honors and pacing the major leagues in stolen bases in 1950 (35) and 1951 (35). He played in OB through 1958 and was a pioneer in reviving the art of base stealing at the major league level.7

An interesting footnote to the contribution of Cleveland’s big league black clubs is that a half dozen of their players went on to play for the city’s American League entry once the race ban was lifted. Satchel Paige (1931 Cubs and 1948 Indians) and Quincy Trouppe (1945-47 Buckeyes and 1952 Indians) have been mentioned. Sam Jones (1948 Buckeyes and 1951-52 Indians), Al Smith (1947-48 Buckeyes and 1953-57 Indians), Dave Hoskins (1949 Buckeyes and 1953-54 Indians) and Joe Caffie (1950 Buckeyes and 1956-57 Indians) also accomplished this feat.

With these and other players the 1950s emerged as the most memorable decade in the recently integrated Cleveland Indians’ history.

Sources

Baseball’s Great Experiment by Jules Tygiel

A Man and His Diamonds by Charles E. Whitehead

Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball, edited by David Porter (“Jethroe, Samuel”) by Terry Baxter

Black Diamonds by John Holway

History of Colored Baseball (1907) by Sol White

Nineteenth Century Stars by SABR (“Sol White”) by Jerry Malloy

Only the Ball Was White by Robert Peterson

The Baseball Encyclopedia (Macmillan) 1969

20 Years Too Soon by Quincy Trouppe

Beisbol Venezolana (1946-66) by G. Becerra Mijares

Sporting News Baseball Guides (1949- 1959)

Dick Clark files including Standings, Rosters and Statistics compiled by SABR Negro Leagues Committee

Author’s Files including NAL Standings and Statistics (1944-48)

Various Newspapers including:

Baltimore Afro-American

Chicago Defender

Cleveland Call and Post

Eric (PA) Times-News

Michigan Chronicle

Philadelphia Inquirer

Pittsburgh Courier

Notes

1 George Tate, club officer and NNL veep, probably owned them.

2 Based on latest research by SABR Negro Leagues Committee.

3 Merger of NNL Columbus Bluebirds and an Akron ball club.

4 Wright owned the Buckeyes through 1949. Wilbur Hayes was owner in 1950.

5 Duncan possibly managed the 1927 Hornets also.

6 Burch, a catcher, played from 1931 through 1944.

7 Hit .261 in 4 NL seasons, .295 in 8 AAA seasons.

The essential Cleveland baseball library begins with The Cleveland Indians by Franklin Lewis (Putnam, 1949). One of the Putnam team history series the book goes back to the beginnings of baseball in Cleveland, covering the Spiders of the American Association and the National League. Lewis, a long-time sports editor of the Cleveland Press, chronicles Cleveland’s American League history right up through the amazing 1948 World Championship season.

In Day By Day in Cleveland Indians History (Leisure Press, 1983), my goal was to pick up where Lewis left off as well as concentrate on he great games and great seasons in Tribe history. One of several day-by-day books published in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Cleveland book offers highlights from each day of the calendar year plus reviews of post season games, trades, records and nicknames.

Cleveland baseball fans owe a debt of thanks to John Phillips. Through his Capital Publishing Company, Phillips has produced work after work on various aspects of Cleveland baseball.

Chronologically, begin with The Spiders – Who Was Who. Phillips provides brief sketches of all players who wore the Spiders’ uniform during the years 1889 to 1899 from Pete Allen to Chief Zimmer. Phillips devotes a full volume to the most infamous club in Spiders history, the 1899 team that compiled a won-loss record of 20-134.

Who Was Who in Cleveland Baseball in 1901-10 by John Phillips is another compilation of biographical sketches from Cleveland’s first American League decade. Hall of Famers Addie Joss, Nap Lajoie, Elmer Flick and Cy Young receive special emphasis.

SABR can take credit for publishing the first biography of Cleveland’s first modern (since 1901) superstar in the Spring 1988 issue of The National Pastime. Napoleon Lajoie: Modern Baseball’s First Superstar by J.M. Murphy recounts Nap’s entire career including such Cleveland highlights as his eight-for-eight performance to “win” the 1910 batting title, the 1908 pennant race, and his 3,000th hit in 1914. Phillips details Lajoie’s first season in Cleveland with his book on the 1902 Cleveland Blues, When Lajoie Came to Town.

Long before the Rocky Colavito-Harvey Kuenn trade, Cleveland made an equally outrageous move by trading “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, still the all-time batting average leader in club history. As supplemental reading, Say It Ain’t So, Joe (Little, Brown, 1979) is both a fine biography of Jackson and a look into his years with Cleveland from 1910 to 1915.

The Indians, as Cleveland’s AL team has been known since 1915, reached and won their first World Series in 1920, one of the most remarkable and important seasons in major league history. One of the best recent works of baseball history chronicles that season by following the careers of pitcher Carl Mays of the New York Yankees and shortstop Ray Chapman of the Indians. Mike Sowell tells the story of the only fatal beaning in major league history in The Pitch That Killed (Macmillan 1989), winner of the Casey Award as best baseball book of the year. Phillips uses the day-by-day style to recount that remarkable season in The 1920 Indians.

The Indians had fine seasons in 1921 and 1926. Only the Yankees had more AL wins in the 1930s than Cleveland. But, the biggest event in Cleveland baseball between the 1920 World Series and 1940 was the arrival of Bob Feller in 1936. Feller’s first autobiography, Strikeout Story (A.S. Barnes, 1947), acceptably covers Rapid Robert’s life and Cleveland career until 1946. His new biography, Now Pitching, Bob Feller (Birch Lane Press, 1990), re-hashes the old material, but also provides a look at the years from 1948 to 1956.

Feller was the first Tribe player to have his uniform number retired, Lou Boudreau was the second. Player-Manager (Little, Brown, 1949) is the autobiography of Cleveland’s shortstop throughout the 1940s, manager from 1942 to 1950, and AL Most Valuable Player in 1948. Published after the 1948 season, Boudreau’s book discusses his entire career, but emphasizes Cleveland’s World Championship season of 1948.

Boudreau was the on-field architect of Cleveland’s second World Series winner, but club owner Bill Veeck was the acknowledged genius whose tireless promoting and shrewd moves produced the most exciting baseball season ever on the north coast. Veeck tells his side of the 1948 story, including how he nearly traded Boudreau before the season, in his biography Veeck As In Wreck (Putnam, 1962).

Two of Veeck’s biggest moves involved the integration of the junior circuit. Larry Doby, forever overshadowed by Jackie Robinson, became the first Black player in AL history and spent a decade in Cleveland. Joseph Moore is Doby’s biographer in Pride Against Prejudice (Praeger, 1988). In 1948, Veeck brought Negro League legend Satchel Paige to the bigs. Paige tells his story in Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever (Doubleday, 1962) and Cleveland sportswriter Hal Lebovitz follows Satch’s amazing “rookie” season in Pitchin’ Man (self-published).

Another bold move by Veeck brought Hall of Fame slugger Hank Greenberg into the Tribe front office in 1948. Hank remained in Cleveland following Bill’s 1949 departure and ran the club until 1957. Hank Greenberg – The Story of My Life (with Ira Berkow, Times Books, 1989) recalls his controversial reign and efforts to move the team to Minnesota.

Cleveland’s 1949 season was a disappointment compared with the glory of 1948, but, argues author Bruce Dudley, more like the majority of Tribe seasons with great expectations that went unfulfilled. Distant Drums: The 1949 Cleveland Indians Revisited (self-published) features interviews with almost every member of that club and a look at how the defending champions fared a year later.

The years 1946 to 1956 were, arguably, the best in Tribe history. Cleveland Baseball Winners by John Phillips is a “Who’s Who” look at the members of the Indians during those years. The members of the 1954 club banded together to dethrone the Yankees with an AL record 111 victories. Unfortunately, Cleveland could not add a single win to those 111 in the 1954 World Series. Some Tribe fans might argue that the biggest turning point in modem club history was September 29, 1954. Arnold Hano’s A Day in the Bleachers (Crowell, 1955) is a baseball classic; an in-depth, personal, inning-by-inning account of the first game of the 1954 World Series.

For those that remember April 17, 1960 as the darkest day in Tribe annals, Don’t Knock the Rock (World, 1966) by Gordon Cobbledick recounts the life of Rocky Colavito, the biggest baseball star in Cleveland since Bob Feller.

A strong argument can be made that the Indians have never recovered from the Colavito trade. Most of the significant moments in Tribe history since have been of a transient nature and due to the individual brilliance of a single athlete. Gaylord Perry was such an athlete. Obtained in a trade from the Giants, Perry won the Cy Young Award for Cleveland in l972 and gained national headlines with his “does he or doesn’t he (throw a spitball)” act. His confessional, Me and the Spitter (Saturday Review Press, 1974), looks at Perry’s entire career through the 1973 season.

The Indians made integration headlines again by making Frank Robinson the first Black manager in modern major league history in 1974. Frank: The First Year (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976) by Robinson and Dave Anderson is a diary of that season, ironically highlighted by a feud between Robinson and Perry. Local Cleveland sportswriter Russ Schneider also looked at that landmark season in Frank Robinson: The Making of a Manager (Coward, McCann, Geohegan, 1976).

The player that, no matter how briefly, excited Cleveland baseball fans like no player since Colavito was Joe Charboneau, profiled in Super Joe (Stein and Day, 1981). Joe was a one-year wonder. The most recent player to make a long-term impact on the Tribe was Andre Thornton. His book, Triumph Born of Tragedy (Harvest House, 1983) deals primarily with Thornton’s religious beliefs, but provides insight into the most popular Tribe star of the 1970s and 1980s.

Another enlightening look inside the Indians of the late 70s and early `80s comes from A Baseball Winter (Macmillan, 1986) by Terry Pluto and Jeffrey Neuman. Pluto and Neuman describe the 1984-85 off-season doings of several clubs, including the Indians. A vivid picture of a floundering franchise emerges.

An integral part of Cleveland baseball has been the two homes of the AL club. League Park (self-published) by Peter Jedick is a monograph on the home of the Tribe until 1946. Cleveland Municipal Stadium (Cleveland Landmarks Press, 1981) by Jim Toman and Dan Cook deals with the development, construction and overall use of the mammoth lakefront facility.

Many aspects of Cleveland baseball have yet to be discussed. The Cleveland Buckeyes were one of the most successful Negro League clubs during the 1940s. Star catcher Quincy Trouppe tells his story in 20 Years Too Soon (S & S Enterprises 1977). Still less literature is available on Cleveland’s sandlot and minor league teams.

The essential Cleveland baseball library is sure to expand. Tris Speaker, Sam McDowell, the 1908 and 1940 AL pennant races, and Cleveland baseball in the 1950s are just some subjects that deserve full-length treatment. Such books would not only add to Cleveland baseball literature but enhance the written record of baseball in general.

An enjoyable and on-going ritual of baseball is the periodic selection of various all-time teams. All-time rosters have been selected for individual teams, ethnic groups, sluggers, base stealers, and so on. A variety of all-time teams have been selected for the Cleveland Indians.

The following sample includes a mythical team chosen by fans voting in local Cleveland newspapers in 1951, the 50th anniversary of both the Indians and the American League, one from The Ronald Encyclopedia of Baseball edited by Joseph Reichler in 1962, one chosen by fans and media through polling by the Cleveland Press during professional baseball’s centennial season of 1969, and one from the authors of The All-Time All-Star Baseball Book (Bart and Nick Acocella and Donald Dewey).

(Note: Boudreau and Feller were not eligible for the 1951 selection because both were still active players.)

In 1989, the Indians ran a fan poll to choose an all-time 24-man squad. These choices included Feller, Harder, Joss, plus Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, Sam McDowell, Gaylord Perry, Mike Garcia, Stan Coveleski and Herb Score. Joining infielders Boudreau, Lajoie, Trosky and Keltner were Al Rosen, Andre Thornton and Joe Gordon. Leading the outfielders was modern fan favorite Rocky Colavito, followed by Speaker, Larry Doby, Averill, Joe Carter and Jackson. The catchers were O’Neill and Jim Hegan.

Disregarding the 1989 selections, the most striking feature of all these all-time teams is the old-time nature of the clubs. On the Ronald squad only Feller was an active player beyond 1952. Rapid Robert is again the most recent retiree (1956) on the squad chosen in 1969. The All-Time All-Star Baseball Book adds an element of youth by including Doby who retired in 1959. Even the 24 players chosen in 1989 feature just seven active since 1960 (Wynn, McDowell, Perry, Score, Thornton, Colavito and Carter).

Playing the all-time all-star team game can lead in many directions. A Cleveland team based on most home runs in one season would be comprised of catcher John Romano (25 home runs in 1962), first baseman Hal Trosky (42, 1936), second baseman Joe Gordon (32, 1948), shortstop Woody Held (29, 1959). third baseman Al Rosen (43, 1953), left fielder Leon Wagner (31, 1964) and right fielder Rocky Colavito (42, 1959). Two center fielders, Earl Averill and Larry Doby, each had a pair of 32-homer seasons. Andre Thornton’s 33 homers in 1982 are the most for a Tribesman playing designated hitter. Wes Ferrell’s nine home runs in 1931 is a record among pitchers for the Indians and all major league baseball.

How about Cleveland’s “A Squad”? You might have Joe Adcock at first base, Bobby Avila at second, Ken Aspromonte at shortstop, Max Alvis at third, Alan Ashby catching and Johnny Allen pitching. The could play a “B Squad” with Bruce Bochte at first, Jack Brohamer at second, Boudreau at short and Buddy Bell at third, Bobby Bonds, Walter Bond, and Brett Butler in the outfield, Moe Berg catching and Jim Bagby Sr. pitching.

An All-Time defensive team for the Tribe might consist of first baseman Vic Power, second baseman Lajoie, shortstop Boudreau, third baseman Graig Nettles, outfielders Speaker, Colavito and Jimmy Piersall, catcher Ray Fosse and pitcher Phil Niekro.

Perhaps the most fitting all-star team would be one based on selections to the All-Star Game. Cleveland’s team would include pitcher Feller (eight selections), shortstop Boudreau, outfielder Doby, and third baseman Keltner (seven each), outfielder Averill (six), catcher Hegan (five), second baseman Avila and outfielder Colavito (two each). At first base, we might shift Rosen across the diamond.

The possibilities are endless (unlike the pennant-less drought of 35-plus years in the Wigwam, I hope). Perhaps thoughts of the tallest Tribe team, the heaviest (with Garland Buckeye edging out Jumbo Brown as starting pitcher), the smartest (with Berg catching) and others will send you scrambling to the record books.