1955 Cleveland Indians season
Major League Baseball team season
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The 1955 Cleveland Indians season was the 55th season in franchise history. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 93–61, three games behind the New York Yankees.
| 1955 Cleveland Indians | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Cleveland Municipal Stadium |
| City | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Owners | Myron H. Wilson |
| General managers | Hank Greenberg |
| Managers | Al López |
| Television | WXEL (Ken Coleman, Jim Britt) |
| Radio | WERE (Jimmy Dudley, Ed Edwards) |
Offseason
- October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased from the Indians by the Boston Red Sox.[1]
- November 16, 1954: Ralph Kiner was acquired by the Indians from the Chicago Cubs for $60,000 as part of an earlier deal (the Cubs sent a player to be named later to the Indians for Sam Jones and players to be named later) made on September 30, 1954. The Indians sent Gale Wade to the Cubs on November 30 to complete the trade.[2]
- Prior to 1955 season: Joe Ginsberg was sent by the Indians to the San Diego Padres.[3]
Regular season
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 96 | 58 | .623 | — | 52–25 | 44–33 |
| Cleveland Indians | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 49–28 | 44–33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 91 | 63 | .591 | 5 | 49–28 | 42–35 |
| Boston Red Sox | 84 | 70 | .545 | 12 | 47–31 | 37–39 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | .513 | 17 | 46–31 | 33–44 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 63 | 91 | .409 | 33 | 33–43 | 30–48 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 57 | 97 | .370 | 39 | 30–47 | 27–50 |
| Washington Senators | 53 | 101 | .344 | 43 | 28–49 | 25–52 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
| Baltimore | — | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 9–13 | 10–12–1 | 3–19 | 14–8 | |||||
| Boston | 14–8 | — | 9–13 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 8–14 | 15–7 | |||||
| Chicago | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | — | 10–12 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 17–5 | |||||
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 11–11 | 12–10 | — | 12–10 | 17–5 | 13–9 | 9–13 | |||||
| Detroit | 13–9 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 10–12 | — | 12–10 | 10–12 | 17–5 | |||||
| Kansas City | 12–10–1 | 8–14 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 13–9 | |||||
| New York | 19–3 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 | 12–10 | 15–7 | — | 16–6 | |||||
| Washington | 8–14 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 13–9 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- May 16, 1955: Hal Newhouser was released by the Indians.[4]
- June 15, 1955: Dave Pope and Wally Westlake were traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Billy Cox and Gene Woodling. Billy Cox refused to report to his new team. The Orioles sent $15,000 to the Indians on June 15 as compensation.[5]
- July 2, 1955: Dave Philley was selected off waivers from the Indians by the Baltimore Orioles.[6]
Roster
| 1955 Cleveland Indians | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
|
Catchers
Infielders
|
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager
Coaches
| ||||||
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Jim Hegan | 116 | 304 | 67 | .220 | 9 | 40 |
| 1B | Vic Wertz | 74 | 257 | 65 | .253 | 14 | 55 |
| 2B | Bobby Avila | 141 | 537 | 146 | .272 | 13 | 61 |
| SS | George Strickland | 130 | 388 | 81 | .209 | 2 | 34 |
| 3B | Al Rosen | 139 | 492 | 120 | .244 | 21 | 81 |
| LF | Ralph Kiner | 113 | 321 | 78 | .243 | 18 | 54 |
| CF | Larry Doby | 131 | 491 | 143 | .291 | 26 | 75 |
| RF | Al Smith | 154 | 607 | 186 | .306 | 22 | 77 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gene Woodling | 79 | 259 | 72 | .278 | 5 | 35 |
| Hal Naragon | 57 | 127 | 41 | .323 | 1 | 14 |
| Ferris Fain | 56 | 118 | 30 | .254 | 0 | 8 |
| Hank Foiles | 62 | 111 | 29 | .261 | 1 | 7 |
| Sam Dente | 73 | 105 | 27 | .257 | 0 | 10 |
| Dave Pope | 35 | 104 | 31 | .298 | 6 | 22 |
| Dave Philley | 43 | 104 | 31 | .298 | 2 | 9 |
| Joe Altobelli | 42 | 75 | 15 | .200 | 2 | 5 |
| Hoot Evers | 39 | 66 | 19 | .288 | 2 | 9 |
| Dale Mitchell | 61 | 58 | 15 | .259 | 0 | 10 |
| Hank Majeski | 36 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 2 | 6 |
| Bobby Young | 18 | 45 | 14 | .311 | 0 | 6 |
| Rudy Regalado | 10 | 26 | 7 | .269 | 0 | 5 |
| Wally Westlake | 16 | 20 | 5 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Billy Harrell | 13 | 19 | 8 | .421 | 0 | 1 |
| Stu Locklin | 16 | 18 | 3 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Colavito | 5 | 9 | 4 | .444 | 0 | 0 |
| Stan Pawloski | 2 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 0 |
| Kenny Kuhn | 4 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Simpson | 3 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
| = Indicates league leader |
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Wynn | 32 | 230.0 | 17 | 11 | 2.82 | 122 |
| Herb Score | 33 | 227.1 | 16 | 10 | 2.85 | 245 |
| Bob Lemon | 35 | 211.1 | 18* | 10 | 3.88 | 100 |
| Mike Garcia | 38 | 210.2 | 11 | 13 | 4.02 | 120 |
- Tied with Whitey Ford and Frank Sullivan
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art Houtteman | 35 | 124.1 | 10 | 6 | 3.98 | 53 |
| Bob Feller | 25 | 83.0 | 4 | 4 | 3.47 | 25 |
| Sal Maglie | 10 | 25.2 | 0 | 2 | 3.86 | 11 |
| Hank Aguirre | 4 | 12.2 | 2 | 0 | 1.42 | 6 |
| Bud Daley | 2 | 7.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.43 | 2 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Narleski | 60 | 9 | 1 | 19 | 3.71 | 94 |
| Don Mossi | 57 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 2.42 | 69 |
| José Santiago | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.48 | 19 |
| Bill Wight | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.63 | 9 |
| Hal Newhouser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Ted Gray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |
Awards and honors
- Bobby Ávila, Second base, Reserve
- Larry Doby, Outfield, Reserve
- Al López, Manager
- Al Rosen, Third base, Reserve
- Herb Score, Pitcher, Reserve
- Al Smith, Outfield, Reserve
- Early Wynn, Pitcher, Reserve
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Keokuk, Spartanburg[8]