1960 Cleveland Indians season
Major League Baseball team season
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The 1960 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Indians' fourth-place finish in the American League with a record of 76 wins and 78 losses, 21 games behind the AL Champion New York Yankees. This season was notable for the infamous trade of Rocky Colavito.
| 1960 Cleveland Indians | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Ballpark | Cleveland Municipal Stadium |
| City | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Record | 76–78 (.494) |
| League place | 4th |
| Owners | William R. Daley |
| General managers | Frank Lane |
| Managers | Joe Gordon, Jimmy Dykes |
| Television | WEWS-TV (Ken Coleman, Bill McColgan) |
| Radio | WERE (Jimmy Dudley, Bob Neal) |
Offseason
- December 6, 1959: Minnie Miñoso, Dick Brown, Don Ferrarese, and Jake Striker were traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Johnny Romano, Bubba Phillips, and Norm Cash.[1]
- December 15, 1959: Billy Martin, Gordy Coleman and Cal McLish were traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Reds for Johnny Temple.[2]
- Prior to 1960 season: Jim King was obtained by the Indians from the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of a minor league working agreement.[3]
Regular season
Season standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 97 | 57 | .630 | — | 55–22 | 42–35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 89 | 65 | .578 | 8 | 44–33 | 45–32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | .565 | 10 | 51–26 | 36–41 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 78 | .494 | 21 | 39–38 | 37–40 |
| Washington Senators | 73 | 81 | .474 | 24 | 32–45 | 41–36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 71 | 83 | .461 | 26 | 40–37 | 31–46 |
| Boston Red Sox | 65 | 89 | .422 | 32 | 36–41 | 29–48 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 58 | 96 | .377 | 39 | 34–43 | 24–53 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | NYY | WSH | |||||
| Baltimore | — | 16–6 | 13–9 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 11–11 | |||||
| Boston | 6–16 | — | 5–17 | 9–13 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 7–15 | 11–11 | |||||
| Chicago | 9–13 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 11–11 | 15–7 | 10–12 | 14–8 | |||||
| Cleveland | 8–14 | 13–9 | 11–11 | — | 7–15 | 15–7 | 6–16 | 16–6 | |||||
| Detroit | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 15–7 | — | 10–12 | 8–14 | 10–12 | |||||
| Kansas City | 9–13 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 12–10 | — | 7–15–1 | 7–15 | |||||
| New York | 13–9 | 15–7 | 12–10 | 16–6 | 14–8 | 15–7–1 | — | 12–10 | |||||
| Washington | 11–11 | 11–11 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | |||||
Notable transactions
- April 3, 1960: Al Cicotte was purchased by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Indians.[4]
- April 12, 1960: Norm Cash was traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for Steve Demeter.[5]
- April 17, 1960: 1959 AL home run king Rocky Colavito was traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for 1959 AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn.[6]
- April 18, 1960: Herb Score was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Barry Latman.[7]
- June 11, 1960: Paul Casanova was released by the Indians.[8]
- June 13, 1960: Russ Nixon and Carroll Hardy were traded by the Indians to the Boston Red Sox for Marty Keough and Ted Bowsfield.[9] It was he second time the Indians traded Nixon to the Red Sox in three months: a March 16 deal sent Nixon to Boston for fellow catcher Sammy White, but White retired rather than report to Cleveland and the trade was nullified March 25.
- August 3, 1960: In what was termed the first (and up to the present day, only) "trade" of managers in baseball history,[10] Cleveland and Detroit exchanged Joe Gordon for Jimmy Dykes.[11] In the days that followed, the two teams also "traded" coaches, as the Indians' Jo-Jo White and the Tigers' Luke Appling swapped jobs to remain aides to Gordon and Dykes.
Opening Day Lineup
| Opening Day Starters | ||
|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Position |
| 1 | Johnny Temple | 2B |
| 6 | Harvey Kuenn | CF |
| 12 | Walt Bond | RF |
| 14 | Tito Francona | LF |
| 15 | Russ Nixon | C |
| 10 | Vic Power | 1B |
| 3 | Woodie Held | SS |
| 7 | Bubba Phillips | 3B |
| 39 | Gary Bell | P |
Roster
Player stats
| = Indicates team leader |
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 | Johnny Romano | 108 | 316 | 86 | .272 | 16 | 52 |
| 1B | Vic Power | 147 | 580 | 167 | .288 | 10 | 84 |
| 2B | Ken Aspromonte | 117 | 459 | 133 | .290 | 1 | 10 |
| 3B | Bubba Phillips | 113 | 304 | 63 | .207 | 4 | 33 |
| SS | Woodie Held | 109 | 376 | 97 | .258 | 1 | 21 |
| LF | Tito Francona | 147 | 544 | 159 | .292 | 17 | 79 |
| CF | Jimmy Piersall | 138 | 486 | 137 | .282 | 18 | 66 |
| RF | Harvey Kuenn | 126 | 474 | 146 | .308 | 9 | 54 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Temple | 98 | 381 | 102 | .268 | 2 | 19 |
| Mike de la Hoz | 49 | 160 | 41 | .256 | 6 | 23 |
| Marty Keough | 65 | 149 | 37 | .248 | 3 | 11 |
| Walt Bond | 40 | 131 | 29 | .221 | 5 | 18 |
| Red Wilson | 32 | 88 | 19 | .216 | 1 | 10 |
| Russ Nixon | 25 | 82 | 20 | .244 | 1 | 6 |
| Bob Hale | 70 | 70 | 21 | .300 | 0 | 12 |
| Hank Foiles | 24 | 68 | 19 | .279 | 1 | 6 |
| Joe Morgan | 22 | 47 | 14 | .298 | 2 | 4 |
| George Strickland | 32 | 42 | 7 | .167 | 1 | 3 |
| Rocky Bridges | 10 | 27 | 9 | .333 | 0 | 3 |
| Ty Cline | 7 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 0 | 2 |
| Chuck Tanner | 21 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 0 | 4 |
| Carroll Hardy | 29 | 18 | 2 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| John Powers | 8 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Dillard | 6 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Pete Whisenant | 7 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Demeter | 4 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mudcat Grant | 33 | 159.2 | 9 | 8 | 4.40 | 75 |
| Barry Latman | 31 | 147.1 | 7 | 7 | 4.03 | 44 |
| Dick Stigman | 41 | 133.2 | 5 | 11 | 4.51 | 104 |
| Bobby Locke | 32 | 123.0 | 3 | 5 | 3.37 | 53 |
| Wynn Hawkins | 15 | 66.0 | 4 | 4 | 4.23 | 39 |
| Jack Harshman | 15 | 54.1 | 2 | 4 | 3.98 | 25 |
| Ted Bowsfield | 11 | 40.2 | 3 | 4 | 5.09 | 14 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Klippstein | 49 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 2.91 | 46 |
| John Briggs | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4.46 | 19 |
| Don Newcombe | 20 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4.33 | 27 |
| Frank Funk | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1.99 | 18 |
| Carl Mathias | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.52 | 13 |
| Mike Lee | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 | 6 |
| Bobby Tiefenauer | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 | 2 |
| Carl Thomas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.45 | 5 |
| Bob Grim | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11.57 | 2 |
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Toronto[13]