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1954 Cleveland Indians season

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1954 Cleveland Indians
American League Champions
Team shown in the locker room, 1954
Team shown in the locker room, 1954
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersMyron H. Wilson
General managersHank Greenberg
ManagersAl López
TelevisionWXEL
(Ken Coleman, Jim Britt)
RadioWERE
(Jimmy Dudley, Ed Edwards)
← 1953 Seasons 1955 →

The 1954 Cleveland Indians advanced to the World Series for the first time in six years. It was the team's third American League championship in franchise history. The Indians' 111–43 record is the all-time record for winning percentage by an American League team (.721), as this was before 162 games were played in a season.

For more than 60 years, Cleveland had been the only team in Major League Baseball to have compiled two different 11-game winning streaks within the same season, until the Toronto Blue Jays were able to accomplish the rare feat during the 2015 regular season.[1]

However, their great regular-season record would not be enough to win the World Series, as the Indians got swept in four games by the New York Giants, after which the Indians would not return to the Fall Classic or any postseason play of any kind until 1995.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 111 43 .721 — 59‍–‍18 52‍–‍25
New York Yankees 103 51 .669 8 54‍–‍23 49‍–‍28
Chicago White Sox 94 60 .610 17 45‍–‍32 49‍–‍28
Boston Red Sox 69 85 .448 42 38‍–‍39 31‍–‍46
Detroit Tigers 68 86 .442 43 35‍–‍42 33‍–‍44
Washington Senators 66 88 .429 45 37‍–‍41 29‍–‍47
Baltimore Orioles 54 100 .351 57 32‍–‍45 22‍–‍55
Philadelphia Athletics 51 103 .331 60 29‍–‍47 22‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

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1954 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET NYY PHA WSH
Baltimore — 11–11 7–15 3–19 8–14 5–17 10–12 10–12
Boston 11–11 — 5–17 2–20–2 14–8 9–13 15–7 13–9
Chicago 15–7 17–5 — 11–11 12–10–1 7–15 17–5 15–7
Cleveland 19–3 20–2–2 11–11 — 14–8 11–11 18–4 18–4
Detroit 14–8 8–14 10–12–1 8–14 — 6–16 13–9 9–13
New York 17–5 13–9 15–7 11–11 16–6 — 18–4–1 13–9
Philadelphia 12–10 7–15 5–17 4–18 9–13 4–18–1 — 10–12–1
Washington 12–10 9–13 7–15 4–18 13–9 9–13 12–10–1 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1954 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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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 139 423 99 .234 11 40
1B Vic Wertz 94 295 81 .275 14 48
2B Bobby Ávila 143 555 189 .341 15 67
3B Al Rosen 137 466 140 .300 24 102
SS George Strickland 112 361 77 .213 6 37
LF Al Smith 131 481 135 .281 11 50
CF Larry Doby 153 577 157 .272 32 126
RF Dave Philley 133 452 102 .226 12 60

Other batters

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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
Wally Westlake 85 240 63 .263 11 42
Rudy Regalado 65 180 45 .250 2 24
Bill Glynn 111 171 43 .251 5 18
Sam Dente 68 169 45 .266 1 19
Hank Majeski 57 121 34 .281 3 17
Dave Pope 60 102 30 .294 4 13
Hal Naragon 46 101 24 .238 0 12
Dale Mitchell 53 60 17 .283 1 6
Mickey Grasso 4 6 2 .333 1 1
Luke Easter 6 6 1 .167 0 0
Rocky Nelson 4 4 0 .000 0 0
Joe Ginsberg 3 2 1 .500 0 1
Jim Dyck 2 1 1 1.000 0 1
Bob Kennedy 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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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 40 270.2 23 11 2.73 155
Mike Garcia 45 258.2 19 8 2.64 129
Bob Lemon 36 258.1 23 7 2.72 110
Art Houtteman 32 188.0 15 7 3.35 68
Bob Feller 19 140.0 13 3 3.09 59

Relief pitchers

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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 42 3 3 13 2.22 52
Don Mossi 40 6 1 7 1.94 55
Hal Newhouser 26 7 2 7 2.51 25
Bob Hooper 17 0 0 2 2.72 12
Dave Hoskins 14 0 1 0 3.04 9
Bob Chakales 3 2 0 0 0.87 3
José Santiago 1 0 0 0 0.00 1
Dick Tomanek 1 0 0 0 5.40 0

1954 World Series

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Main article: 1954 World Series

This was the first time (and only to date) that the Cleveland Indians were swept in a World Series. The only highlight for the Indians was that they kept the Yankees from winning their sixth straight series. The last time the Yankees had not won the series or pennant beforehand was 1948, when, again, the Indians kept them out (although that year, they won the Series). It was also the only World Series from 1949 to 1958 which did not feature the Yankees.

Game 1

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September 29, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Cleveland (A) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0
New York (N) 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 9 3
W: Marv Grissom (1–0)   L: Bob Lemon (0–1)
HR: NYG – Dusty Rhodes (1)

Game 2

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September 30, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in New York

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland (A) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 x 3 4 0
W: Johnny Antonelli (1–0)   L: Early Wynn (0–1)
HR: CLE – Al Smith (1)    NYG – Dusty Rhodes (2)

Game 3

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October 1, 1954, at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York (N) 1 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 6 10 1
Cleveland (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 4 2
W: Rubén Gómez (1–0)  L: Mike Garcia (0–1)   S: Hoyt Wilhelm (1)
HR: CLE – Vic Wertz (1)

Game 4

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October 2, 1954, at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York (N) 0 2 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 10 3
Cleveland (A) 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 4 6 2
W: Don Liddle (1–0)  L: Bob Lemon (0–2)   S: Johnny Antonelli (1)
HR: CLE – Hank Majeski (1)

Composite Box

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1954 World Series (4–0): New York Giants (N.L.) over Cleveland Indians (A.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
New York Giants 1 2 6 0 7 1 1 0 0 3 21 33 7
Cleveland Indians 3 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 0 0 9 26 4
Total Attendance: 251,507   Average Attendance: 62,877
Winning Player's Share: – $11,118   Losing Player's Share – $6,713

Award winners

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All-Star Game

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Kerby Farrell
A Reading Indians Eastern League Pinky May
B Keokuk Kernels Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Jo-Jo White
B Spartanburg Peaches Tri-State League Jimmy Bloodworth
C Fargo-Moorhead Twins Northern League Phil Seghi
C Sherbrooke Indians Provincial League Mark Wylie
D Jacksonville Beach Sea Birds Florida State League Spud Chandler
D Tifton Indians Georgia–Florida League Ed Hartness
D Pauls Valley Raiders Sooner State League Lloyd Pearson and Bennie Warren

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fargo-Moorhead[5]

The 1954 Indianapolis Indians featured Herb Score and Rocky Colavito. Colavito hit 38 home runs and accumulated 116 RBIs.[6]

Notes

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  1. ^ Perry, Dayn (August 13, 2015). "Blue Jays become first team since '54 Indians with two 11-game win streaks". CBSsports.com.
  2. ^ Dave Philley page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Hal Newhouser page at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Bob Chakales page at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  6. ^ Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p.68, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4165-8928-0

References

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