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)
Seasons

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 until 1995.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 11143 0.721 — 59–18 52–25
New York Yankees 10351 0.669 8 54–23 49–28
Chicago White Sox 9460 0.610 17 45–32 49–28
Boston Red Sox 6985 0.448 42 38–39 31–46
Detroit Tigers 6886 0.442 43 35–42 33–44
Washington Senators 6688 0.429 45 37–41 29–47
Baltimore Orioles 54100 0.351 57 32–45 22–55
Philadelphia Athletics 51103 0.331 60 29–47 22–56

Record vs. opponents

1954 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET NYY PHA WSH
Baltimore —11–117–153–198–145–1710–1210–12
Boston 11–11—5–172–20–214–89–1315–713–9
Chicago 15–717–5—11–1112–10–17–1517–515–7
Cleveland 19–320–2–211–11—14–811–1118–418–4
Detroit 14–88–1410–12–18–14—6–1613–99–13
New York 17–513–915–711–1116–6—18–4–113–9
Philadelphia 12–107–155–174–189–134–18–1—10–12–1
Washington 12–109–137–154–1813–99–1312–10–1—

Notable transactions

Roster

1954 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
CJim Hegan13942399.2341140
1BVic Wertz9429581.2751448
2BBobby Ávila143555189.3411567
3BAl Rosen137466140.30024102
SSGeorge Strickland11236177.213637
LFAl Smith131481135.2811150
CFLarry Doby153577157.27232126
RFDave Philley133452102.2261260

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
Wally Westlake8524063.2631142
Rudy Regalado6518045.250224
Bill Glynn11117143.251518
Sam Dente6816945.266119
Hank Majeski5712134.281317
Dave Pope6010230.294413
Hal Naragon4610124.238012
Dale Mitchell536017.28316
Mickey Grasso462.33311
Luke Easter661.16700
Rocky Nelson440.00000
Joe Ginsberg321.50001
Jim Dyck2111.00001
Bob Kennedy100----00

Pitching

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 Wynn40270.223112.73155
Mike Garcia45258.21982.64129
Bob Lemon36258.12372.72110
Art Houtteman32188.01573.3568
Bob Feller19140.01333.0959

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 Narleski4233132.2252
Don Mossi406171.9455
Hal Newhouser267272.5125
Bob Hooper170022.7212
Dave Hoskins140103.049
Bob Chakales32000.873
José Santiago10000.001
Dick Tomanek10005.400

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

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) 200 000 000 0 280
New York (N) 002 000 000 3 593
W: Marv Grissom (1–0)   L: Bob Lemon (0–1)
HR: NYG – Dusty Rhodes (1)

Game 2

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) 100 000 000 180
New York (N) 000 020 10x 340
W: Johnny Antonelli (1–0)   L: Early Wynn (0–1)
HR: CLE – Al Smith (1)    NYG – Dusty Rhodes (2)

Game 3

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) 103 011 000 6101
Cleveland (A) 000 000 110 242
W: Rubén Gómez (1–0)  L: Mike Garcia (0–1)   S: Hoyt Wilhelm (1)
HR: CLE – Vic Wertz (1)

Game 4

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) 021 040 000 7103
Cleveland (A) 000 030 100 462
W: Don Liddle (1–0)  L: Bob Lemon (0–2)   S: Johnny Antonelli (1)
HR: CLE – Hank Majeski (1)

Composite Box

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 126 071 100 3 21337
Cleveland Indians 300 030 210 0 9264
Total Attendance: 251,507   Average Attendance: 62,877
Winning Player's Share: – $11,118   Losing Player's Share – $6,713

Award winners

All-Star Game

Farm system

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

  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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