1953 Cleveland Indians
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersMyron H. Wilson
General managersHank Greenberg
ManagersAl López
TelevisionWXEL
(Bob Neal, Red Jones)
RadioWERE
(Jack Graney, Jimmy Dudley)
← 1952 Seasons 1954 →

The 1953 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 92–62, 8+1⁄2 games behind the New York Yankees.

Offseason

Regular season

Al Rosen became the first third baseman in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.[2]

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 99 52 0.656 — 50–27 49–25
Cleveland Indians 92 62 0.597 8½ 53–24 39–38
Chicago White Sox 89 65 0.578 11½ 41–36 48–29
Boston Red Sox 84 69 0.549 16 38–38 46–31
Washington Senators 76 76 0.500 23½ 39–36 37–40
Detroit Tigers 60 94 0.390 40½ 30–47 30–47
Philadelphia Athletics 59 95 0.383 41½ 27–50 32–45
St. Louis Browns 54 100 0.351 46½ 23–54 31–46

Record vs. opponents

1953 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 6–16 13–9 13–9 10–11 15–7 17–5 10–12
Chicago 16–6 — 11–11–1 14–8–1 9–13 10–12 17–5 12–10
Cleveland 9–13 11–11–1 — 14–8 11–11 19–3 17–5 11–11
Detroit 9–13 8–14–1 8–14 — 6–16 11–11–3 7–15 11–11
New York 11–10 13–9 11–11 16–6 — 17–5 17–5 14–6
Philadelphia 7–15 12–10 3–19 11–11–3 5–17 — 13–9 8–14
St. Louis 5–17 5–17 5–17 15–7 5–17 9–13 — 10–12
Washington 12–10 10–12 11–11 11–11 6–14 14–8 12–10 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1953 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 112 299 65 .217 9 37
1B Bill Glynn 147 411 100 .243 3 30
2B Bobby Ávila 141 559 160 .286 8 55
SS George Strickland 123 419 119 .284 5 47
3B Al Rosen 155 599 201 .336 43 145
OF Larry Doby 149 513 135 .263 29 102
OF Harry Simpson 82 242 55 .227 7 22
OF Dale Mitchell 134 500 150 .300 13 60

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 Westlake 82 218 72 .330 9 46
Luke Easter 68 211 64 .303 7 31
Bob Kennedy 100 161 38 .236 3 22
Al Smith 47 150 36 .240 3 14
Ray Boone 34 112 27 .241 4 21
Joe Tipton 47 109 25 .229 6 13
Joe Ginsberg 46 109 31 .284 0 10
Owen Friend 34 68 16 .235 2 13
Hank Majeski 50 50 15 .300 2 12
Jim Lemon 16 46 8 .174 1 5
Barney McCosky 22 21 4 .190 0 3
Hank Foiles 7 7 1 .143 0 0
Dick Aylward 4 3 0 .000 0 0
Dick Weik 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

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
Bob Lemon 41 286.2 21 15 3.36 98
Mike Garcia 38 271.2 18 9 3.25 134
Early Wynn 36 251.2 17 12 3.93 138
Bob Feller 25 175.2 10 7 3.59 60
Dick Tomanek 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 6

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
Dave Hoskins 26 112.2 9 3 3.99 55
Art Houtteman 22 109.0 7 7 3.80 40
Bob Chakales 7 27.0 0 2 2.67 6
Steve Gromek 5 11.0 1 1 3.27 8

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
Bob Hooper 43 5 4 7 4.02 16
Bill Wight 20 2 1 1 3.71 14
Lou Brissie 16 0 0 2 7.62 5
Al Aber 6 1 1 0 7.50 4
Ted Wilks 4 0 0 0 7.36 2

Awards and records

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Birdie Tebbetts
A Reading Indians Eastern League Kerby Farrell
B Spartanburg Peaches Tri-State League Jimmy Bloodworth
C Fargo-Moorhead Twins Northern League Zeke Bonura and Santo Luberto
C Sherbrooke Indians Provincial League Pinky May
D Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Ed Levy
D Green Bay Blue Jays Wisconsin State League Phil Seghi

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Fargo-Moorhead, Daytona Beach, Green Bay[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Earl Averill, Jr. at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  3. ^ Brooks Lawrence at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Ray Boone 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. 54, Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Touchstone Books, Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4165-8928-0
  7. ^ Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 55
  8. ^ a b Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 56
  9. ^ a b Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 58

References

Categories