1969 Cleveland Indians
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersVernon Stouffer
General managersGabe Paul, Alvin Dark
ManagersAlvin Dark
TelevisionWJW-TV
RadioWERE (1300)
← 1968 Seasons 1970 →

The 1969 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The club finished in last place in the newly established American League East with a record of 62 wins and 99 losses. The 1969 season seemed hopeful before the season started, based on the Indian's modest 86–75 record the previous season, along with their solid pitching. However, a 1–15 start shattered any illusions of a successful season. Not helping, was that the Indians strong pitching the previous season fell apart. Luis Tiant fell to 9–20 in 1969 and didn't look like the same pitcher from 1968, when he went 21–9, with a 1.60 ERA. Sam McDowell stayed solid at the very least, going 18–14, with a 2.94 ERA.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 109 53 0.673 — 60–21 49–32
Detroit Tigers 90 72 0.556 19 46–35 44–37
Boston Red Sox 87 75 0.537 22 46–35 41–40
Washington Senators 86 76 0.531 23 47–34 39–42
New York Yankees 80 81 0.497 28½ 48–32 32–49
Cleveland Indians 62 99 0.385 46½ 33–48 29–51

Record vs. opponents

1969 American League records

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEP WSH
Baltimore — 10–8 6–6 9–3 13–5 11–7 11–1 8–4 11–7 8–4 9–3 13–5
Boston 8–10 — 8–4 5–7 12–6 10–8 10–2 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 6–12
California 6–6 4–8 — 9–9 8–4 5–7 9–9 7–11 3–9 6–12 9–9–1 5–7
Chicago 3–9 7–5 9–9 — 8–4 3–9 8–10 5–13 3–9 8–10 10–8 4–8
Cleveland 5–13 6–12 4–8 4–8 — 7–11 7–5 5–7 9–8 5–7 7–5 3–15
Detroit 7–11 8–10 7–5 9–3 11–7 — 8–4 6–6 10–8 7–5 10–2 7–11
Kansas City 1–11 2–10 9–9 10–8 5–7 4–8 — 8–10 5–7–1 8–10 10–8 7–5
Minnesota 4–8 5–7 11–7 13–5 7–5 6–6 10–8 — 10–2 13–5 12–6 6–6
New York 7–11 7–11 9–3 9–3 8–9 8–10 7–5–1 2–10 — 6–6 7–5 10–8
Oakland 4–8 8–4 12–6 10–8 7–5 5–7 10–8 5–13 6–6 — 13–5 8–4
Seattle 3–9 6–6 9–9–1 8–10 5–7 2–10 8–10 6–12 5–7 5–13 — 7–5
Washington 5–13 12–6 7–5 8–4 15–3 11–7 5–7 6–6 8–10 4–8 5–7 —


Notable transactions

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
1 José Cardenal CF
16 Larry Brown SS
28 Richie Scheinblum RF
11 Tony Horton 1B
20 Jimmie Hall LF
7 Joe Azcue C
17 Zoilo Versalles 3B
13 Vern Fuller 2B
33 Luis Tiant P

[8]

Roster

1969 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders 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 Duke Sims 114 326 77 .236 18 45
1B Tony Horton 159 625 174 .278 27 93
2B Vern Fuller 108 254 60 .236 4 22
SS Larry Brown 132 469 112 .239 4 24
3B Max Alvis 66 191 43 .225 1 15
LF Frank Baker 52 172 44 .256 3 15
CF José Cardenal 146 557 143 .257 11 45
RF Ken Harrelson 149 519 115 .222 27 84

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
Russ Snyder 122 266 66 .248 2 24
Lou Klimchock 90 258 74 .287 6 26
Zoilo Versalles 72 217 49 .226 1 13
Eddie Leon 64 213 51 .239 3 19
Richie Scheinblum 102 199 37 .186 1 13
Dave Nelson 52 123 25 .203 0 6
Chuck Hinton 94 121 31 .256 3 19
Ray Fosse 37 116 20 .172 2 9
Cap Peterson 76 110 25 .227 1 14
Lee Maye 43 108 27 .250 1 15
Ken Suarez 36 85 25 .294 1 9
Joe Azcue 7 24 7 .292 1 1
Russ Nagelson 12 17 6 .353 0 0
Lou Camilli 13 14 0 .000 0 0
Jimmie Hall 4 10 0 .000 0 0
Jack Heidemann 3 3 0 .000 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
Sam McDowell 39 285.0 18 14 2.94 279
Luis Tiant 38 249.2 9 20 3.71 156
Sonny Siebert 2 14.0 0 1 3.21 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
Stan Williams 61 178.1 6 14 3.94 139
Steve Hargan 32 143.2 5 14 5.70 76
Dick Ellsworth 34 135.0 6 9 4.13 48
Mike Paul 47 117.1 5 10 3.61 98
Gary Boyd 8 11.0 0 2 9.00 9

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
Juan Pizarro 48 3 3 4 3.16 44
Ron Law 35 3 4 1 4.99 29
Horacio Piña 31 4 2 1 5.21 32
Larry Burchart 29 0 2 0 4.25 26
Jack Hamilton 20 0 2 1 4.40 13
Gary Kroll 19 0 0 0 4.13 28
Phil Hennigan 9 2 1 0 3.31 10
Vicente Romo 3 1 1 0 2.25 7

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Red Davis
AA Waterbury Indians Eastern League Clay Bryant
A Reno Silver Sox California League Ken Aspromonte
A Statesville/Monroe Indians Western Carolinas League Pinky May
Rookie GCL Indians Gulf Coast League Joe Lutz

Statesville franchise moved to Monroe, June 20, 1969[9]

Notes

  1. ^ "Eddie Fisher Stats".
  2. ^ Chico Salmon page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Lou Piniella page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Oscar Zamora page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Joe Azcue page at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ John Orsino page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Lee Maye page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ 1969 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

Categories