1987 Cleveland Indians
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersRichard Jacobs
General managersJoe Klein
ManagersPat Corrales, Doc Edwards
TelevisionWUAB
Joe Tait, Jack Corrigan
RadioWWWE
Herb Score, Steve Lamar
← 1986 Seasons 1988 →

The 1987 Cleveland Indians season seen the team finish in seventh place in the American League East. Sports Illustrated magazine predicted that the Indians would finish in first. Club president Peter Bavasi would resign before the regular season began. Bavasi had joined the Indians in November 1984. As president of the Cleveland Indians, he served on Major League Baseball's Executive Council.[1] During the 1986 season, the team had an 84-78 record, its best since 1968, and attendance of 1.47 million, its highest since 1959.[2] There was much optimism that the team would reach its full potential in 1987.

Sluggers Joe Carter and Cory Snyder were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 6, 1987, with the headline "Indian Uprising". The Indians were being predicted as the best team in baseball on the back of their two 30+ home run hitters. What sports writers overlooked was that Cleveland had the worst performing pitching staff in the majors, despite the presence of 300 game winners Phil Niekro and Steve Carlton, as well as Tom Candiotti (with Niekro and Candiotti, Cleveland had two starters whose main pitch was the knuckleball).

The 1987 Indians would fall well short of SI's bold prediction. They were not above .500 even once all season, and an 8–20 May ended any realistic hope of contention. They finished 61-101, the worst record in all of baseball. The season would go on to be associated with the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

Offseason

Regular season

In 1987, the Cleveland Indians achieved a baseball first. The Indians had veteran pitchers Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro on their roster to add experience. Their most notable accomplishment was appearing in a game together against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Carlton and Niekro became the first teammates and 300-game winners to appear in the same game. Both were ineffective in a 10-6 Yankee victory. It would be Carlton's first and only pitching appearance at the legendary stadium. Neither pitcher finished the season with the Indians. Carlton would end up with the Minnesota Twins and win a World Series championship. Niekro would be picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays and come within two games of winning the American League East Championship.

Season standings

AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 98 64 0.605 — 54–27 44–37
Toronto Blue Jays 96 66 0.593 2 52–29 44–37
Milwaukee Brewers 91 71 0.562 7 48–33 43–38
New York Yankees 89 73 0.549 9 51–30 38–43
Boston Red Sox 78 84 0.481 20 50–30 28–54
Baltimore Orioles 67 95 0.414 31 31–51 36–44
Cleveland Indians 61 101 0.377 37 35–46 26–55

Record vs. opponents

1987 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 1–12 9–3 8–4 7–6 4–9 9–3 2–11 5–7 3–10 7–5 4–8 7–5 1–12
Boston 12–1 — 4–8 3–9 7–6 2–11 6–6 6–7 7–5 7–6 4–8 7–5 7–5 6–7
California 3–9 8–4 — 8–5 7–5 3–9 5–8 7–5 8–5 3–9 6–7 7–6 5–8 5–7
Chicago 4–8 9–3 5–8 — 7–5 3–9 6–7 6–6 6–7 5–7 9–4 6–7 7–6 4–8
Cleveland 6–7 6–7 5–7 5–7 — 4–9 6–6 4–9 3–9 6–7 4–8 5–7 2–10 5–8
Detroit 9–4 11–2 9–3 9–3 9–4 — 5–7 6–7 8–4 5–8 5–7 7–5 8–4 7–6
Kansas City 3–9 6–6 8–5 7–6 6–6 7–5 — 4–8 8–5 5–7 5–8 9–4 7–6 8–4
Milwaukee 11–2 7–6 5–7 6–6 9–4 7–6 8–4 — 3–9 7–6 6–6 4–8 9–3 9–4
Minnesota 7–5 5–7 5–8 7–6 9–3 4–8 5–8 9–3 — 6–6 10–3 9–4 6–7 3–9
New York 10–3 6–7 9–3 7–5 7–6 8–5 7–5 6–7 6–6 — 5–7 7–5 5–7 6–7
Oakland 5–7 8–4 7–6 4–9 8–4 7–5 8–5 6–6 3–10 7–5 — 5–8 6–7 7–5
Seattle 8–4 5–7 6–7 7–6 7–5 5–7 4–9 8–4 4–9 5–7 8–5 — 9–4 2–10
Texas 5–7 5–7 8–5 6–7 10–2 4–8 6–7 3–9 7–6 7–5 7–6 4–9 — 3–9
Toronto 12–1 7–6 7–5 8–4 8–5 6–7 4–8 4–9 9–3 7–6 5–7 10–2 9–3 —


Transactions

Draft picks

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
4 Tony Bernazard 2B
2 Brett Butler CF
14 Julio Franco SS
30 Joe Carter LF
29 Andre Thornton DH
26 Brook Jacoby 3B
10 Pat Tabler 1B
28 Cory Snyder RF
23 Chris Bando C
49 Tom Candiotti P

[14]

Roster

1987 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Statistics

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG SB
Andy Allanson 50 154 17 41 6 0 3 16 .266 1
Chris Bando 89 211 20 46 9 0 5 16 .218 0
Jay Bell 38 125 14 27 9 1 2 13 .216 2
Tony Bernazard 79 293 39 70 12 1 11 30 .239 7
Brett Butler 137 522 91 154 25 8 9 41 .295 33
Joe Carter 149 588 83 155 27 2 32 106 .264 31
Carmelo Castillo 89 220 27 55 17 0 11 31 .250 1
Dave Clark 29 87 11 18 5 0 3 12 .207 1
Rick Dempsey 60 141 16 25 10 0 1 9 .177 0
Brian Dorsett 5 11 2 3 0 0 1 3 .273 0
Julio Franco 128 495 86 158 24 3 8 52 .319 32
Doug Frobel 29 40 5 4 0 0 2 5 .100 0
Dave Gallagher 15 36 2 4 1 1 0 1 .111 2
Mel Hall 142 485 57 136 21 1 18 76 .280 5
Tommy Hinzo 67 257 31 68 9 3 3 21 .265 9
Brook Jacoby 155 540 73 162 26 4 32 69 .300 2
Otis Nixon 19 17 2 1 0 0 0 1 .059 2
Junior Noboa 39 80 7 18 2 1 0 7 .225 1
Casey Parsons 18 25 2 4 0 0 1 5 .160 0
Cory Snyder 157 577 74 136 24 2 33 82 .236 5
Pat Tabler 151 553 66 170 34 3 11 86 .307 5
Andre Thornton 36 85 8 10 2 0 0 5 .118 1
Eddie Williams 22 64 9 11 4 0 1 4 .172 0
Team Totals 162 5606 742 1476 267 30 187 691 .263 140

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP R ER BB K
Darrel Akerfelds 2 6 6.75 16 13 0 74.2 60 56 38 42
Mike Armstrong 1 0 8.68 14 0 1 18.2 18 18 10 9
Scott Bailes 7 8 4.64 39 17 6 120.1 75 62 47 65
Ernie Camacho 0 1 9.22 15 0 1 13.2 14 14 5 9
Tom Candiotti 7 18 4.78 32 32 0 201.2 132 107 93 111
Steve Carlton 5 9 5.37 23 14 1 109.0 76 65 63 71
Jamie Easterly 1 1 4.55 16 0 0 31.2 17 16 13 22
John Farrell 5 1 3.39 10 9 0 69.0 29 26 22 28
Don Gordon 0 3 4.08 21 0 1 39.2 31 18 12 20
Mark Huismann 2 3 5.09 20 0 2 35.1 22 20 8 23
Doug Jones 6 5 3.15 49 0 8 91.1 45 32 24 87
Jeff Kaiser 0 0 16.20 2 0 0 3.1 6 6 3 2
Phil Niekro 7 11 5.89 22 22 0 123.2 83 81 53 57
Reggie Ritter 1 1 6.08 14 0 0 26.2 21 18 16 11
Ken Schrom 6 13 6.50 32 29 0 153.2 126 111 57 61
Sammy Stewart 4 2 5.67 25 0 3 27.0 22 17 21 25
Greg Swindell 3 8 5.10 16 15 0 102.1 62 58 37 97
Ed Vande Berg 1 0 5.10 55 0 0 72.1 42 41 21 40
Tom Waddell 0 1 14.29 6 0 0 5.2 10 9 7 6
Frank Wills 0 1 5.06 6 0 1 5.1 3 3 7 4
Rich Yett 3 9 5.25 37 11 1 97.2 63 57 49 59
Team Totals 61 101 5.28 162 162 25 1422.2 957 835 606 849

Award winners

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Buffalo Bisons American Association Orlando Gómez and Steve Swisher
AA Williamsport Bills Eastern League Steve Swisher and Orlando Gómez
A Kinston Indians Carolina League Mike Hargrove
A Waterloo Indians Midwest League Glenn Adams
Rookie Burlington Indians Appalachian League Tom Chandler

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Burlington[15]

References

  1. ^ Principals Archived August 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ New York Times, January 24, 1987
  3. ^ Fran Mullins page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Casey Parsons page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ John Butcher page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ "Doug Frobel Stats".
  7. ^ Jeff Kaiser page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ a b Steve Carlton page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Don Schulze page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Mark Huismann page at Baseball Reference[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Tony Bernazard at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Albert Belle page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Beau Allred page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ 1987 Opening Day Lineup at Baseball-Reference
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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