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1974 Cleveland Indians season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1974 Cleveland Indians season was the team's 74th season in Major League Baseball. It involved the Indians competing in the American League East, where they finished fourth with a record of 77–85.

1974 Cleveland Indians
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkCleveland Municipal Stadium
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersNick Mileti
General managersPhil Seghi
ManagersKen Aspromonte
TelevisionWJW-TV
RadioWWWE (1100)
← 1973 Seasons 1975 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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During the season, Gaylord Perry became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Indians in the 20th century.[4]

Dick Bosman pitched a no-walk no-hitter against Oakland on July 19, winning 4–0. Only a throwing error by Bosman himself kept it from being a perfect game.[5]

Ten Cent Beer Night

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Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the American League's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974.

The idea behind the promotion was to offer as many eight-ounce (237 mL) cups of Stroh's beer as the fans could drink for just 10¢ apiece, thus increasing ticket sales. However, the stunt also had the effect of slowly turning the calm and orderly baseball fans into a rowdy and raucous crowd devoid of inhibition.

The game had a special significance for both clubs, as there had been a bench-clearing brawl in a Rangers/Indians game one week earlier at Arlington Stadium in Texas, during a "cheap beer night" there.[6] In Texas, the trouble had started in the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk to the Rangers' Tom Grieve, followed by a Lenny Randle single.

The next batter hit a double play ball to Indians third baseman John Lowenstein; he stepped on the third base bag to retire Grieve and threw the ball to second base, but Randle disrupted the play with a hard slide into second baseman Jack Brohamer. The Indians retaliated in the bottom of the eighth when pitcher Milt Wilcox threw behind Randle's head. Randle eventually laid down a bunt. When Wilcox attempted to field it and tag Randle out, Randle hit him with a forearm.

Indians first baseman John Ellis responded by punching Randle, and both benches emptied for a brawl. During the melee, the intoxicated crowd became rowdy and threw beer on the Indians' players.

Six days later, the Ten Cent Beer Night promotion induced over 25,000 fans to come to Municipal Stadium for the Rangers/Indians game. Early in the game, the Rangers took a 5–1 lead. Meanwhile, throughout the contest, the crowd in attendance continually misbehaved. A woman ran out to the Indians' on-deck circle and lifted her shirt and a naked man sprinted to second base as Grieve hit his second home run of the game. A father and son pair ran onto the outfield and mooned the fans in the bleachers one inning later.[7]

The ugliness escalated when Cleveland's Leron Lee hit a line drive into the stomach of Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, after which Jenkins dropped to the ground. The fans in the upper deck of Municipal Stadium cheered, then chanted "Hit 'em again! Hit 'em again! Harder! Harder!"

The Rangers later argued a call in which Lee was called safe in a close play at third base, spiking Jenkins with his cleats in the process and forcing him to leave the game. The Rangers angry response to this call enraged Cleveland fans, who again began throwing objects onto the field. In the bottom of the ninth, the Indians managed to rally and tie the game at five runs apiece, but with a crowd that had been consuming as much alcohol as it could for nine innings, the situation finally boiled over.

After Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs violently reacted to a fan stealing his glove and cap, the Texas players, led by manager Billy Martin, charged onto the field with bats. A huge number of intoxicated fans, some armed with knives, chains, and portions of stadium seats that they had torn apart, surged onto the field; others hurled bottles from the stands. Realizing the Rangers might be in danger of their lives, Ken Aspromonte, the Indians' manager, ordered his players to grab bats and help the Rangers.

As a result, umpire crew chief Nestor Chylak, realizing that order would not be restored in a timely fashion, forfeited the game to Texas. He too was a victim of the rioters as one struck him with part of a stadium seat, cutting his head.[8] His hand was also cut by a thrown rock.

As Joe Tait and Herb Score called the riot live on radio, Score mentioned the lack of police protection; a riot squad from the Cleveland police department finally arrived to restore order.

Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 91 71 .562 — 46‍–‍35 45‍–‍36
New York Yankees 89 73 .549 2 47‍–‍34 42‍–‍39
Boston Red Sox 84 78 .519 7 46‍–‍35 38‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians 77 85 .475 14 40‍–‍41 37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers 76 86 .469 15 40‍–‍41 36‍–‍45
Detroit Tigers 72 90 .444 19 36‍–‍45 36‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

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1974 American League record

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


Notable transactions

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Opening Day Lineup

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Opening Day Starters
# Name Position
29 John Lowenstein LF
23 Oscar Gamble DH
20 George Hendrick CF
7 John Ellis C
24 Charlie Spikes RF
14 Chris Chambliss 1B
25 Buddy Bell 3B
15 Frank Duffy SS
4 Remy Hermoso 2B
36 Gaylord Perry P

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Roster

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1974 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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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
Luis Alvarado 61 114 12 25 2 0 0 12 .219 1
Dwain Anderson 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 0
Alan Ashby 10 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 .143 0
Buddy Bell 116 423 51 111 15 1 7 46 .262 3
Ossie Blanco 18 36 1 7 0 0 0 2 .194 0
Jack Brohamer 101 315 33 85 11 1 2 30 .270 2
Rico Carty 33 91 6 33 5 0 1 16 .363 0
Chris Chambliss 17 67 8 22 4 0 0 7 .328 0
Ed Crosby 37 86 11 18 3 0 0 6 .209 0
Frank Duffy 158 549 62 128 18 0 8 48 .233 7
Dave Duncan 136 425 45 85 10 1 16 46 .200 0
John Ellis 128 477 58 136 23 6 10 64 .285 1
Oscar Gamble 135 454 74 132 16 4 19 59 .291 5
Jack Heidemann 12 11 2 1 0 0 0 0 .091 0
George Hendrick 139 495 65 138 23 1 19 67 .279 6
Remy Hermoso 48 122 15 27 3 1 0 5 .221 2
Johnny Jeter 6 17 3 6 1 0 0 1 .353 1
Duane Kuiper 10 22 7 11 2 0 0 4 .500 1
Leron Lee 79 232 18 54 13 0 5 25 .233 3
Joe Lis 57 109 15 22 3 0 6 16 .202 1
John Lowenstein 140 508 65 123 14 2 8 48 .242 36
Tommy McCraw 45 112 17 34 8 0 3 17 .304 0
Frank Robinson 15 50 6 10 1 1 2 5 .200 0
Tommy Smith 25 31 4 3 1 0 0 0 .097 0
Charlie Spikes 155 568 63 154 23 1 22 80 .271 10
Rusty Torres 109 150 19 28 2 0 3 12 .187 2
Team Totals 162 5474 662 1395 201 19 131 616 .255 79

Pitching

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

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER BB K
Steve Arlin 2 5 6.60 11 10 0 43.2 59 34 33 22 20
Fred Beene 4 4 4.93 32 0 2 73.0 68 44 40 26 35
Dick Bosman 7 5 4.10 25 18 0 127.1 126 69 58 29 56
Tom Buskey 2 6 3.19 51 0 17 93.0 93 36 33 33 40
Bruce Ellingsen 1 1 3.21 16 2 0 42.0 45 21 15 17 16
Bill Gogolewski 0 0 4.61 5 0 0 13.2 15 7 7 2 3
Tom Hilgendorf 4 3 4.84 35 0 3 48.1 58 26 26 17 23
Bob Johnson 3 4 4.38 14 10 0 72.0 75 42 35 37 36
Jim Kern 0 1 4.70 4 3 0 15.1 16 9 8 14 11
Steve Kline 3 8 5.07 16 11 0 71.0 70 44 40 31 17
Gaylord Perry 21 13 2.51 37 37 0 322.1 230 98 90 99 216
Jim Perry 17 12 2.96 36 36 0 252.0 242 94 83 64 71
Fritz Peterson 9 14 4.36 29 29 0 152.2 187 89 74 37 52
Ken Sanders 0 1 9.82 9 0 1 11.0 21 12 12 5 4
Dick Tidrow 1 3 7.11 4 4 0 19.0 21 17 15 13 8
Tom Timmermann 1 1 5.40 4 0 0 10.0 9 6 6 5 2
Cecil Upshaw 0 1 3.38 7 0 0 8.0 10 4 3 4 7
Milt Wilcox 2 2 4.67 41 2 4 71.1 74 42 37 24 33
Team Totals 77 85 3.80 162 162 27 1445.2 1419 694 611 479 650

Awards and honors

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All-Stars

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All-Star Game

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Oklahoma City 89ers American Association Red Davis
AA San Antonio Brewers Texas League Woody Smith
A Reno Silver Sox California League Joe Azcue and Del Youngblood
Rookie GCL Indians Gulf Coast League Wilfredo Calvino

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Roger Freed Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  2. ^ "Walt Williams Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  3. ^ "Mike Kekich Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  4. ^ Nemec, David; Flatow, Scott (April 1, 2008). Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Firsts (2008 Edition) (Expanded, Updated ed.). SIGNET. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0.
  5. ^ "Oakland Athletics at Cleveland Indians Box Score, July 19, 1974". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  6. ^ Smiley, Bobby (July 30, 2004). "Another Mistake By The Lake". Archived from the original on July 13, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  7. ^ Robinson, James G. "10-Cent Beer Night". Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  8. ^ Johnson, Scot (June 6, 2006). "This Week in Baseball History: Ten Cent Beer Night". Retrieved August 11, 2006.
  9. ^ "Rich Hinton Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  10. ^ "Chris Chambliss Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  11. ^ "Joe Lis Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  12. ^ "Rico Carty Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  13. ^ "Frank Robinson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  14. ^ "Cleveland Indians vs New York Yankees Box Score: April 6, 1974". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles (2007). Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-93-239117-6.

References

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