1953 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1953
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Myron H. Wilson
General Managers:	Hank Greenberg
Managers:	Al López
Television:	WXEL (Bob Neal, Red Jones)
Radio:	WERE (Jack Graney, Jimmy Dudley)

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, games behind the New York Yankees.

Offseason

• December 11, 1952: Earl Averill, Jr. was signed as an amateur free agent by the Indians.^[1]

Regular season

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

Notable transactions

• May 1953: Brooks Lawrence was acquired from the Indians by the Cincinnati Reds.^[3]
• June 15, 1953: Ray Boone, Al Aber, Steve Gromek, and Dick Weik were traded by the Indians to the Detroit Tigers for Art Houtteman, Owen Friend, Bill Wight, and Joe Ginsberg.^[4]

Roster

1953 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (Third Base) (Pitching) (First Base)(Bullpen)

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		112	299	65	.217	9	37
1B		147	411	100	.243	3	30
2B		141	559	160	.286	8	55
SS		123	419	119	.284	5	47
3B		155	599	201	.336	43	145
OF		149	513	135	.263	29	102
OF		82	242	55	.227	7	22
OF		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
	82	218	72	.330	9	46
	68	211	64	.303	7	31
	100	161	38	.236	3	22
	47	150	36	.240	3	14
	34	112	27	.241	4	21
	47	109	25	.229	6	13
	46	109	31	.284	0	10
	34	68	16	.235	2	13
	50	50	15	.300	2	12
	16	46	8	.174	1	5
	22	21	4	.190	0	3
	7	7	1	.143	0	0
	4	3	0	.000	0	0
	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
	41	286.2	21	15	3.36	98
	38	271.2	18	9	3.25	134
	36	251.2	17	12	3.93	138
	25	175.2	10	7	3.59	60
	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
	26	112.2	9	3	3.99	55
	22	109.0	7	7	3.80	40
	7	27.0	0	2	2.67	6
	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
	43	5	4	7	4.02	16
	20	2	1	1	3.71	14
	16	0	0	2	7.62	5
	6	1	1	0	7.50	4
	4	0	0	0	7.36	2

Awards and records

• Al Rosen, American League MVP

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

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

• On May 6, 1953, the Fargo-Moorhead Twins defeated Sioux Falls in their Opening Day game by a score of 12–3. A record crowd of 10,123 fans came to Barnett Field. In the game, Roger Maris got his first professional baseball hit.^[6] That season, Twins player Frank Gravino would hit 52 home runs.^[7] The Twins would host the Northern League All-Star game and defeat the Northern League All-Stars by a score of 8–4.^[8] The Twins finished with a record of 86–39 (improving from their record of 44–80 in 1952^[8]) and bested Duluth to win the Northern League championship.^[9] Roger Maris was selected as the 1953 Northern League Rookie of the Year.^[9]

References

• 1953 Cleveland Indians season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/averiea02.shtml Earl Averill, Jr.
2. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p. 152, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York,
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lawrebr01.shtml Brooks Lawrence
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/boonera01.shtml Ray Boone
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,
7. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 55
8. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 56
9. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero, p. 58