1955 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1955
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Myron H. Wilson
General Managers:	Hank Greenberg
Managers:	Al López
Television:	WXEL (Ken Coleman, Jim Britt)
Radio:	WERE (Jimmy Dudley, Ed Edwards)

The 1955 Cleveland Indians season was the 55th season in franchise history. The team finished second in the American League with a record of 93–61, three games behind the New York Yankees.

Offseason

• October 14, 1954: Owen Friend was purchased from the Indians by the Boston Red Sox.^[1]
• November 16, 1954: Ralph Kiner was acquired by the Indians from the Chicago Cubs for $60,000 as part of an earlier deal (the Cubs sent a player to be named later to the Indians for Sam Jones and players to be named later) made on September 30, 1954. The Indians sent Gale Wade to the Cubs on November 30 to complete the trade.^[2]
• Prior to 1955 season: Joe Ginsberg was sent by the Indians to the San Diego Padres.^[3]

Regular season

Notable transactions

• May 16, 1955: Hal Newhouser was released by the Indians.^[4]
• June 15, 1955: Dave Pope and Wally Westlake were traded by the Indians to the Baltimore Orioles for Billy Cox and Gene Woodling. Billy Cox refused to report to his new team. The Orioles sent $15,000 to the Indians on June 15 as compensation.^[5]
• July 2, 1955: Dave Philley was selected off waivers from the Indians by the Baltimore Orioles.^[6]

Roster

1955 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		116	304	67	.220	9	40
1B		74	257	65	.253	14	55
2B		141	537	146	.272	13	61
SS		130	388	81	.209	2	34
3B		139	492	120	.244	21	81
LF		113	321	78	.243	18	54
CF		131	491	143	.291	26	75
RF		154	607	186	.306	22	77

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
	79	259	72	.278	5	35
	57	127	41	.323	1	14
	56	118	30	.254	0	8
	62	111	29	.261	1	7
	73	105	27	.257	0	10
	35	104	31	.298	6	22
	43	104	31	.298	2	9
	42	75	15	.200	2	5
	39	66	19	.288	2	9
	61	58	15	.259	0	10
	36	48	9	.188	2	6
	18	45	14	.311	0	6
	10	26	7	.269	0	5
	16	20	5	.250	0	1
	13	19	8	.421	0	1
	16	18	3	.167	0	0
	5	9	4	.444	0	0
	2	8	1	.125	0	0
	4	6	2	.333	0	0
	3	1	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
	32	230.0	17	11	2.82	122
	33	227.1	16	10	2.85	245
	35	211.1	18	10	3.88	100
	38	210.2	11	13	4.02	120

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
	35	124.1	10	6	3.98	53
	25	83.0	4	4	3.47	25
	10	25.2	0	2	3.86	11
	4	12.2	2	0	1.42	6
	2	7.0	0	1	6.43	2

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
	60	9	1	19	3.71	94
	57	4	3	9	2.42	69
	17	2	0	0	2.48	19
	17	0	0	1	2.63	9
	2	0	0	0	0.00	1
	2	0	0	0	18.00	1

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Bobby Ávila, Second base, Reserve
• Larry Doby, Outfield, Reserve
• Al López, Manager
• Al Rosen, Third base, Reserve
• Herb Score, Pitcher, Reserve
• Al Smith, Outfield, Reserve
• Early Wynn, Pitcher, Reserve

^[7]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Keokuk, Spartanburg^[8]

References

• 1955 Cleveland Indians team at Baseball-Reference
• 1955 Cleveland Indians team at baseball-almanac.com
• 1955 WS at Baseball-Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frienow01.shtml Owen Friend
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinerra01.shtml Ralph Kiner
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/ginsbjo01.shtml Joe Ginsberg
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/newhoha01.shtml Hal Newhouser
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/coxbi02.shtml Billy Cox
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/phillda01.shtml Dave Philley
7. Web site: 1955 All-Star Game.
8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007