1972 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1972
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Vernon Stouffer
General Managers:	Gabe Paul
Managers:	Ken Aspromonte
Television:	WJW-TV
Radio:	WERE (1300)

The 1972 Cleveland Indians season was the 72nd in franchise history. The team finished fifth in the American League East with a record of 72–84, 14 games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Offseason

George Steinbrenner offer

On December 6, 1971, George Steinbrenner led a group of investors (including Ted Bonda, Ed Jeffrey, Howard Metzenbaum, Steve O'Neill, Gabe Paul and Al Rosen) that negotiated with Jim Stouffer, the son of Indians owner Vernon Stouffer about the potential purchase of the franchise. The group offered $8.6 million and agreed to absorb $300,000 in debt (Stouffer borrowed against the Indians television contract for 1972).^[1] Although Steinbrenner and Jim Stouffer agreed to a sale, Vernon Stouffer disapproved of the deal. He felt that he was able of getting $10 million for the franchise.^[2]

Notable transactions

November 29, 1971: Sam McDowell was traded by the Indians to the San Francisco Giants for Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy.^[3]
December 2, 1971: Roy Foster, Ken Suarez, Mike Paul, and Rich Hand were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Del Unser, Gary Jones, Terry Ley, and Denny Riddleberger.^[4]
December 6, 1971: Adolfo Phillips was purchased by the Indians from the Montreal Expos.^[5]

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball Draft
- Rick Manning was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round (2nd pick).^[6]
- Dennis Eckersley was drafted by the Indians in the 3rd round. Player signed June 12, 1972.^[7]
- Rick Langford was drafted by the Indians in the 36th round, but did not sign.^[8]
September 18, 1972: Lowell Palmer was selected off waivers by the Indians from the St. Louis Cardinals.^[9]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters
	Name	Position
1		CF
11		2B
20		LF
12		3B
14		1B
8		C
9		RF
15
36		P

^[10]

Roster

1972 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches (Third Base) (First Base) (Pitching)

Player stats

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
align=left		132	466	49	119	21	1	9	36	.255	5
align=left		19	35	2	4	0	0	1	1	.114	0
align=left		136	527	49	123	13	2	5	35	.233	3
align=left		6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		39	41	2	6	2	0	0	3	.146	0
align=left		121	466	51	136	27	2	6	44	.292	3
align=left		23	20	1	4	1	0	0	0	.200	0
align=left		130	385	23	92	16	4	3	27	.239	6
align=left		20	33	6	9	1	0	3	4	.273	0
align=left		46	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	,143	0
align=left		134	457	42	110	20	1	10	41	.241	5
align=left		73	143	19	32	4	0	4	13	.224	0
align=left		12	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		10	20	0	3	0	0	0	0	.150	0
align=left		38	12	1	1	0	0	0	0	.083	0
align=left		19	13	0	1	0	0	0	1	.077	0
align=left		108	356	31	85	10	1	8	37	.239	6
align=left		1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.500	0
align=left		22	14	0	1	0	0	0	0	.071	0
align=left		34	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		89	225	14	45	2	1	4	16	.200	0
align=left		24	80	4	15	1	0	2	8	.188	0
align=left		4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		68	151	16	32	8	1	6	21	.212	2
align=left		129	391	43	101	12	5	7	33	,258	12
align=left		42	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	.125	0
align=left		52	141	9	31	3	0	4	14	,220	0
align=left		150	557	65	141	28	0	17	70	.253	2
align=left		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0
align=left		41	110	5	17	2	0	1	9	.155	0
align=left		12	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		38	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		6	12	1	2	1	0	0	0	.167	0
align=left		39	70	5	7	0	0	0	6	.100	0
align=left		132	383	29	91	12	0	1	17	.238	5
align=left		32	45	3	9	2	0	0	4	.200	0
Team Totals	156	5207	472	1220	186	18	91	440	.234	49

Pitching

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; K = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
align=left		0	0	1.54	6	2	0	11.2	9	3	2	10	6
align=left		1	7	4.58	22	11	0	74.2	74	42	38	38	36
align=left		6	4	3.26	16	16	0	105.0	98	39	38	43	52
align=left		2	5	4.40	46	1	7	61.1	51	32	30	27	33
align=left		0	3	5.85	12	1	0	20.0	23	16	13	15	10
align=left		5	3	2.67	38	1	6	67.1	54	20	20	18	44
align=left		3	1	2.68	19	5	0	47.0	51	16	14	21	25
align=left		4	1	3.41	22	7	1	58.0	51	23	22	39	44
align=left		5	6	3.09	34	9	0	107.2	101	42	37	29	64
align=left		0	0	5.40	4	2	0	8.1	8	5	5	10	1
align=left		0	6	3.95	41	0	10	57.0	67	28	25	36	47
align=left		0	0	4.50	1	0	0	2.0	2	1	1	2	3
align=left		24	16	1.92	41	40	1	342.2	253	79	73	82	234
align=left		1	3	2.50	38	0	0	54.0	45	23	15	22	34
align=left		14	15	2.77	39	34	0	237.1	200	83	73	70	123
align=left		7	14	3.40	32	27	0	156.0	145	67	59	72	90
Team Totals	72	84	2.92	156	156	25	1410.0	1232	519	457	534	846

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Gaylord Perry, pitcher, reserve

Farm system

References

Notes and References

Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010,
Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, pp. 6–7
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcdowsa01.shtml Sam McDowell page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/u/unserde01.shtml Del Unser page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/phillad01.shtml Adolfo Phillips page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/manniri01.shtml Rick Manning page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/eckerde01.shtml Dennis Eckersley page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/langfri01.shtml Rick Langford page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/palmelo01.shtml Lowell Palmer page at Baseball-Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197204150.shtml 1972 Opening Day Lineup
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007