1973 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1973
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Nick Mileti
General Managers:	Gabe Paul, Phil Seghi
Managers:	Ken Aspromonte
Television:	WJW-TV
Radio:	WERE (1300)

The 1973 Cleveland Indians season was the 73rd in the franchise's history. The club finished in sixth place in the American League East.

Offseason

In January, Vernon Stouffer sold the Cleveland Indians to Nick Mileti for $10 million.^[1] It was $1.4 million more than the group led by George Steinbrenner had offered in December 1971.^[2]

Notable transactions

• October 19, 1972: Eddie Leon was traded by the Indians to the Chicago White Sox for Walt Williams.^[3]
• November 27, 1972: Graig Nettles and Jerry Moses were traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for John Ellis, Jerry Kenney, Charlie Spikes, and Rusty Torres.^[4]
• November 30, 1972: Del Unser and Terry Wedgewood (minors) were traded by the Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies for Oscar Gamble and Roger Freed.^[5]
• November 30, 1972: Tom Ragland was traded by the Texas Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for Vince Colbert.^[6]
• March 8, 1973: Alex Johnson was traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Rich Hinton and Vince Colbert.^[7]
• March 24, 1973: Ray Fosse and Jack Heidemann were traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Dave Duncan and George Hendrick.^[8]

Regular season

• John Adams started to drum at Cleveland Stadium on August 24, 1973, when the Indians played the Texas Rangers. Cleveland won, 11–5. Ever since, Adams has sat in the highest bleacher seat in left center field with his bass drum until 2019.^[9]

Notable transactions

• May 4, 1973: Jerry Kenney was released by the Indians.^[10]
• June 12, 1973: Lowell Palmer was traded by the Indians to the New York Yankees for Mike Kekich.^[11]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters

	Name	Position
28		RF
20		CF
14		1B
7		DH
24		LF
11		C
25		3B
10		2B
4
36		P

^[12]

Roster

1973 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches (First Base) (Third 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		11	29	4	5	1	0	1	3	.172	0
align=left		156	631	86	169	23	7	14	59	.268	7
align=left		102	300	29	66	12	1	4	29	.220	0
align=left		72	195	9	42	4	0	0	12	.215	1
align=left		155	572	70	156	30	2	11	53	.273	4
align=left		116	361	34	95	16	4	8	50	.263	6
align=left		95	344	43	80	11	1	17	43	.233	3
align=left		127	437	59	118	12	2	14	68	.270	0
align=left		11	40	3	9	0	1	0	3	.225	1
align=left		113	390	56	104	11	3	20	44	.267	3
align=left		113	440	64	118	18	0	21	61	.268	7
align=left	Jerry Kenney	5	16	0	4	0	1	0	2	.250	0
align=left		61	140	16	32	7	0	2	15	.229	0
align=left		98	305	42	89	16	1	6	40	.292	5
align=left		67	183	16	47	7	1	0	12	.257	2
align=left		14	41	6	10	2	0	2	3	.244	1
align=left		140	506	68	120	12	3	23	73	.237	5
align=left		122	312	31	64	8	1	7	28	.205	6
align=left		104	350	43	101	15	1	8	38	.289	9
Team Totals	162	5592	680	1429	205	29	158	636	.256	60

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		1	8	6.22	22	17	0	97.0	130	74	67	29	41
align=left		0	2	6.50	4	3	0	18.0	17	15	13	13	10
align=left		0	2	4.67	16	0	1	17.1	25	12	9	5	10
align=left		5	3	3.14	48	1	6	94.2	87	38	33	36	58
align=left		0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0.2	1	0	0	0	1
align=left		5	6	6.18	39	1	5	59.2	70	48	41	39	45
align=left		1	4	7.02	16	6	0	50.0	73	47	39	35	26
align=left		0	0	22.50	5	0	0	2.0	5	5	5	5	3
align=left		3	3	4.60	32	1	2	86.0	98	44	44	42	60
align=left		0	0	6.17	5	0	0	11.2	10	8	8	10	4
align=left		19	19	3.38	41	41	0	344.0	315	143	129	115	238
align=left		5	1	1.65	15	0	5	27.1	18	6	5	9	14
align=left		2	10	4.61	27	18	0	123.0	134	73	63	47	91
align=left		14	16	4.42	42	40	0	274.2	289	150	135	95	138
align=left		8	7	4.92	29	15	2	124.1	117	73	68	54	62
align=left		8	10	5.83	26	19	0	134.1	143	90	87	68	82
Team Totals	71	91	4.58	162	162	21	1464.2	1532	826	746	602	883

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[13]

References

• 1973 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1973 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 16, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010,
2. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p. 6
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/williwa02.shtml Walt Williams page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nettlgr01.shtml Graig Nettles page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gamblos01.shtml Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
6. Web site: Tom Ragland Stats.
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hintori01.shtml Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fossera01.shtml Ray Fosse page at Baseball Reference
9. News: Dave . Caldwell . Heart of Indians Baseball Beats From the Cheap Seats . . September 9, 2007 . June 5, 2024 . January 17, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180117053342/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/sports/baseball/09drummer.html . live .
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kenneje01.shtml Jerry Kenney page at Baseball Reference
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kekicmi01.shtml Mike Kekich page at Baseball-Reference
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197304070.shtml 1973 Opening Day Lineup
13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007