1978 Cleveland Indians season explained

Cleveland Indians
Season:	1978
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Cleveland Municipal Stadium
City:	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners:	Ted Bonda, Steve O'Neill
General Managers:	Phil Seghi
Managers:	Jeff Torborg
Television:	WJKW
Radio:	WWWE

Offseason

• December 5, 1977: Bruce Compton (minors) and Norm Churchill (minors) were traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Dave Rosello.^[1]
• February 28, 1978: Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein were traded by the Indians to the Texas Rangers for Willie Horton and David Clyde.^[2]
• March 15, 1978: Rico Carty was traded by the Indians to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dennis DeBarr.^[3]
• March 30, 1978: Dennis Eckersley and Fred Kendall were traded by the Indians to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Wise, Mike Paxton, Ted Cox, and Bo Díaz.^[4]

Regular season

On May 12, pitcher Nolan Ryan of the California Angels struck out Buddy Bell for the 2500th strikeout of his career.^[5]

Notable transactions

• June 14, 1978: Dennis Kinney was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dan Spillner.^[6]
• June 15, 1978: Mike Vail was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Joe Wallis.^[7]
• June 15, 1978: Joe Wallis was traded by the Indians to the Oakland Athletics for Gary Alexander.
• June 22, 1978: Bill Laxton was traded by the Indians to the San Diego Padres for Dave Freisleben.^[8]
• June 26, 1978: Dennis DeBarr was traded by the Indians to the Chicago Cubs for Paul Reuschel.^[9]
• July 3, 1978: Willie Horton was released by the Indians.^[10]

Opening Day Lineup

Opening Day Starters

	Name	Position
00		RF
18		2B
1		LF
29		1B
23		DH
14
25		3B
28		CF
13		C
17		P

^[11]

Roster

1978 Cleveland Indians
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (Bullpen)

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		90	324	39	76	14	3	17	62	.235	0
align=left		142	556	71	157	27	8	6	62	.282	1
align=left		70	193	19	49	10	0	2	20	.254	0
align=left		15	49	4	8	0	1	1	1	.163	0
align=left		36	98	11	24	6	1	4	13	.245	1
align=left		60	174	21	50	8	0	4	16	.287	1
align=left		82	227	14	53	7	0	1	19	.233	0
align=left		93	307	37	78	12	1	3	20	.254	12
align=left		44	127	12	30	4	0	2	11	.236	0
align=left		5	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.500	0
align=left		113	378	54	100	16	6	14	61	.265	5
align=left		25	74	5	15	0	0	2	9	.203	2
align=left		50	169	15	42	7	0	5	22	.249	3
align=left	Jim Kern	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
align=left		149	547	52	155	18	6	0	43	.283	4
align=left		3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	0
align=left		148	566	65	149	27	3	3	50	.263	12
align=left		113	315	41	89	14	5	2	27	.283	12
align=left		71	187	17	44	6	1	6	17	.235	2
align=left		70	106	13	24	4	1	0	4	.226	2
align=left		145	508	97	133	22	4	33	105	.262	4
align=left		14	34	2	8	2	1	0	2	.235	1
align=left		130	421	48	114	18	4	1	32	.271	1
Team Totals	159	5365	639	1400	223	45	106	596	.261	64

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		8	11	4.28	28	25	0	153.1	166	80	73	60	83
align=left		0	1	6.28	7	0	0	14.1	19	10	10	7	5
align=left		1	4	7.11	12	10	0	44.1	52	37	35	31	19
align=left		2	3	7.89	6	6	0	29.2	43	27	26	16	13
align=left		5	6	4.48	36	19	0	154.2	166	82	77	77	73
align=left		10	10	3.08	58	0	13	99.1	77	36	34	58	95
align=left		0	2	4.42	18	0	5	38.2	37	21	19	14	19
align=left		0	0	3.86	6	0	0	9.1	6	4	4	3	7
align=left		4	3	2.76	48	2	6	84.2	71	36	26	51	54
align=left		12	11	3.86	33	27	1	191.0	179	89	82	63	96
align=left		2	4	3.11	18	6	0	89.2	95	33	31	22	24
align=left		3	1	3.67	36	0	3	56.1	54	26	23	21	48
align=left		13	15	3.20	34	33	0	230.1	206	97	82	86	97
align=left		9	19	4.34	33	31	0	211.2	226	116	102	59	106
Team Totals	69	90	3.97	159	159	28	1407.1	1397	694	621	568	739

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[12]

References

• 1978 Cleveland Indians team page at Baseball Reference
• 1978 Cleveland Indians team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/roselda01.shtml Dave Rosello page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clydeda01.shtml David Clyde page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cartyri01.shtml Rico Carty page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/eckerde01.shtml Dennis Eckersley page at Baseball Reference
5. Web site: The Nolan Ryan Express The Strikeout King . smackbomb.com/nolanryan . July 28, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716092407/http://www.smackbomb.com/nolanryan/strikeouts.html . July 16, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/spillda01.shtml Dan Spillner page at Baseball Reference
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wallijo01.shtml Joe Wallis page at Baseball Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/laxtobi01.shtml Bill Laxton page at Baseball Reference
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/reuscpa01.shtml Paul Reuschel page at Baseball Reference
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hortowi01.shtml Willie Horton page at Baseball Reference
11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197804080.shtml 1978 Opening Day Lineup
12. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007